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Higher-paid, faster-growing tech jobs are concentrating in 8 US hubs

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Re: Higher-paid, faster-growing tech jobs are concentrating in 8 US hubs

#221

Post by GVIrish »

ynniv wrote: post #12

I get that you work with what you have (in this case, a corpus of job postings), but a ranking that places Baltimore in the top three tech hubs fails the sniff test. CBRE has a better list here (email registration wall): https://www.cbre.com/research-and-reports/Scoring-Tech-Talen... I'm biased in that it places Atlanta unusually high, but overall it is a better, less surprising ranking: Bay Area Seattle New York Was…

> but a ranking that places Baltimore in the top three tech hubs fails the sniff test

NSA headquarters is in between Baltimore and Washington DC and there is a lot of other major government contracting work along that corridor. There is a lot of IT work available in the area, even if it isn't in Baltimore proper.

Re: Higher-paid, faster-growing tech jobs are concentrating in 8 US hubs

#222

Post by caleblloyd »

base698 wrote: post #169
5trokerac3 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It fully recovered. I moved here in '12 from L.A. with a job that had the same pay, but the cost of living is probably close to half of California, so it was like having my salary doubled overnight. IMHO this place is a paradise for engineers who care about actual work life balance. NC's growth has slipped in the last couple years, though, because of the HB2 nonsense. It'll be a few years before we recover our image.

I did the opposite in 2011. Got tired of having nothing to do but go to bars and restaurants. Enjoying the LA life of having a beach and nice hiking at my door. Lots of diverse industries that need tech talent as well as a startup scene. Raleigh felt stagnant when I left, with most of the jobs enterprise software in unsexy industries. Grass is always greener I suppose!

The Downtown Raleigh area picked up a lot after the market recovered. There's been a lot of regentrification and companies started moving into town instead of to RTP. There's Citrix, RedHat, a handful of co-working spaces, and many new stores/restaurants/breweries that have moved into Downtown Raleigh in the past 5 years. Downtown Durham has undergone similar changes.

Re: Higher-paid, faster-growing tech jobs are concentrating in 8 US hubs

#223

Post by caleblloyd »

cache_miss wrote: post #166
justadeveloper2 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved to Raleigh back in '97 under the mistaken impression that it would be a major tech hub. While there are many good tech jobs there, the RTP area fell pretty far short of my expectations. Also, the dot-com crash gutted that area like a fish and I'm not sure the commercial real estate sector there has ever recovered even to this day. It was fun for a brief time in the late '90s. I moved away in '06, but went bac…

Between Raleigh and Durham, it's mostly sister-sites for larger tech companies. Personally, I've worked at NetApp, Citrix, and now Nutanix -- all within 25 minutes of my house in Cary. Not much of a start-up scene, AFAIK.

There are a handful of co-working spaces that house startups around American Tobacco Campus in Durham and Downtown Raleigh. There's not much VC in the Raleigh/Durham area though so most are bootstrapped by founders.

Re: Higher-paid, faster-growing tech jobs are concentrating in 8 US hubs

#224

Post by eco »

cglouch wrote: post #108
cookiecaper wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Utah County is definitely the center of the Utah tech boom. Between UVU and BYU there are lots of small college-fueled startups in Orem/Provo, and many more mature companies formerly based in SLC are moving farther south, at least to Draper/SoJo if not over the point of the mountain. This move has been underway at least since the mid-oughts, but it has accelerated lately after Adobe's investment in the Thanksgiving P…

I'm guessing the reason so many companies are in Utah County is because of tax incentives, but it's still weird to me. I would think that it's harder to attract talent to an office in Provo, seeing as the stereotypical tech worker is probably going to prefer living in SLC where there's less Mormon influence and more going on socially.

I would guess it's more real estate. Between South Draper and Lehi there is tons of room for new construction (especially now that the prison is moving). There has been a huge amount of office construction there over the last ten years and continuing today. Office space in SLC proper has to cost a fortune by comparison. Building/renting there gives you good geographic positioning to attract employees from both the SLC valley (about one million people) and the Utah county valley (about 500,000 people).

Re: Higher-paid, faster-growing tech jobs are concentrating in 8 US hubs

#225

Post by southphillyman »

steveadoo wrote: post #184
ecshafer wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Philly is cheap and we are getting more start ups. There are a lot of tech jobs though, but the downside (for some) is that many are in the suburbs either on the main line or in New Jersey, and I don't think that will change much until the city business problem tax is lowered.

Only thing keeping me from moving into Philly is the wage tax. I think within the next year I'm just going to bite the bullet and do it.

Just negotiate that factor into whatever salary you get. I feel like firms in the city proper realize they need to add a couple thousand to compete with suburban firms

Re: Higher-paid, faster-growing tech jobs are concentrating in 8 US hubs

#226

Post by 5trokerac3 »

ffumarola wrote: post #203
5trokerac3 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It fully recovered. I moved here in '12 from L.A. with a job that had the same pay, but the cost of living is probably close to half of California, so it was like having my salary doubled overnight. IMHO this place is a paradise for engineers who care about actual work life balance. NC's growth has slipped in the last couple years, though, because of the HB2 nonsense. It'll be a few years before we recover our image.

