New York City: Data Science’s Best Bet for Growth and Opportunity

I live and work in NYC as a JS developer, and I feel like it's a great place to be. The community is strong here and there's a lot of diversity in what people do, technical or not, within the tech community. The amenities are good and I walk to work and honestly the rents are not that bad. Manhattan is the most expensive, but if you want to save money Brooklyn, Queens, NJ, etc. are cheaper and all linked by (mostly working) public transit. One of the biggest factors keeping me here is the public transit and the fact that I don't need to drive and sit in traffic.

NYC has a great ecosystem of experienced people who know how to program, know math, and understand how businesses&#x2F;product work. In this regard there are many amazing qualified data science practitioners.<p>But, the data science startup scene is not really thriving in NYC yet. Compared to the Bay Area, I see two main issues: a lack of data scientists with strong software engineering skills, and a lot less angel money (probably due to very few large successful exits).

NYC has a much more diverse business environment than the Valley and that grounds the tech industry a lot more to focus on solving problems. There&#x27;s much less acceptance of &quot;Uber for lawn gnomes&quot; app companies and a lot more pressure to deliver true value (in my observation).

As someone who grew up in the NYC area, and who is currently feeling the crushing suffocation of SF Bay Area cost of living, I&#x27;d love to go back. But aren&#x27;t the problems similar? In order to afford to own a home I&#x27;d likely have to live in Pennsylvania and commute 2+ hours--not much different than in SF. Plus, my understanding is that back east, tech is what companies use rather than what companies make, so at most companies you&#x27;ll be in a supporting role rather than building the products. Is this true or are my assumptions outdated?

In case anyone wasn&#x27;t aware of the existence, the Open Data Law[1] means that there are lots of fun data sets to play with [2]. Plenty of fodder for data science projects. And if you want to get involved BetaNYC is one of the larger civic hacker communities.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www1.nyc.gov&#x2F;site&#x2F;doitt&#x2F;initiatives&#x2F;open-data-law.page" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www1.nyc.gov&#x2F;site&#x2F;doitt&#x2F;initiatives&#x2F;open-data-law.pa...</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;opendata.cityofnewyork.us&#x2F;data&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;opendata.cityofnewyork.us&#x2F;data&#x2F;</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;beta.nyc&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;beta.nyc&#x2F;</a>