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America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business

nytimes.com

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Re: America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business

#21

Post by Retric »

ng12 wrote: post #8
fhood wrote: post #6

I don't see highly skilled personnel being all that keen on moving to Mexico. Canada, however, already has a few areas that seem primed to attract new talent, particularly to cities like Vancouver. Edit: I suppose Vancouver wasn't actually a great example. I just really like that area.

Vancouver has the high COL of the Bay Area with significantly lower wages. I don't see it becoming a major player.

Vancouver is still significantly cheaper than the Bay Area, you can get a studio for less than 1000$USD / month.

Re: America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business

#22

Post by lj3 »

fhood wrote: post #6

I don't see highly skilled personnel being all that keen on moving to Mexico. Canada, however, already has a few areas that seem primed to attract new talent, particularly to cities like Vancouver. Edit: I suppose Vancouver wasn't actually a great example. I just really like that area.

Canadian companies won't pay the salaries that companies in the US pay. Same for European companies. For that reason alone, I doubt we'll see a whole lot of competition in the tech space outside of the US.

Re: America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business

#23

Post by qdev »

ng12 wrote: post #8
fhood wrote: post #6

I don't see highly skilled personnel being all that keen on moving to Mexico. Canada, however, already has a few areas that seem primed to attract new talent, particularly to cities like Vancouver. Edit: I suppose Vancouver wasn't actually a great example. I just really like that area.

Vancouver has the high COL of the Bay Area with significantly lower wages. I don't see it becoming a major player.

With the relatively low wages in Vancouver, it seems strange that more companies aren't setting up offices here to take advantage of that.

This is all the more strange if the infographic at the end of this article is correct:

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/how-migration-wars-i...

ie. it appears that Vancouver and Toronto have very high quality tech talent but extremely low labour cost. I'm sure much of this is due to the exchange rate. But no matter the reason, it sounds like companies could find a competitive edge by setting up in Canada.

Re: America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business

#24

Post by dionidium »

Retric wrote: post #21
ng12 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vancouver has the high COL of the Bay Area with significantly lower wages. I don't see it becoming a major player.

Vancouver is still significantly cheaper than the Bay Area, you can get a studio for less than 1000$USD / month.

This underlines an important distinction about Vancouver real estate: it's very expensive to purchase a home in Vancouver, but rents have not exploded at the same pace. That makes it a very different value proposition from what exists in the SFBA (especially for younger folks who don't necessarily want to buy).

Re: America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business

#25

Post by passivepinetree »

tapatio wrote: post #7
christophilus wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you become a remote company, this problem is solved. There's a HUGE pool of talent working remotely. Don't isolate your options to one narrow locale.

Good point. But I enjoy working with people in person, having stand-ups, etc. While I could see maybe 50-75% of the team working remotely, I would still want to have some local team members. I guess there is one way to find out: post some jobs and see if anyone bites.

I would actually love to move to South America or Mexico for a job at a startup.

However, it's probably a generational thing. I'm young and don't have roots in any particular area. Working on a different continent sounds like a wonderful adventure.

Re: America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business

#26

Post by jensv »

rfdub wrote: post #12
ng12 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vancouver has the high COL of the Bay Area with significantly lower wages. I don't see it becoming a major player.

I live in Vancouver, can confirm. Maybe after a significant liquidity event or two pumps some capital into the local ecosystem, but at present there are few (if any) world class tech companies here and despite the incredibly high and fast rising cost of living, wages are actually the lowest of any major Canadian city. Sure its a desirable place to live, but few world class talents are going to relocate here to work f…

I think there are a few like Arista Networks, Facebook and Amazon. You might make 80k+ and spend 15k on housing and the general cost of living is still lower than SF. Just yesterday I meant some SF based founders come visit because of tax credit incentives, lower labour costs, COL, etc.

Re: America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business

#27

Post by thrav »

mc32 wrote: post #17
ng12 wrote: post #4

Visa availability is not the magic ingredient to replicate Sillicon Valley. High wages and high concentration of talent are. What would entice an Indian or Eastern European developer to move to Mexico?

Beaches and a relaxed pace of life, not unlike that of the Balearic coast instead of aggressive dog eat dog of SV culture? It is different but some people might like the more relaxed atmos.

What if the aggressive dog eat dog culture is what sparks innovation? What if having amazing beaches and hardly any need for cash is a recipe for underachievement?

People have options. If they choose the valley, they're choosing it for a reason. It's already easy enough to find remote work as a talented programmer and live wherever you want. If that's you priority, you do that.

If you want the competition and the buzz and the drive, you go where the people with those shared values are concentrated (NY or SF). Where you have to either bust your ass or risk ending up on the street like the people you see on Market every day. This propels you forward at a rate that is difficult to replicate elsewhere.

Re: America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business

#28

Post by mtalantikite »

tapatio wrote: post #3

I have thought about moving to South America and opening a startup there. I just don't know that there is sufficient talent to build up a team. We can't even fill our open positions in Southern California. I am curious, how many engineers from Silicon Valley would be interested in moving to South America? Mexico? Has anyone taken a poll?

I've been considering a move down to Mexico for a while now (from NYC), or at least splitting my time between Brooklyn and DF.

I think you could make it work, particularly if you allowed people to work remote for part of the year. You could also rent a house for remote employees to come spend time at with the hope that they decide to move local. A startup I worked for earlier in my career rented a townhouse on South Park back in 2008 or so, which was convenient for any of us that worked remote to come be in SF for a week or two if we wanted.

Plus I'm sure there are plenty of very talented engineers local to any major city that you choose to start in. Pair that with accommodating international hires with remote work, housing, and intensive Spanish lessons and you'll probably be fine.

Re: America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business

#29

Post by stillhere »

The notion of "good" or "bad" all depends on what you value. If you value the economy above all then this is good for companies outside the US, bad for companies inside the US. If you value jobs for your own citizens over money then opposite is true: better job opportunities for locals, bad news for corporations (at least in the short term).

Re: America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business

#30

Post by technofiend »

tapatio wrote: post #3

I have thought about moving to South America and opening a startup there. I just don't know that there is sufficient talent to build up a team. We can't even fill our open positions in Southern California. I am curious, how many engineers from Silicon Valley would be interested in moving to South America? Mexico? Has anyone taken a poll?

Many large multinational corporations have offices in Buenos Aires with IT workers. RedHat has a local office that offers support for the entire region, IBM has offices for subcontracted IT, etc. In fact it's just gotten expensive enough there (the country still has some inflation although it is slowing) that some jobs are being moved out (Exxon comes to mind) from BA to India.

Like anything the talent pool and their ability to speak English is on a spectrum but my personal experience hiring in-region was and is a positive one.

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