San Francisco has hit the skids and EVERYONE (supposedly) wants to leave town because the rent is “too damned high” or it’s just no longer cool to live and work in a tech industry town or it’s boring because there’s too much sameness, an echo chamber of thought as Tim Ferriss put it.

Business Insider teamed up with LinkedIn to figure out where the tech exodus is headed. Here are 7 top destinations.

Austin, Texas

• Tim Ferriss, author of “The 4-Hour Workweek”and “Tribe of Mentors,” moved to Austin last year after spending decades as an entrepreneur and investor in San Francisco.
• Ferriss likes Austin’s young vibe and the mix of culture including film and music. It’s not just tech 24/7.

Salt Lake City, Utah

• Dubbed the Silicon Slopes, the area is filled with tech companies, including Adobe, EA, Overstock and Domo.
• And you only need to make $59K to afford a home vs. $174K in San Francisco.

Seattle, Washington

• Not much of a move. Seattle is, however, home to Microsoft, Amazon and Starbucks, so it attracts top talent and it is a bit smaller and a tad less expensive than the Bay Area.

Sacramento, Calif.

• Sacramento has become a top commuter city for Silicon Valley with a 2-hour drive each way.  Based on that brutal commute, many of those moving there get to work remotely.

Denver, Colorado

• In April, a coalition of 10 Colorado-based tech companies announced a $500,000 campaign called Pivot to Colorado designed to lure tech talent away from Silicon Valley (Innovation at Elevation is their slogan).

Phoenix, AZ

• The number of tech companies in Phoenix quadrupled over the last 5 years.
• Phoenix draws tech workers because of its positive business climate, access to top talent from Arizona State University and proximity to Silicon Valley should you need to take a meeting.

Stockton California

• Rising from the ashes of its 2013 bankruptcy, the city is now led by a 27-year old progressive mayor who is testing a basic-income program that gives all residents $500 a month (courtesy of a $1 million grant from Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes).

 

Read on below for 3 skills that Ray Dalio believes you need to be successful in business.

 

Top Skills You Need To Be Successful

While not a fan of Ray Dalio’s radical transparency nonsense, I do agree with him about these 3 concepts:

#1:  Open-Mindedness

• Dalio recommends stress-testing your ideas with the smartest people you know. Couldn’t agree more.
• I find this to be especially useful when figuring out trends for which I have no personal affinity or experience.
• When I go through the stress-test process, I still may not “get” it fully but I always learn something that had eluded me and I also get to appreciate different points of view.

#2:  Tech-Friendliness

• Dalio talks specifically about using algorithms to test his investing theories. For me, being tech-friendly hopefully equates to becoming more tech-savvy.
• I feel I am not keeping pace with all the new tech skills I need so I am searching for a personal tech coach to work with me half-a-day a month. If anyone has any  recommendations please send my way.

#3: Global Thinking

• Wholeheartedly agree with Dalio on this.
• Major reason for my travels over the last several years and why I am planning my residency/nomadic work experience in the Nordics this year.

 

Bottom Line.

Tech may be down but it’s not out – YET!