[173512] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Owen DeLong)
Sat Jul 26 13:15:56 2014
X-Original-To: nanog@nanog.org
From: Owen DeLong <owen@delong.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAP-guGUSKJZD9x8Q=7bcR2SaKDFof19UMgZF9nOFbRRWnkyxDA@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 10:13:03 -0700
To: William Herrin <bill@herrin.us>
Cc: "NANOG \(nanog@nanog.org\)" <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
Personally, I think the SF bay area has you beat.
Bill, on your list of not so wonderful things in DC, you left off:
Weather
In the sumer, the DC area is, well, what you=92d expect =
from a hot, humid, fetid swamp.
In the winter, you can make ice cream outside without =
rock salt (though there=92s plenty of
salt available on the roads).
The spring and fall aren=92t bad (for about 2 weeks =
each). Otherwise, the weather is not
at all wonderful in that area.
SF has a very wide variety of cultural exhibitions, activities, and =
institutions. We also have nearly as wide a variety of ethnic cuisine as =
you can find in New York (wider than DC/NoVA from what I=92ve seen, =
actually). We also have a major concentration of technology and =
internet-oriented startups, including such iconic names as Google, =
Facebook, Adobe, Dropbox, Netflix, Apple, Fry=92s Electronics, and more. =
We=92re the only region to have three TechShops in addition to a number =
of other makerspaces and hackerspaces, including the original Noise =
Bridge SF (to the best of my knowledge, the first public maker/hacker =
space in the US, having opened its doors in 2008 (or possibly earlier), =
patterned after such spaces in Europe.
The bay area has great cultural diversity, lots of fun things to do, and =
is within a relatively short drive of mountains, desert, ocean (beaches =
and cliffs available), awesome SCUBA diving, great downhill and XC =
skiing, hang gliding, sailing, and more. There=92s a strong and active =
General Aviation community and lots of places to rent airplanes and =
helicopters.
Contrary to Bill=92s claims, we have nearly as many data centers housing =
lots of interconnect, content providers, etc. out here, too. We=92re =
also a primary gateway to Asia and the Pacific as well as Australia.
Our weather is pretty much temperate year round.
Owen
On Jul 25, 2014, at 2:31 PM, William Herrin <bill@herrin.us> wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 22, 2014 at 7:20 PM, Nolan Rollo <nrollo@kw-corp.com> =
wrote:
>> I've been trying to decide for a while what makes a good
>> home for a Network Admin... access to physical, reliable
>> upstream routes? good selection of local taverns? What, in
>> your opinion, makes a good location for a Network Admin
>> and where in the US would you find that?
>=20
> Hi Nolan,
>=20
> Back in the days of lore when the Internet ran over telephone lines
> instead of the other way around, the most substantial long haul
> communications hub in the country was Northern Virginia's Dulles
> Corridor. More than any other area, leased lines to and from anywhere
> transited northern VA because that's how the long distance telephone
> infrastructure was built. Move the call here, switch it, move it back
> out. This made it the cheapest place to hub your Internet backbone.
> Indeed, the first large Internet Exchange Point, MAE-East was
> originally a FDDI ring at 8100 Boone Blvd, Vienna VA in the area known
> as Tysons Corner.
>=20
> The Internet is much more distributed now, but the area still retains
> its legacy. Lots of Internet companies continue to house major
> facilities here and operations such as ARIN are headquartered here.
> More, many of the folks you've come to know on NANOG and in other
> forums live and work here.
>=20
> Bonuses:
> With the possible exception of NYC, nowhere in the U.S. has more or
> finer quality cultural institutions than DC and its suburbs (Northern
> Virginia). The Smithsonian's extensive network of museums, the Kennedy
> Center, and so on.
> Federal money tends not to wander far, so you'll never want for paying
> work in Northern Virginia.
> Nowhere I've traveled has a broader selection of good restaurants.
> Most places have a local food with a bunch of good restaurants for
> that food, but we have all the foods and at least a few restaurants
> for each which are exceptional.
> Casual conversation is heavy on politics and matters of import
>=20
> Less than wonderful:
> Not the worst traffic in the nation but not far from it
> High rent, high cost of living
> Political conversation is inescapable
>=20
>=20
>> good selection of local taverns?
>=20
> Octoberfest at the German embassy annex at Dulles Airport. ;)
>=20
> Regards,
> Bill Herrin
>=20
>=20
> --=20
> William Herrin ................ herrin@dirtside.com bill@herrin.us
> Owner, Dirtside Systems ......... Web: <http://www.dirtside.com/>
> Can I solve your unusual networking challenges?
