This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Pavi Theva, 31, a career coach who lives in Austin. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

The first time I visited San Francisco, I fell in love with it.

A year later, around June 2018, I went back for a work trip. From the Golden Gate Bridge to the coastal views, the city was stunning, and the hustle and bustle in the air made me feel like I’d never get bored there.

I started planning how I could work there one day. In October 2018, I left Dallas, where I was working at EY, to start an analytics role at a startup in San Francisco. Since then, life has taken me to Seattle and Austin, where I’ve been since August 2023.

I found Seattle underwhelming, but enjoyed the slower pace in Austin. Lately, I’ve been missing the ambitious, entrepreneurial spark you can only find in the Bay Area, and over five years after first moving away, I want to go back.

San Francisco was the complete package

When I moved to San Francisco, my rent rose drastically compared to $600 for a room in Dallas. I also noticed how the most common words I heard around San Francisco were the tech buzzwords “API” and “cloud,” whereas no one in Dallas really spoke about work after work. The pressure to stay on top of the latest technology and add to conversations at networking events meant I struggled with imposter syndrome.

But San Francisco felt like the complete package. It had nature, nightlife, a range of cuisines, and a strong focus on career growth.

There was also a large immigrant population, and it felt like everyone was from somewhere else, such as the Middle East or Asia. Growing up in India, I knew about the American dream and how diverse the US was, but San Francisco was the first place I felt like I was in the America I’d heard about.

In Austin, I could know someone for weeks and not know their profession

I didn’t want to leave California, but when I was offered a program manager role at Amazon in Seattle in 2019, I took it because the role aligned with my career goals, including working at a FAANG company.

My boyfriend and I shared an apartment that cost $1,990 a month, excluding utilities, which was cheaper than what I remember paying in San Francisco. But I found Seattle underwhelming and struggled with the gloomy weather and it getting dark by 4 o’clock. It’s hard to make friends in bad weather, when people don’t go out so much, and the 2020 pandemic made socializing even harder.

In 2022, after I kept bugging my partner, whom I met in San Francisco, to leave Seattle with me, we bought a property in Austin and moved in 2023, drawn to the lower cost of living and good weather.

We found a lot of young couples and a strong sense of community in Austin. It was easy to meet people because many residents had also moved from other cities.

For the first time, my environment wasn’t all about tech. I met small business owners who didn’t run startups, like people in the Indian community with jewellery and saree businesses. There was a lot of creative energy.

In the Bay Area and Seattle, the first or second question you asked in conversation was “What do you do?” but in Austin, I could know people for weeks without finding out their profession. People would talk about their hobbies and other aspects of life, which was a big culture shock.

I’d started a side hustle, creating social media content about career betterment, which was the beginning of my coaching business. Austin felt like a good place for me to create and grow the business. Compared to the Bay Area, where there’s so much competition, it was easier to become visible in Austin. I felt like a big fish in a small pond.

Austin is definitely in its acceleration phase, but I don’t think it’s the next Silicon Valley, like some are saying.

Some costs, like entertainment and food, feel comparable to Silicon Valley, but overall, Austin seems cheaper than San Francisco or Seattle did. Like Seattle, there’s no state income tax in Austin, so I’m saving more from my paycheck than I was in Silicon Valley, but as homeowners in Austin, we do have to pay quite high property taxes.

Austin’s missing a certain spark, and I want to go back to California

To me, the Bay Area, where there’s a deep engineering culture, is still the hub for entrepreneurship. Yes, companies like Tesla, Oracle, Apple, and Amazon have moved into or expanded in Austin, but I still don’t see as many people talking about technology, or as many tech conferences, as in Silicon Valley. It doesn’t feel like the city is ahead of the curve.

In November 2025, I went to a creator meet-up in the Bay Area, where I had lots of insightful conversations about business. I realized this was something I was missing out on, and it’s made me want to move back to San Francisco, ideally by 2027. I plan to continue career coaching, expand into corporate consulting, and take advantage of the opportunities in San Francisco.

I picked Austin because I was in a season of life when I wanted to slow down, but now, with my business in a more mature phase, I want to be surrounded by ambitious, driven people again to keep me accountable and inspired.

If you really want to grow, be challenged, and push yourself to be the smartest, that’s the energy of California — nothing can beat it.

Do you have a story to share about leaving Texas or California? Contact this reporter at ccheong@businessinsider.com

A fifth grader from San Francisco is representing the Bay Area on a global stage on Friday. 

Amy Colindres is competing in the annual 2026 MLB Players STEM League Global Championship in Miami, which is taking place at the same time as the World Baseball Classic.

