I was born and raised in SJ, and it's a decent place to live. Rather weak bar scene, but it's a relatively big city with diverse amount of people. Rent/RE is on the higher side, but it's nothing compared to SF. If you're looking to work in tech for a while, there's a lot of your major tech companies in SJ or within the area (obviously, given you're in Silicon Valley. Most major tech companies are there or ~20 mins drive away, depending what part of SJ you reside in.

If you're into the city life, San Francisco is about ~40 minutes way by car. Generally you're not too far from most of the other parts of the bay so you could always find things to do, just not as much within San Jose. Most of my friends who weren't Bay Area natives ended up living in cities near San Jose, (i.e. Mountain View, Cupertino, etc.). If you work for like Google/Apple I'd consider looking into living in SF since they provide transportation. Feel free to PM me in regard to specifics.

 

i was also born and raised in san jose and work in los angeles now basically people go out to the bars in downtown san jose (san pedro square area usually), downtown los gatos or downtown campbell. they are all bad for DUIs so watch out very nice place to live for the most part but is pretty bland in comparison to SF

where is your company within sj? maybe we can give you better suggestions if we know what side of the city you are on

 

nice man, i know a couple 1st years working in the finance dept in sj there

man jose def has some validity which is why people go to LG/campbell (and SF if they can go far)

if i were you id look on craigslist to get a room downtown in: axis, three sixty residences or the 88 if you live by urself obv it will be expensive but with roommates (each w/ own room ofc) it should be legit (and youd be living in the nicest places there). then again i am a little spoiled. not too far from the cisco hq either.

when i think of gmall i just think of gangster asians -- go to dave and busters there, u will see what i mean

 
kmzz:
nice man, i know a couple 1st years working in the finance dept in sj there

man jose def has some validity which is why people go to LG/campbell (and SF if they can go far)

if i were you id look on craigslist to get a room downtown in: axis, three sixty residences or the 88 if you live by urself obv it will be expensive but with roommates (each w/ own room ofc) it should be legit (and youd be living in the nicest places there). then again i am a little spoiled. not too far from the cisco hq either.

when i think of gmall i just think of gangster asians -- go to dave and busters there, u will see what i mean

This pretty much epitomizes what I know to be San Jose haha. Agree with KMZ and congrats on Cisco, my friends who work there tend to enjoy though they're more on the IT side of things.

 

haha. I was thinking more of those nice apartments next to lick mill park or the sc golf course but point noted. I will definately look at those places downtown. How are LG / Campbell better than downtown? What do you think of santana row, mountain view, etc..?

Thanks BJD

 
Best Response
BJD:
haha. I was thinking more of those nice apartments next to lick mill park or the sc golf course but point noted. I will definately look at those places downtown. How are LG / Campbell better than downtown? What do you think of santana row, mountain view, etc..?
i assume youre young and just coming out of undergrad (like me) and being in a young lively area is preferable aka not lick mill or santa clara golf. the talent is generally better in LG and campbell but i think it may be too far to commute from there. plenty of bars/lounges/clubs in dt sj

i love santana row (and valley fair right across the street); it is THE upscale place in santa clara county but its somewhere i would go to to "get drinks" and not "party" if u get what i'm saying. would be a nice place to live but is also costly and further from cisco

ive only been to tied house in mountain view and would assume there's not much to do there besides some bars on castro st. also seems like an older demographic in mv but i could be wrong

 

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