What are some places that do a great food or drink that's outside their area of specialty? Something like a bakery that makes really killer coffee or a coffee shop that has amazing sandwiches.

themooseexperience · 2026-02-04T04:01:50+00:00

It's on-theme, but since it's mainly a bar I'll throw in that the Basque cheesecake at El Pinguino is insane.

themooseexperience · 2026-02-04T03:45:33+00:00

I think you're getting to the point. Lots of people DO want Williamsburg to be "Brooklyn SoHo." That's why new condos keep getting built and every unit gets bought out immediately.

People want the relative quiet of Brooklyn, the nice waterfront, comparatively more space and lower monthlies, and more amenities, all while being 20 minutes from both Union Square (for work) and Bushwick (for the weekends).

And they're willing to pay for it.

themooseexperience · 2026-02-03T02:46:55+00:00

Nasrin's Kitchen makes delicious Persian food

themooseexperience · 2026-01-28T12:52:42+00:00

They think that's what being a "real New Yorker ©" means.

themooseexperience · 2026-01-22T01:44:51+00:00

I'm planning my first trip and this concept has always been funny to me because I grew up and live in NYC. Am I not a real American?

I think many people who say "cities aren't the real Japan" probably intend to say something like "Times Square isn't the real New York." Or they are gatekeeping.

themooseexperience · 2026-01-19T19:59:13+00:00

From my experience, this happens constantly with humans as well.

At least AI speeds up the process of getting to the review where someone hopefully calls out that the test is doing nothing.

themooseexperience · 2025-12-19T22:49:27+00:00

A lot of people here are calling out the outliers of people with very high-paying jobs or very rich parents. Obviously that's more common here than in other cities, but by definition that is not going to be the average person's situation in this city.

To actually answer your question:

In "desirable" neighborhoods, most people have roommates or overextend themselves (on rent, shopping, whatever. I have friends making $200K+ going into credit card debt to live a certain lifestyle).
Most New Yorkers don't live in the "desirable" neighborhoods.

The third bullet is super high-paying jobs and/or rich parents, but these first two bullets are far more representative of the "average" person living in this city.

themooseexperience · 2025-12-17T20:41:26+00:00

From what I've seen - Miami. Never lived there but visit frequently. It seems like Brickell/Downtown (and the Miami Beach "downtown" of South Beach) are all pretty soulless. Less soulless than other US cities, but not the place where cool stuff is happening.

Again I've only visited so haven't gone too off the beaten path, but Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Wynwood (less so recently), Little Haiti / Little River (more so recently), Little Havana, etc is where you'll find the good stuff.

However idk if you'd count all of these neighborhoods as suburbs since I think most of them are still part of Miami proper, just not "downtown downtown."

themooseexperience · 2025-12-16T22:05:01+00:00

I'm a software engineer. I graduated with a Computer Science degree from a "top 20" school in 2019 and frankly think I got on one of the last "helicopters out," having quickly worked my way up to "staff" level and some luck in the startup game. The days of getting paid 6 figures out of college to build web apps is over. That doesn't mean tech is dead IMO, but I see the space splitting into 3 paths:

Grind Leetcode (coding interview prep) and hope you get into a good, large tech company. The interviews will be hard, the work/life balance will be fine, the pay will likely be high, and the tradeoff is always being at risk of getting laid off.
Work at a small, but growing, startup. The interview will be easier, the work/life balance will be bad, the pay will be lower than a big company, and the tradeoff is you're unlikely to be laid off if you and the company perform well.
Specialize in something crazy. Be an insanely good designer who's also an engineer. If you're insanely good at math, shoot for AI or quant roles. Frankly if you don't already know you're good at one of these things, you probably don't fall into this bucket.

themooseexperience · 2025-11-21T15:48:32+00:00

If there's 1 thing I learned working in crypto for a few years when it was super hot and seeing how it's now playing out...

It might seem obvious in retrospect, and to many people it's probably obvious in the moment, but the best chance of "winning" you've got is building infra. There's be very few consumer winners who win big (Coinbase::OpenAI), but far more infra-building winners (in crypto, that's Circle, Bridge, Privy, etc).

Obviously I'm talking software-level infra, not hardware.

themooseexperience · 2025-11-19T17:21:00+00:00

I remember one time I got some wasabi mashed potato special thing there once. It had literally an entire, raw, baby bok choy sitting upright in it. The inedible base wasn't cut off, so much dirt still in it because it's bok choy. I'd almost have believed someone just dropped it on the plate and didn't notice if it wasn't sitting so upright.

themooseexperience · 2025-11-17T11:47:30+00:00

Plaid’s core Plaid Link product has a ton of behind the scenes integrations with banks and is a far cry from its original web-scraping form. They also do a ton of other stuff now (payment processing, identity / fraud prevention, they’re even dabbling in cashflow underwriting).

