East vs. West: Which Coast is Best for an IT Career?
In this showdown, we pit the two coasts against each other in a head-to-head duel to see which one rules for IT managers and executives.
CIO —
Everyone knows that in these two regions geeks rule, most parents explain their child's career by saying say "my kid's into computers" and somebody’s always stuck in traffic. But how do the locales stack up in a coast-to-coast showdown? From IT salaries and educational institutions, to climate and real estate, there's much to debate about which is the best spot for an IT career.
Top Number of U.S. IT Employees |
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WEST
COAST
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EDGE
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EAST
COAST
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| Numbers 1 and 2—San Francisco and Los Angeles |
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Numbers 3 and 4—Washington, D.C., and Boston | |
Brain Trusts |
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COAST
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EDGE
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EAST
COAST
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| Cal Tech, Stanford |
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MIT, Carnegie Mellon | |
Tech Nickname |
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WEST
COAST
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EDGE
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EAST
COAST
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| Silicon Valley—Legendary |
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The Rte. 128 Corridor—Lame | |
Big Kahunas |
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WEST
COAST
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EDGE
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EAST
COAST
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| Cisco, Google, HP, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun |
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EMC, IBM | |
Storied VCs |
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WEST
COAST
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EDGE
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EAST
COAST
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| Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Greylock, Benchmark Capital |
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Battery Ventures, Atlas Ventures | |
Culture Club |
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WEST
COAST
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EDGE
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EAST
COAST
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| Liberal, laid-back and status-conscious |
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Uptight, ultra-competitive and status-conscious | |
Show Me the Money! |
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WEST
COAST
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EDGE
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EAST
COAST
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| Senior Software Engineer / Developer / Programmer salary: $105,662 (San Francisco) |
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Senior Software Engineer / Developer / Programmer salary: $96,961 (Boston) | |
Real Estate Reality |
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WEST
COAST
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EDGE
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EAST
COAST
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| Saratoga, Calif.—Median home price $1.4 million |
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Wellesley, Mass.—Median home price $1.1 million | |
Next: Comparisons on climate, coffee and technology-related accessories—and the winner of our matchup.