It's only like doubling your salary if you spend your entire income. When you move to a new area, the change in disposable income is determined by salary - expenses*cost of living. Example You make $100k in city A and spend $40k on expenses. That leaves $60k disposable. You are considering a job in city B with half the cost of living and the same pay. You still make $100k but your expenses have gone from $40k to $20k…

When my mortgage for a house on 1/2 an acre costs less than my 650 sqft apartment in L.A. did, it sure feels like my cost of living was cut in half.

When a round of golf at a Davis Love or Fred Couples designed course costs the same as playing at a shitty muni in L.A., it feels like my disposable income has tripled.

Re: Higher-paid, faster-growing tech jobs are concentrating in 8 US hubs

#227

Post by Finnucane »

rpazyaquian wrote: post #177

Boston doesn't seem to be doing very well in the long-term. I moved here to take advantage of both the presence of tech jobs, and to live in an accepting, progressive blue state. If I want to stay in the area, what field should I be transitioning into? I know the Boston area has a lot of medical/health companies around, and it might be worth it to start looking at those kinds of companies as a long-term solution. Are…

I guess it depends on what you count as a 'tech job.' I'm in Cambridge, and obviously the universities are major employers, and biotech/pharma is a dominant industry (our neighborhood surrounded by labs).

Re: Higher-paid, faster-growing tech jobs are concentrating in 8 US hubs

#228

Post by tmccrmck »

wenc wrote: post #175
swampthinker wrote: post #4

Without looking, I'm going to guess (in no particular order): - Cambridge/Boston - DC metro area - Austin - Bay area - Seattle - NYC - Philadelphia - LA or San Diego EDIT: Hm, got most right. I forgot about the Triangle entirely, but I'm surprised Baltimore outpaced Philly.

I'm a little surprised Chicago is not on the list. The Chicago tech scene is not huge, but it is growing, and it is definitely much more dynamic than Philly or LA or San Diego. It is the third largest metro in the country with a large hinterland, so cost of living is still fairly affordable. Tales of crime are overblown by the media -- they are mostly outside the city, and normalized to population, is not significant…

I've always been confused as to why Chicago isn't more of a tech hub. Great city, great people, cheap housing, good transportation (by US standards), good schools, etc.

Are the Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offices engineering offices? I know that the Microsoft one is not.

Re: Higher-paid, faster-growing tech jobs are concentrating in 8 US hubs

#229

Post by awkwarddaturtle »

echelon wrote: post #194
ynniv wrote: post #12

I get that you work with what you have (in this case, a corpus of job postings), but a ranking that places Baltimore in the top three tech hubs fails the sniff test. CBRE has a better list here (email registration wall): https://www.cbre.com/research-and-reports/Scoring-Tech-Talen... I'm biased in that it places Atlanta unusually high, but overall it is a better, less surprising ranking: Bay Area Seattle New York Was…

Atlanta is amazing. It has an extremely low cost of living, yet there are tech companies here paying SF wages. Anecdotally, my rent is $1300/mo for a 900 sqft loft directly on Atlanta's Beltline [1], and my total comp is (edit: decided to remove this since I might get doxed. I'll be happy to talk with anyone seriously considering Atlanta via email). It's also been really interesting to see Georgia rocket to the #2 lo…

> Atlanta is amazing. It has an extremely low cost of living, yet there are tech companies here paying SF wages.

Atlanta is not paying SF wages. Trust me on this. But you are right. The cost of living is far better in Atlanta.

Re: Higher-paid, faster-growing tech jobs are concentrating in 8 US hubs

#230

Post by pascalxus »

ffumarola wrote: post #203
5trokerac3 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It fully recovered. I moved here in '12 from L.A. with a job that had the same pay, but the cost of living is probably close to half of California, so it was like having my salary doubled overnight. IMHO this place is a paradise for engineers who care about actual work life balance. NC's growth has slipped in the last couple years, though, because of the HB2 nonsense. It'll be a few years before we recover our image.

It's only like doubling your salary if you spend your entire income. When you move to a new area, the change in disposable income is determined by salary - expenses*cost of living. Example You make $100k in city A and spend $40k on expenses. That leaves $60k disposable. You are considering a job in city B with half the cost of living and the same pay. You still make $100k but your expenses have gone from $40k to $20k…

Your math is right. But, you've got to understand the cost of real estate is much much more than double in SF. Realistically, in Ralleigh regional area you can pay 120$/sq ft vs 1000$/sq ft in the SF Regional area (perhaps 500$/sq ft if your willing to commute for 3 hrs/day).

Now, SF might be a great place if you have no kids, no expenses and rent a tiny little room. But, as soon as you want to have a family and backyard, you better get out! SF and CA in general is no place to raise a family. The key in this strategy is, don't put down roots in the CA bay area.

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