At Junipero Serra Elementary, Colindres trained every Tuesday after school, playing in the MLB Players STEM League. The baseball-inspired game combines Colindres’ two favorite things: math and the San Francisco Giants. The game teaches fourth to eighth graders math skills, using real MLB player statistics. 

Colindres is an All-Star student, competing against students from around the nation and the world. The program initially launched in 2021, and this year features the largest number of countries represented in the competition to date, with students from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea.

“I feel, like, surprised, and I thought it was a dream, because I was, like, I hope I win, but I wasn’t that sure,” said Colindres.

Dorene Fontanilla, her after-school program leader with Bay Area Community Resources, was certainly sure about Amy, who wasn’t originally in her after-school program but really wanted to be a part of it. She became a standout student with her positive attitude, passion to learn, and dedication to teamwork, and Fontanilla quickly saw how Amy and her bright smile were an inspiring addition.

“I was telling my students that whoever shows good sportsmanship, teamwork, and overall enjoys the game, I will choose them in the championship in Miami,” said Fontanilla. “So she heard me, and she said, ‘I wanna do that, and I’m gonna ask.’ The next day, she comes to me and says, ‘I can do it. When can I play?’ I’m very proud of her. I love her excitement. I love her determination.”

“And then when I got picked, I was, like, I’m very happy that I could cry!” said Colindres.

Colindres says the program makes her feel smart and brave to try new things. Now what once felt like a dream is taking her all the way to the championship in Miami.

The nonprofit Learn Fresh created the MLB Players STEM League in partnership with the MLB Players Trust. Students receive an all-expenses-paid trip to participate in the tournament, and they also get to watch the World Baseball Classic in Miami.

The winner will be crowned on Saturday. 

Adventurous offers lessons for new and experienced ski and snowboarders alike, with an emphasis on perfecting the technique of carving: the smooth arc of the ski or snowboard that’s accomplished by slowly rolling the ankles and knees onto one edge, then the other.

Owner Sarah Cooper said training indoors is not meant to fully replace learning and progressing on a real ski hill, but rather to accelerate muscle memory and confidence once a person hits the actual slopes.

The setup of the facility — where teachers are positioned below the incline of the treadmill, eye to eye with their students’ hips and legs — allows them to watch and critique students’ every move, said Cooper, even at high speeds.

“We can see everything on every single person’s body,” she said. “Every movement, their timing, their confidence, their comfort.”

Joad Stein, an instructor at Adventurous who is also an expert outdoor skier, had just returned from a ski trip to Tahoe. Getting on the deck to demonstrate, he said he found skiing on the simulator to be the much more demanding option.

“I have to remind myself to be more patient with my movements, which makes it harder,” he said. “If I want to have nice, graceful turns, I really have to take my sweet time.”

Movement matters

But does all this indoor work on carving actually produce results on the slopes?

There has been very little scientific research on these types of ski decks. A 2013 study found the benefits of training on ski simulators to be minimal, but it only tested two types of ski simulators — neither of which was particularly similar to the type of deck used at Adventurous.

Cooper said many Adventurous clients have reported positive impacts of their indoor training, and that Olympic athletes, including Mikaela Shiffrin, have spoken about their experiences of using indoor decks as part of their training.

And on-hill ski instructors say any type of dry land training, especially the kind that works the same core and leg muscles as skiing and snowboarding, is going to help performance on the mountain.

“That fitness will translate,” said Jon Tekulve, director of ski services at Diamond Peak Ski Resort in Tahoe. “The movements are still there, and learning those can be helpful.”

Around 80% of the adults taught at Diamond Peak have never been on snow before. But Tekulve warned that beginners who start indoors may be taken aback by the role that being outside plays in skiing, because the carpet and indoor environment are so consistent.

“Being out in the elements is different,” he said. “Sun and shade spots on the mountain can be the difference between going really fast and really slow.”

Plus, he said, who would want to miss out on the mountain views?

Cooper acknowledges there is one major factor about skiing for real that she cannot prepare her students for on the Adventurous simulator: “The snow is just gonna ‘feel slippery’ — that’s what everyone says,” she said.

Hirschler said she’s proud of the progress she’s made so far with her indoor lessons. She’s even able to ride on the indoor carpet without keeping her hands on the safety bar, and is working on visualizing being on a mountain instead of inside.

“But is it gonna transition well to the mountain? I don’t know,” she mused.

“I’ll be starting with the bunny hill for sure.”

Where to learn how to ski indoors in the Bay Area

Adventurous Sports, San Francisco

Located in Hayes Valley, this indoor ski school emphasizes carving and requires all first-timers to complete an hourlong intro class to get familiar with skiing on their carpeted treadmill.

Cost: The intro lesson costs $185 in the winter and $145 in the summer. You can then purchase packages of multiple lessons, and more experienced skiers and riders can also book cheaper conditioning sessions.