The (lack of) energy in San Francisco

Yesterday, I tweeted about how going into the office in San Francisco is a bit depressing nowadays. There is noticeable drop in people compared to pre-pandemic times and the energy overall is just lacking. Compare this to other cities who have fully come back and it’s a bit sad to see. I can tell that I’m not the only one that feels this way as the tweet had a lot of interactions on it.

As much as I want to blame San Francisco politicians for this, I believe this is created by lax tech culture of the late 2010s. Employees and companies were in boom times and there was a shortage of labor so companies did everything possible to make employees comfortable. A lot of tech workers in San Francisco would quit their jobs if their companies forced them to go back into the office. Call it what you want… the future of work… tech 2.0… privilege. It is what it is right now in SF.

I am saddened by this and realize that we likely won’t ever get back to the point of bustling San Francisco downtown in the 2010s. There is a change in culture and remote work. Yes, things will rebound and get back to some semblance of normalcy, but I think our best case is probably 50% of the peak in 2010. Perhaps 75% if the market starts to shift significantly in favor of employers.

I can’t make Google or Facebook force their employees to come in and fix this lack of energy in SF. However, I was glad to find out that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. I had multiple people that I have never met DM me asking to grab lunch or coffee in SF as they had felt the same way. I see this as a great way to meet new people who are building just like me.

I’m not sure what will come out of this, but I’m excited to meet some new friends for lunch next week and see where it goes.