Ask HN: What should I do?

One thing rarely mentioned when these questions pop up is the ratio of single women &#x2F; men for various criteria. For example, certain areas, mostly in the West, are heavily lopsided with single men in various age brackets. This means, if you&#x27;re a hetero guy, it&#x27;s really tough to date, find a potential partner, etc.<p>OTOH, in NYC and DC, there are more women with college degrees than men; this equates to an easier time for that same guy.<p>Same thing applies if your a woman, gay, etc. - find whichever area favors your target market. You can have a good guess of your boss, work environment, etc. based on the interviews, but until you&#x27;ve worked there, a lot of it is a gamble. OTOH, finding a detailed study of demographics is a Google search away. There is an interesting chart here:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;labs.time.com&#x2F;story&#x2F;see-the-ratio-of-single-men-to-women-where-you-live&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;labs.time.com&#x2F;story&#x2F;see-the-ratio-of-single-men-to-wo...</a>

One of the best adice I received was &#x27;Choose your boss not the company&#x27;. My first employment was not a big company, but the man I worked for would lose his sleep if I dont get paid that month. It tought me a lot. Hope this helps!

Old dude advice here:<p>Have you gone to to each company and city in person?<p>If so which one really speaks to your heart?<p>Which company has people that you&#x27;d like to meet who you might learn from?<p>Which city would you want to look for the job after this one if this company falls apart overnight?<p>Forget logic young Jedi Tomy and use the Force!<p>By the way it sounds like you&#x27;re young, so realize that you can do something in life, realize that it&#x27;s a mistake and then move on. Once you&#x27;re married with kids and&#x2F;or have elderly parents your choices become narrowed down a bit...

That&#x27;s not a tough situation, you&#x27;re in a great situation! Two job offers that you get to choose from is not a bad place to be.<p>I help people think through these kinds of situations all the time with my work. If you&#x27;re interested I&#x27;ll give you a HN special of a free phone call so we can figure this out together. I&#x27;m not going to sell you on anything, so don&#x27;t worry about that. If you&#x27;re interested email samuel at thelittleyes.com<p>You can learn more about what I do here: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thelittleyes.com" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thelittleyes.com</a>

I would personally pick Pittsburgh, because I lived there at one time. Lovely city, so much to offer, and they are REALLY upping their business game. If it were me, this would be a no brainer.

&gt; client interaction good chemistry with hiring manager<p>Social currency wins. The friends and contacts you make will create higher visibility and more opportunities as your career progresses.

Personally I&#x27;d go with Pittsburgh.<p>But, it should be noted: If you have two similar offers, you&#x27;re in a good position to make a counter-offer to either one and get more money out of the deal. If Ohio is willing to raise the salary to dwarf the other offer, maybe it&#x27;s worth going with them. If you&#x27;re considering telling them &quot;thanks, but no thanks&quot;, then you might as well send a counter-offer instead. You really have nothing to lose.

I currently live near Dayton and grew up near Pittsburgh. If you don&#x27;t have ties to either city, I would take job with better benefits and manager in Pittsburgh. Both are nice cities with a surprising number of tech jobs. Housing is a little cheaper in Dayton but not dramatically different. If family doesn&#x27;t factor into your consideration then there are more lifestyle options and things to do in Pittsburgh.

I <i>really</i> like Pittsburgh, and I really <i>dislike</i> Dayton, FWIW.<p>What&#x27;s your five year goal? Are you looking to start a family? Looking to get experience? Looking to just have a nice life?

Just by the way you explained it, it appears you like pittsburgh better. Plus, you mention &quot;good chemistry with mgr&quot; - that is HUGE. good luck!

PA all the way. There&#x27;s nothing in Dayton. Also easier to find other gigs, like-minds and leisure activities in PA.

Go with Pittsburgh. The good chemistry with the hiring manager is very important here.

Do you have a connection to one city or the other (living in one now, family, etc.)?