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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?

#71

Post by carterac »

kunjaan wrote: post #50
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).

I am graduating this December and I am divided in between moving to the Bay Area vs. working in NY. Is it better for my career to stay around technology companies or is it better to burn harder in a financial company?

Better to come to NYC and work on one of the many exciting tech startups desperately looking for tech talent, but I may be biased :).

Seriously though, ping me and I'll help make sure you find a great job in NYC.

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#72

Post by EdwardMSmith »

aberkowitz wrote: post #9

If startups branched out from Silicon Valley more often, new technological epicenters would form, alleviating the shortage.

In all the discussions of "startup culture" we've had here in the Twin Cities, this lack of mentorship by seasoned startup veterans always comes up as the main thing that we're lacking.

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#73

Post by Retric »

roel_v wrote: post #43
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.

"$700 per month is still exorbitantly expensive relative to most of the country" I find that hard to believe. Maybe in backwater Georgia. I happen to have some experience with US residents moving temporarily to Europe and they don't even blink at paying local market rate, with some mentioning that it's 'quite cheap compared to home'. Market rate here for a non-luxurious 2-bedroom apartment or semi-detached is 800-100…

I know a couple with a really nice 3 story house with an attic and full basement that might be worth 50k. Granted most of the housing in the US is in a much better area and is worth more than that, but most of the actual land in the US is poorly located and vary cheap.

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#74

Post by loewenskind »

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.

Uh, what? In the middle of the Midwest with literally one tech company to work for rent was $500/mo. You're calling $700/mo when you have choices where to work for at a 50%+ higher rate exorbitant? I think you need to step outside your normal boundaries a bit.

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#76

Post by moultano »

chopsueyar wrote: post #45
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.

What if I don't like 'goetta'?

Question your humanity. ;)

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#77

Post by moultano »

loewenskind wrote: post #74
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.

Uh, what? In the middle of the Midwest with literally one tech company to work for rent was $500/mo. You're calling $700/mo when you have choices where to work for at a 50%+ higher rate exorbitant? I think you need to step outside your normal boundaries a bit.

If you're splitting a one-bedroom in the midwest, you can easily do $200 per month, which is what $700 gets you in the valley.

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#78

Post by epochwolf »

tarmstrong wrote: post #64
kls wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a true eye opener to see someone making 500$ an hour working a 40 hour week and know they could raise their rates Right some how we make the moral argument that one person should not be making that much. But when you realize a good developer can do the work of a team. Because the how you do it, is more important than how much you do of it. Couple that with the fact that a developer can automate 100-1000 peoples…

Who makes the moral argument that one person should not be making that much?

Karl Marx?

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#79

Post by percept »

flacon wrote: post #75

Looking for a developer with startup exp? I am a developer with startup experience and skill in Ruby, JS, and frontend technologies. I have 6+ years experience and a BA from UC Berkeley. I created a post related to this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1786901

If you haven't already, check out Authentic Jobs--they appear to have a number of remote jobs listed with your skillset:

http://www.authenticjobs.com/

Good luck with your search.

Re: Is The Silicon Valley Talent Shortage Getting Worse?

#80

Post by moultano »

pyre wrote: post #40
moultano wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The point is that it's probably a lot more expensive than what the poster is used to, and it's worth working somewhere that can give you some financial security for a while until you know the place.
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