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.
If you're friends with biologists you could look into biotech or bioinformatics.
The tech industry is definitely as full of assholes as you think. There are some cool people too, but not cool enough to make up for having to be around the assholes. For the most part they are labor aristocracy and act like it. At best they are Vaush viewers, at worst they are sex pests. My first tech job left me so disillusioned that I'm only now trying to get a job again after basically all of my savings are gone. If you can make friends outside of work I'd definitely recommend doing that, and there are a decent number of fun people outside of work although you can generally expect them to not be Communist.
Working in California has many downsides. If you need to get a new job and it happens to be a time where people got laid off from one of the mega corporations you are going to have a hard time. It's possible if you work hard and get lucky, but because the rent is so high you need to save a lot of money in an emergency fund because God only knows how long it will take you to get another job. SF has some of the best public transit in the country but that's not saying much, and it's worse south of SF where most of the companies are.