This is a question I've been thinking about for quite a few. I'm currently studying Computer Science, and personally I choose this major because it aligned with my talents and interests, however after 2 years of college its very apparent that I don't relate to or even like the majority of my peers in this field, in fact most of my friends study Biology or something.
The problem is with this annoying rat racey mentality and obsession with money. Everyone wants to work in California, almost everyone is in the field to maximize their earning potential. And ideas like the "only purpose of college is to land a job," "less time to eat = more time to work" (many of my peers eat 1-2 meals a day), and behaviors like sucking up to people with better connections/coops or remodeling your entire personality towards company values, or doxing your interviewer in advance to pretend to have common interests to increase their chances of landing a job offer are not only prevalent but seen as normal.
Problem is, I don't want to live in California, that place's cultural runs completely against my beliefs. I don't want to sacrifice all my time and life/hobbies/friends for work. And I want to make friends with normal, chill people, and not a bunch of insecure pretentious assholes, which I now fear every high paying tech area in the US will be chock full of.
I'm curious if there are places in the global south where I can pursue a fulfilling career in my field. Income is not an issue, at this point I care about quality of life significantly more. I've been eyeing Shenzhen for a while, although China's 996 culture also seems to be a little worrying and Shenzhen's cost of living is quite high as well. I wanted to get some input on this issue from individuals who have a more open mind about non-western countries.
This is my first post in Lemmygrad btw, sorry if it's in the wrong place.
Edit: Thanks for all the responses everyone! I really appreciate the advice and just general reassurance, especially at the existence of non-liberal subcultures even in the bay area. I'll keep in mind that the world is bigger than just 1 university campus, and I'll be open to exploring new opportunities and finding my own niche.
Maybe you are hanging with the wrong tech crowd. Its hard to find irl but if you can find some FOSS Friends and get in at an org that isn't about products and money you might have fun. I find all my friends that share those ideologies of Libre to be very pleasant.
Will working in FOSS lead to actually paying jobs though? If not, writing open-source is more like a hobby than a career.
It's possible. Tech companies do hire people to work full time on open source software. I'm not sure but I doubt there are many positions like that. There were several at a previous company I worked for.
Thats why I mentioned a FOSS organization. You'd probably have to somehow end up at The Foundation to get paid anything for FOSS. Linus Torvald also seems fine and he made his mark with Linux. Though I have no idea how he pays his bills. Donations? Patreon? Lol I'm unsure. But it sure as hell beats working with people who suck up to hustle culture and love Google and Microsoft. My point being, California and Uni is going to be filled with people who align their mark with that and OP doesn't seem to like it. Tech is a wide ocean, theres other sailors who like the same waters as you somewhere.