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Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

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Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#31

Post by pyre »

moultano wrote: post #15
staunch wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just rent a room in an apartment with roommates for $700/mo and don't get a car. Now you can get a job at an exciting startup instead of a 12 year old advertising company with 15,000 programmers.

$700 per month is still exorbitantly expensive relative to most of the country. In Columbus Ohio that gets you a three story house with beautiful wood floors, or a furnished multi-room apartment in downtown Cincinnati. Only in the valley is that kind of expense living frugally, and it's something someone with a student's level of savings ought to take stock of before making the leap.

Really? ~$700/month gets you a two-bedroom apartment in parts of Portland, Oregon, but that seems to be around a minimum. The cheapest thing that I was able to find at one point was ~$500/month for a house-share w/ 7 other people.

That's a far cry from what you're talking about in Ohio, and I'm not even in the Valley, and the prices here aren't too far off from prices in Toronto, Ontario.

I'll also note that Ohio isn't known for being a prosperous part of the country either. I'm sure you could find cities around the country where the housing prices are similar to SF (though still maybe less).

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#32

Post by miked »

staunch wrote: post #11
moultano wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are looking for a big company job, it shouldn't be too hard to get one before moving. The burn rate on living expenses is pretty high out here unless you have a valley-sized salary too, so I recommend that. Apply to Google. :) You can always leave for a startup once your short-term finances are secure.

Or just rent a room in an apartment with roommates for $700/mo and don't get a car. Now you can get a job at an exciting startup instead of a 12 year old advertising company with 15,000 programmers.

> Now you can get a job at an exciting startup instead of a 12 year old advertising company with 15,000 programmers.

I assume you're referring to Google.

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#33

Post by aneth »

I'm an RoR/Java/etc developer/entrepreneur. I get recruited heavily 2-3 times a week, and yet half my non-tech friends (which comprises most of my friends) are under-employed or jobless. That dichotomy is disturbing and very difficult personally to deal with. Here I am making 10 times what the employed ones make hourly, while talking about making millions on a startup. I try to encourage them to get some product or internet marketing skills, generally to no avail.

Even so, I feel that web development is a commodity and that to stay ahead I need to develop a better design and product background.

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#34

Post by mindsetlabs »

Companies need to start taking on the virtual office model and start hiring developers from remote cities and even countries, you miss out on the social interaction of an office but good developers tend to get more done quicker when they can work from home and with flexible hours.

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#35

Post by mindsetlabs »

aneth wrote: post #30

The developers I know are mostly trying to be founder level at a startup. I actually feel sorry every time I run into a company trying to hire a Rails developer because I feel their pain. What's the solution for you companies desperate to hire? In my opinion, your outlook on equity needs to change. It's regular practice to offer a "rock star" developer 0.25% of your pre-diluted shares when you have $2M dollars in the…

This is a realization that I hope business founders will soon come to realize, because without the engineers there is no company, there is no innovation or product to sell. So i agree, and developers should get equity!

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#36

Post by moultano »

pyre wrote: post #31
moultano wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$700 per month is still exorbitantly expensive relative to most of the country. In Columbus Ohio that gets you a three story house with beautiful wood floors, or a furnished multi-room apartment in downtown Cincinnati. Only in the valley is that kind of expense living frugally, and it's something someone with a student's level of savings ought to take stock of before making the leap.

Really? ~$700/month gets you a two-bedroom apartment in parts of Portland, Oregon, but that seems to be around a minimum. The cheapest thing that I was able to find at one point was ~$500/month for a house-share w/ 7 other people. That's a far cry from what you're talking about in Ohio, and I'm not even in the Valley, and the prices here aren't too far off from prices in Toronto, Ontario. I'll also note that Ohio isn…

In the valley, $700/month doesn't even get you a studio. It gets you half of a 1 bedroom.

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#37

Post by aneth »

cageface wrote: post #10
kacy wrote: post #2

Is it time for this soon-to-be computer science grad to move to the Valley? Is this a good or a bad thing for new grads?

If you're looking for a first job then probably yes. Quality of life for a young, single male in the Valley is pretty low though. After 10 years in the Bay Area I'm moving to NYC where women actually exist.

In the Valley maybe. San Francisco proper is filled with women and has a great quality of life on par with, but different from, NYC.

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#38

Post by smiler »

carterac wrote: post #7

The valley?? The real story of talent drought is in New York City. Recently there has been a gigantic explosion of startups with lots of funding, but _very_ few great engineers available. As CEO of a just-funded tech startup, I am budgeting ~70% of my time to personally recruit a Lead Developer and Senior Software Engineer (despite having a technical background myself).

Have you considered hiring remote workers? Surely your money will go further hiring a remote developer in the Mid West with the cheaper cost of living than NYC? I'm sure you could even fly them in a few times if you needed to and still save money

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#40

Post by pyre »

moultano wrote: post #36
pyre wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? ~$700/month gets you a two-bedroom apartment in parts of Portland, Oregon, but that seems to be around a minimum. The cheapest thing that I was able to find at one point was ~$500/month for a house-share w/ 7 other people. That's a far cry from what you're talking about in Ohio, and I'm not even in the Valley, and the prices here aren't too far off from prices in Toronto, Ontario. I'll also note that Ohio isn…

In the valley, $700/month doesn't even get you a studio. It gets you half of a 1 bedroom.

That's true, but trying to illustrate how hyper-expensive prices in The Valley are by comparing them against prices in places that are ultra-low seems disingenuous (to me at least).

The post came off like it was implying that in The Valley $700/month is a bare-basement price, while everywhere else in the country it buys you a mansion and several servants.

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