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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

#141

Post by ng12 »

bmd3991 wrote: post #130

Edit: The below applies to people who don't want kids. I get why you wouldn't want to raise kids in somewhere like NYC (though I can also see the inverse). I don't comment often on HN but I feel like I had to chime in here with a bunch of questions. These may sound inflammatory but I mean them sincerely, I just don't see where people are coming from. I understand that a lot of the things I'm listing are negatives for…

At a certain age a backyard for your kids to play in matters way more than being close to authentic ramen.

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

#142

Post by dogman144 »

nip180 wrote: post #43
vdnkh wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very consumerist world view (get big house, get fun toys) that not everyone believes in. I choose to live in a more vibrant city where I essentially trade my money for opportunity, experiences, and community.

Minneapolis would have significantly different opportunities, experiences, and communities than Boston. I’m not sure I’d declare one over the other. In this example having the opportunity to spend a lot of time on or by the lake would be highly desirable, not directly consumerist, and more available in Minneapolis than Boston.

Just on the Boston note, the city wears itself out pretty quickly. COVID is actually showing this strongly. Freedom Trail and related powered a downtown that otherwise died since March.

Of course it'll come back whenever it does, but the "real culture" of the areas that aren't total millennial, college, or medical resident playgrounds is up in Cambridge /Somerville. And those two towns are pretty small ultimately with rough commutes into the city.

Minneapolis and the like start to grow on me, as it's trading one smallish cultural area for another, but at a fraction of the cost.

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

#143

Post by [deleted] »

santaclaus wrote: post #67
shortandsweet wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the big schools? I always thought that what was holding the Midwest up, not enough high quality schools.

University of Illinois Urbana Champagne, University of Michigan, university of Wisconsin Madison, and Purdue are all top 20 in CS.

[deleted]

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

#144

Post by scarmig »

Chris2048 wrote: post #107
scarmig wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

No, jacobriis is not doing that. He's stating

> when people say things like this they often do so to feel virtuous themselves

You're laundering his comment into some abstract statement about how you can't make generalizations about anyone, when he was the one making a generalization that people who say that they experienced X are making things up.

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

#145

Post by DetroitThrow »

q845712 wrote: post #108
jacobriis wrote: post #62

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…

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 m…

Just curious... What ethnicity are you? On the west coast, outside of a couple cities, my experience has been the opposite - though I'm of a darker complexion.

And I'm not too fond of rural attitudes on race anywhere - if the rural west coast is somehow different, I'd love to hear your contrasting anecdotes. I know on the east coast it's certainly not the case.

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

#146

Post by padseeker »

I work for a sizable consulting firm with multiple offices including one in Chicago. We saw a lull during the early months (april-june) of Covid/quarantine, we froze hiring, and a few projects were cancelled (one was a major airline). We had a heavier bench for a short time, and utilization fell 10-20%.

That lull is over, at least in Chicago, and not just our office. We have almost no bench, utilization is reaching 100% for at least tech centric practices, and we're hiring again. Front end, back end, devops, salesforce implementation and integration, you name it, demand is exceeding supply for resources available.

On one hand it's comforting to have job security. But it's also surreal to hear reports about 13% unemployment. These are strange times. It does feel like anyone in the tech profession that we are insulated from the worst effects of this catastrophe. Most of us can easily do our jobs remotely. My brother and his girlfriend are both chefs living together in Chicago. Enhanced unemployment benefits expired in July and their lease ended in August so they both moved back in with their parents. I know what is happening out there but at times I feel like we live in a bubble.

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

#147

Post by nilkn »

strictnein wrote: post #87
pratik661 wrote: post #56

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.

Engineering managers at large companies in the Bay Area can make $600k. (And I don't mean directors or VPs, which are over $1 million.) Engineering managers in the Midwest are generally lucky to reach $200k. That's a basic new grad offer in the Bay Area.

Obviously not everyone is going to CA and getting a $600k income, but the compensation cap there is dramatically higher for top talent.

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

#148

Post by bmd3991 »

ng12 wrote: post #141
bmd3991 wrote: post #130

Edit: The below applies to people who don't want kids. I get why you wouldn't want to raise kids in somewhere like NYC (though I can also see the inverse). I don't comment often on HN but I feel like I had to chime in here with a bunch of questions. These may sound inflammatory but I mean them sincerely, I just don't see where people are coming from. I understand that a lot of the things I'm listing are negatives for…

At a certain age a backyard for your kids to play in matters way more than being close to authentic ramen.

Yeah definitely a valid point. I understand (more or less) for people who want kids, I need to add that to my comment. Of course I can still see some benefit to raising kids in a place like NYC, but that's much more nuanced

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

#149

Post by analog31 »

shortandsweet wrote: post #55
dexwiz wrote: 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 are the big schools? I always thought that what was holding the Midwest up, not enough high quality schools.

In my view, what holds the Midwest up, is that not everybody gets to live in the high-wage cities, yet we don't just give up on inventing and making things. Wherever smart, creative people live, there will be stuff happening, albeit perhaps at its own pace.

I tend to look at the high-wage regions like silicon valley, like they are a different country. Some folks will emigrate to that country, and I'm happy for them. Those of us who are left behind, for whatever reason, get on with our lives and find what there is to enjoy in our humble surroundings.

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

#150

Post by managerclass »

pratik661 wrote: post #140
strictnein wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I strongly disagree with the first point. The high salaries in the Bay Area and NYC filter out jobs where the marginal value of the labor is low. This also filters out low margin, low productivity businesses. This in aggregate also filters for higher skill employees on average. As a result, the chances of you working at a highly profitable (or fast growing) company is higher. The chances of you working with (and bein…

I completely agree. I made the mistake of taking a lower paying job in a lower cost area at the start of my career. When I did move to a higher paid area, I found that new grads were almost being paid my rate.
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