Original post by Matt Lynley via BusinessInsider

It’s been a little more than three months since I moved from Silicon Valley to Silicon Alley.

I lived in the valley for more than a year and a half, and I don’t want to go back.

Here are just a couple observations I’ve seen that make New York, and Silicon Alley, different — and better — than San Francisco and Silicon Valley:

• San Francisco, at times, is snooty and pretentious: If you aren’t among the elite in Google, Twitter or Facebook or the likes, then you’re a step below everyone else. It’s great to stroke the egos of your engineers like Google does, but the end result is a sense of superiority among many of the tech intelligentsia. It’s definitely not everyone, but the vibe is there.

• The talent pool in New York is diverse: In San Francisco, you’ll find a bevvy of engineering talents that everyone is vying to acquire. Recruiting can be tenuous and if you’re a top engineer you have to be constantly aware of potential poaching offers. But that’s just for the engineers — in New York, there’s a massive collection of engineers, designers, ad ops and just about every other position.

• There’s an “all in this together” mentality out here: New York is the underdog in tech, but that has a positive effect on the vibe out here. Everyone is essentially trying to make sure other companies succeed in order to keep talent in New York and attract new talent. As a result, there’s still plenty of competition, but it isn’t caustic or agonizing.

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