Does anybody have anything to say about working at Zynga as an intern (or full-time employee) that could be reaffirming to a university student.
Here's a link to get you started: http://vator.tv/news/2013-07-07-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugl...
If you want to see and experience San Francisco, I guess you'll have to risk it. But keep in mind, San Francisco has a pretty high cost of living.
Assuming you have been offered to join roughly the same team/role at both companies, etc. etc., I would advise you to go with Zynga. Is Zynga as a company on the way down? Probably. But putting aside Zynga's poor product performance, Zynga remains a well-recognized/assessed engineering brand, whereas HootSuite is relative less of a brand. Zynga has plenty of challenging and interesting engineering problems for you to tackle. And as you've said yourself, having worked in Vancouver before, it's an opportunity to check out SF.
i was employee 7, lived many scumbagggeries during my tenure and am aware of many more after my departure. not much to add to what you'll find online, excpet that it might not have been the right thing or the right ways or for the right reasons but we worked our asses off building that POS, Pincus as much or more than anyone. the first year was a blast and i met tons of really, really good people that I'm still close with.
your experience won't be like that. but you'll be in SF. the start-up thing ain't for everyone (if you're interested based on how much money you think you'll have in your bank account after a few years, you probably did your math wrong), but if you want to make a go at it, i would get to SF. Zynga will probably suck, but you'll meet people there and in town and you'll get to experience first-hand the shit-show / circle-jerk / world-changing whirlwind that is "The Valley".
you don't have to. anyone can build anything anywhere. but i would.
You should checkout SF, but don't get suckered into thinking its amazing either. There are some great companies but the city itself is expensive and probably not all that livable. Vancouver is a real nice place.