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Hiring for tech jobs has increased more than 100% in these Midwestern cities

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Re: Hiring for tech jobs has increased more than 100% in these Midwestern cities

#101

I'm not quite sure on the reliability of this site, but assuming it's reliable... "And, as icing on the cake, seven of the top 10 most affordable states in the nation are in the Midwest." Name any big city you've heard of in the Midwest, and it's on the list. Chicago, Detroit, and so on. The list is, for the most part, "rust belt" cities that are all doing pretty well these days. I'd say the one thing they all have w…

You gotta get away from that lake-effect snow. Detroit area winters dont get that, but the western half of the state does. Chicago and Wisconsin are colder but offer clearer skies in the winter, as moisture and heat are picked up from the water as the weather moves west to east.

Re: Hiring for tech jobs has increased more than 100% in these Midwestern cities

#102
post #52

Yup, just did this. Got an extra master suite, and 1.75 more bathrooms with much bigger yard and garage for $1100 less. And neighbors that actually talk to you. Not to mention half the price for gas and food. Oh, and the swings aren't chained up. Good-bye LA, I will not miss you one bit.

>And neighbors that actually talk to you.

It's things like this that keep me living in the big city. I can have a mental break, run around naked for 8 hours and be back to normal with no one ever realizing anything happened.

Re: Hiring for tech jobs has increased more than 100% in these Midwestern cities

#103
post #17

Moved from the Midwest to the Bay Area, and tech comes in two forms: IT departments at major industrial firms (manufacturing, chemical, pharma, etc), or companies that are eventually bought by West Coast companies. The pay cap is much lower. Becoming a millionaire through stocks and wages is harder, but you will still be in the top 10% of earners overall. If you want to live in a mansion, the Midwest makes this dream…

"What you will find is that people are friendly, as long as you look like them (white)." Be aware that when people say things like this they often do so to feel virtuous themselves like only they are so enlightened that only they even consider being friendly to non white people. The idea that people in the Midwest (which has a population of over 65 million people similar to France and the UK) are only friendly to whi…

Nobody is saying every single person in the midwest is only friendly to white people. This is so obstinate it doesn't even seem genuine to me.

At the risk of feeding the trolls -- I grew up in the midwest. I can tell you that I both experienced racism myself and saw a lot of it in my high school both in students and from my classmate's parents. Of course everyone isn't racist, and most folks are friendly and accepting. But comments like this downplay the experience that many people in these places do have. In my experience, it takes a relatively small number of racist people and a whole bunch of folks who don't call that shit out to make it less comfortable for someone who isn't white in their day to day lives.

Re: Hiring for tech jobs has increased more than 100% in these Midwestern cities

#104

I worked with two developers in Boston who were DINK (Double Income No Kids) and they sold their Boston condo, moved to the Midwest (Minneapolis) and bought a six bedroom house on a lake and two jet-skis for the same price as their condo. Their cost of living went down tremendously. By their own standards they lost nothing compared to Boston (food/services/entertainment actually got better) except that they had to de…

I'm skeptical that the food/services/entertainment is actually better. What's the Asian food scene in Minneapolis? Can you get Sichuan, Hunan, Henan, and Yunnan or is it just that one Sichuan place? How about the movie theaters or theaters? I went from New York to Seattle and finding a theater that showed non-blockbusters was really hard. When I did find one, they were always three months behind New York. If I wanted…

For theatres the Twin Cities have the second most theatres per capita behind only New York City.

https://www.pastemagazine.com/theatre/best-theatre-cities-in...

Re: Hiring for tech jobs has increased more than 100% in these Midwestern cities

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you will find the engineering brain drain from any US region that doesn't (currently) have high paying tech jobs. I went to Georgia Tech and a significant number of CS grads from there moved to NYC, Bay Area, Seattle, or Austin.

When factoring in the cost of living, there isn't much of a pay difference. This is especially true once you have a family and have to care about living in a good school district.

Your second sentence may be true, but your first sentence is most definitely not. The biggest thing that accounts for the cost of living difference is housing. If you can live relatively cheaply, which most people in their 20s can, you will always come out ahead (and usually WAY ahead) if you take a high paying job in an expensive area vs taking a lower paying job in a cheap area.

Re: Hiring for tech jobs has increased more than 100% in these Midwestern cities

#106
post #17

Moved from the Midwest to the Bay Area, and tech comes in two forms: IT departments at major industrial firms (manufacturing, chemical, pharma, etc), or companies that are eventually bought by West Coast companies. The pay cap is much lower. Becoming a millionaire through stocks and wages is harder, but you will still be in the top 10% of earners overall. If you want to live in a mansion, the Midwest makes this dream…

"What you will find is that people are friendly, as long as you look like them (white)." Be aware that when people say things like this they often do so to feel virtuous themselves like only they are so enlightened that only they even consider being friendly to non white people. The idea that people in the Midwest (which has a population of over 65 million people similar to France and the UK) are only friendly to whi…

You're right, the above declaration should probably be refined a bit. You should be both white and straight.

