This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Chloe Diaz , a year-old working in legal tech in New York City. It's been edited for length and clarity. I lived in San Francisco the summer after my first year of law school for a tech-law internship.
Shortly after graduating from Arizona State University law school in , I moved to New York City , where I currently work as a marketing manager in legal tech. I've dated tech bros in San Francisco and New York City and have found that each city attracts completely different types of men. Neither type is without faults, but my dating experiences in these cities have ultimately impacted where I decided to live.
As an introvert, I prefer meeting people on dating apps because it allows me to get a read on someone before meeting them. This worked well in San Francisco because it never felt like the type of place where a guy would strike up a conversation with me in public. I went on at least two dates a week for an estimated 20 to 24 dates during my summer in SF. I wasn't looking to date tech bros; it just so happened every man I went on a date with in San Francisco was.
I honestly found it hard to escape the Silicon Valley tech bubble. The recurring pattern I noticed from the tech bros I dated was a general lack of consideration for me. On several occasions, the man would choose a date based on his interest without taking a moment to learn what I enjoy. This one guy I matched with on Bumble invited me to an arcade bar. I expressed to him that I didn't drink but figured the location would be OK because I could still play some games.
He showed up about 30 minutes late due to being held up at a work meeting and proceeded to buy us two vodka shots. Then he launched into talking about his machine-learning job at a Big Tech company and monopolized the conversation without stopping to ask me about myself or, at the very least, what I thought about what he was saying.