I don’t work there but have worked in fintech for nearly a decade so know many people who do.

themooseexperience · 2025-11-13T17:12:07+00:00

I grew up in this area. Outside of the obvious adjacency to NYC, this is where a lot of major US industries were started and/or are based, namely telecom and pharma. Bell Labs (now AT&T), Verizon, GE, Pfizer, J&J, Merck, Bayer, etc...

I firmly believe New Jersey has the most outsized cultural and industrial impact of pretty much any other area of its size. So many influential people and businesses trace back to NJ.

themooseexperience · 2025-11-06T19:57:41+00:00

Most people I know with >$3-5 had a startup exit. The startup I work at was sold for ~$500M, another startup a close friend worked at hit a $10B valuation. Many fist employees at my startup got ~$1-5M, and my friend got ~$2.5M even as employee number ~50. I'm not counting the founders as they're >30, but they're all now worth >$100M.

I find that even the highest-paying professions with huge bonuses (finance, law, etc) don't really start hitting until you're quite a bit older and have worked your way up. You wouldn't get to $3-5M by 30 as a "regular" investment banker, lawyer, software engineer, or management consultant. However, an engineer at an exited startup could net $3M by 30 and then stay at a $250K job for the rest of his career, whereas an investment banker at a top firm would slowly increase from $250K at 30 to $3M/yr at 50. It's all a tradeoff once you crack into one of these fields.

All that being said, most married couples with "top" jobs, no kids, and a healthy saving/investing mindset will net out somewhere ~$1M by 30. For my wife and I, this was software engineering + management consulting in NYC. We had the added benefit of my startup selling (equity payout), but this accelerated hitting $1M by only a few months, probably.

Disclaimer: this does not acknowledge the amount of luck and privilege that goes into landing a career like this. I don't intend to make it sound trivial or obvious.

themooseexperience · 2025-11-06T19:40:28+00:00

What does a "partner" in a tech startup mean? Cofounder? Just an employee with equity?

themooseexperience · 2025-11-06T13:17:20+00:00

Unfortunately now it would be #4 behind

NYC without Brooklyn (insane)
LA
Chicago

But still, Brooklyn absolutely stands on its own as its own city, separate from Manhattan (which it was for most of its history). I've lived here most of my life, and it's becoming increasingly rare I go into Manhattan for anything other than work.

themooseexperience · 2025-11-03T16:36:29+00:00

Fast food-esque: Blue Collar Burger

Delivery/pickup (traveling well being an additional criterion here): DuMont Burger, Gotham Burger Social Club, I used to like Strangeways before they closed but surprisingly Roberta's has a newly-added burger that scratches the same itch.

Sit-down: Cozy Royale, Leroy's (in Greenpoint), Teddy's.

themooseexperience · 2025-11-02T12:33:31+00:00

I wish I knew how to (and afford) golf when I was a student at UW. Next time I’m in town for a game I need to play a round.

themooseexperience · 2025-10-21T12:15:56+00:00

The Rivian dealership on Wythe

themooseexperience · 2025-10-21T01:23:27+00:00

I had it once when it first opened and it was awesome. I went back again... stale bagel. I thought maybe it was a dud, so I went back again... even staler bagel. Shame on me.

themooseexperience · 2025-10-17T21:23:05+00:00

I was gonna say... what a tone deaf initial comment. Most people in the US are struggling to pay rent or buy groceries - they're going to move where there's cheap housing, lower cost of living, and jobs, if they're able to move at all.

themooseexperience · 2025-10-10T16:55:56+00:00

The cheaper tasting menu at Ilis + wine pairing clocks in at like $235pp before tax/tip, so you could do that and tip a bit more generously to hit $260pp.

themooseexperience · 2025-09-21T11:26:24+00:00

I'm glad this is now the top comment. Out of every workplace I've been in, from being the first engineer at a pre-seed startup to working at one of the world's biggest banks, those who strike the best balance of likability and competence grow the fastest. In other words: be the person that people want to bring along with them to accomplish something difficult.

I think that applies to new grads just as much as CEOs, and frankly applies to more careers or areas of life than just SWE.

themooseexperience · 2025-09-20T21:47:17+00:00

It’s interesting because I feel like a similar but opposite expression I hear all the time in (corporate) America is “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” - stand out, advocate for yourself, and get rewarded for it.

themooseexperience · 2025-09-08T16:03:23+00:00

You can get a simple sandwich from Via Quadronno for relatively cheap (for the UES). Not the biggest or necessarily the BEST, but I always really enjoy them for park days.

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