I would say it's hard to take what you've said seriously having personally known people who have left the midwest specifically due to the discrimination they faced.

Except I do have to have to take it seriously because it's a toxic attitude that belittles the struggles that people face due to discrimination by attempting to minimize their experiences.

Re: Hiring for tech jobs has increased more than 100% in these Midwestern cities

#107
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What you will find is that people are friendly, as long as you look like them (white)." Be aware that when people say things like this they often do so to feel virtuous themselves like only they are so enlightened that only they even consider being friendly to non white people. The idea that people in the Midwest (which has a population of over 65 million people similar to France and the UK) are only friendly to whi…

Or maybe they themselves have experienced discriminatory behavior in the Midwest? As an LGBT guy, I'm always direct when pointing out that I left the South partially because of discrimination, and someone is always happy to butt in to say I'm making it all up and the South is perfectly open and tolerant. It gets tiring.

  someone is always happy to butt in to say ... the South is perfectly open and tolerant
which would be a generalisation, which is exactly what jacobriis is warning of

Re: Hiring for tech jobs has increased more than 100% in these Midwestern cities

#108
post #17

Moved from the Midwest to the Bay Area, and tech comes in two forms: IT departments at major industrial firms (manufacturing, chemical, pharma, etc), or companies that are eventually bought by West Coast companies. The pay cap is much lower. Becoming a millionaire through stocks and wages is harder, but you will still be in the top 10% of earners overall. If you want to live in a mansion, the Midwest makes this dream…

"What you will find is that people are friendly, as long as you look like them (white)." Be aware that when people say things like this they often do so to feel virtuous themselves like only they are so enlightened that only they even consider being friendly to non white people. The idea that people in the Midwest (which has a population of over 65 million people similar to France and the UK) are only friendly to whi…

I lived in the midwest for over a decade and am married to a midwesterner. I'm also ethnically one of the 'model minorities' so to some people I'm white, while to white supremacists I'm assuredly not.

Most people in most places are basically friendly. However. Even just being recognize you as 'other' can get old, like being asked "where are you from" or riding the bus in Chicago and having to answer questions about my ethnicity from whoever was feeling tipsy enough to ask them.

Here's one story of folks being un-friendly: I was at a public event, basically a version of a county fair with my wife's family somewhere in the rural midwest. There's a stage with small-name bands performing, food vendors, and a small carnival-ride section. As the sun sets we lose track of her parents, and as we're looking for them I also got separated from my wife. I felt like the crowd was also slowly changing and like I was starting to attract attention in the form of unfriendly looks. I find my wife and try to express this, but her face clearly says it's all in my head and why am I talking about anything other than how we can find her parents. Just then a physically imposed man walks up, plants himself firmly in front of me, and asks in the least friendly way possible, "how's it going brother?" I answer him in unaccented neutral native-born american english (don't remember what i said, but likely something like "good how you doin"), and my wife is like, "ok you're right, we have to find my parents and leave."

So just to be clear - I can't know what might have been, but I strongly suspect that having grown up here and being a native speaker made that evening simpler. And again, I'm someone who many people look at and just process as "white" so I can easily take my experiences as a shallow sample from the tip of the iceberg.

And that kind of "unfriendly" experience is something that happens more often if i leave coastal metropolitan areas.

Re: Hiring for tech jobs has increased more than 100% in these Midwestern cities

#109

I worked with two developers in Boston who were DINK (Double Income No Kids) and they sold their Boston condo, moved to the Midwest (Minneapolis) and bought a six bedroom house on a lake and two jet-skis for the same price as their condo. Their cost of living went down tremendously. By their own standards they lost nothing compared to Boston (food/services/entertainment actually got better) except that they had to de…

What do two developers who are DINK need 6 bedrooms for? Genuinely curious.

I don't think DINK implies a lack of desire for children, rather the current state of not having any (and consequently a large amount of disposable income).

in my experience, people with large incomes often have more rooms in their house than they actually need for day-to-day life. sometimes it's just a flex, but often they expect to host their extended family and/or friends (and even their families) over the holidays. nobody needs a second kitchen and four extra bedrooms, but it does make bringing the whole family together under one roof a lot less tense.

Re: Hiring for tech jobs has increased more than 100% in these Midwestern cities

#110

For people that work in any of these cities, how have you been enjoying it? What sort of tech companies are around? What do the job interviews and salaries out there look like?

Not a typical situation, but I work at a FAANG office that's located in the midwest (I grew up here, so it's all I know culture-wise). The salary is great (paid similar to non-bayarea west coast), but the job interview was the same process as with the coasts and there were a lot of good and experienced applicants per position since this is one of the best-paying opportunities here.

Personally, I strongly prefer this to the hustle and bustle of the big and expensive cities - that's my preference though, and I know that it's not for everyone.

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