Hiring for tech jobs has increased more than 100% in these Midwestern cities • Hacker News Board

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

#151

Post by jacobriis » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 4:51 PM UTC

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…

"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."

Chicago, infamous MAGA country.

Where the city buses are ruled by white supremacists harassing all innocent people who look different from them!

In a city that is only 31.7% non-Hispanic white, they have a lot of work to do!

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

#152

Post by _qulr » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 4:51 PM UTC

managerclass wrote: post #113

goodells wrote: post #19

I'm surprised not to see Madison, WI on this list. Our tech sector has been strong and growing for several decades - locally we have Epic Systems, Exact Sciences, Promega Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific, several large insurance companies like American Family Insurance, Sentry Insurance. It might be easy to miss the agglomeration of these companies in one area because some of them are technically in different mu…

Probably because it's measuring the last 3 years and Madison already had a sizable tech workforce for many years now. Good area. Wish more people wore masks though.

> Good area. Wish more people wore masks though.

Huh? We have a mask mandate in Dane County. Everyone wears them, by law.

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

#153

Post by squidlogic » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 4:52 PM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #49

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.

What do people mean when they say a city is "vibrant"?

My own hot take on this:

If the fundamental unit of value is provided by people, then the potential to get work done scales with the number of people engaged and ready to do it.

In a city like New York, there are a lot of talented people that are engaged in value creation. That creates an economic ecosystem that provides the potential to take an idea and bring it to value delivery with low friction.

Vibrancy, then, is the attribute where idea potential is able to reach value delivery with low friction.

This is evidenced by a lot of what the other posters have mentioned: restaurants, the arts, startups, etc. These are the result of that potential existing within the ecosystem.

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

#154

Post by war1025 » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 4:52 PM UTC

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…

You adapt to where you live.

The fun things you do in the city are different from the fun things you do not in the city or in a different city.

You need to live somewhere for longer than a weekend to settle in and figure out what is noteworthy about an area.

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

#155

Post by Chris2048 » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 4:52 PM UTC

tolbish wrote: post #68

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…

Yes, people who have seen trends of racism in the Midwest against minorities firsthand should be disregarded. They are the real racists. /s Have you considered that their experiences may actually be true?

sarcastic hyperbole is unhelpful at the best of times, but in this case it isn't really established to what extent "trends of racism in the Midwest against minorities firsthand" has been seen. The sole reason we might assume is that dexwiz mentions that they "Moved from the Midwest to the Bay Area" with no more detail than that.

How much of the midwest, where, for how long; what did they witness firsthand? what did they hear?

It's a stretch to assume so much without projecting your own assumptions about the midwest.

> Have you considered that their experiences may actually be true?

We don't have experiences, we have conclusions. and without knowledge of the experiences that inform them, it's hard to judge their truth. There's also the issue of what "the midwest is unfriendly to non-white people" means; taken to either absolute is crazy: "any racism in the midwest means the midwest is racist", "any tolerance in the midwest means the midwest isn't racist". Clearly, the statement needs qualification to be useful, it's not a matter of "true or false" without clear thresholds.

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

#156

Post by prepend » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 4:53 PM UTC

scarmig wrote: post #117

prepend wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“The south” is a really big region so maybe someone pops up because you’re tarring an entire region based on your individual experience. As an LGBT person, I grew up with people telling urban legends about gerbils and whatnot. Perhaps they witnessed a single person doing this, but attributing it to a large group is not very accurate. I grew up in the south in a super backwards small town and now live in a really forw…

I'm tarring an entire region because I say, truthfully, that I left it because I experienced discrimination there? Can you elaborate the ways I'm obligated to caveat and contextualize my experience so I don't hurt other people's feelings by honestly relaying it?

You’re not obligated to do anything, especially not to help me and others better understand you or make your comments useful.

“The south” ranges from Virginia to Texas. Maybe you lived everywhere and experienced discrimination everywhere.

For me, I grew up in a down of a 1000 people and live just a few hours away in a town with maybe one of the most diverse cultures (including LGBT) in the country.

If I said that because I experienced discrimination in my shitkicker little town that the entire south was similar, that would be wrong, and not very helpful to anyone trying to understand the south.

I suppose you can avoid absolutes and generalizations if you want to help others. But you definitely aren’t obligated to help anyone.

But generalizations jump out at me and annoy me because I’ve frequently encountered jerks saying something about perverts or crime stats and then just fall back on that they were just honestly relating their experience. But there is a difference between my experience and me saying that my experience applies to others. Especially if not backed by data and a suitable generalization.

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

#157

Post by lotsofpulp » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 4:54 PM UTC

lliamander wrote: post #127

What states other than California have reasonable protections for employees' side projects and protections against non-compete agreements?

I don't think any do. Washington almost had a non compete ban, and hopefully it goes through next time.

I would never consider a state that didn't even have parental leave benefits, simply because I would rather my descendants live in a state with some level of protections for employees versus employers. Although a mix of California's laws about overtime pay, giving option of sitting, non competes, and personal projects plus Washington's minimum wages for both hourly and salaried exempt employees would be ideal.

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

#158

Post by DetroitThrow » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 4:54 PM UTC

scarmig wrote: post #117

prepend wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“The south” is a really big region so maybe someone pops up because you’re tarring an entire region based on your individual experience. As an LGBT person, I grew up with people telling urban legends about gerbils and whatnot. Perhaps they witnessed a single person doing this, but attributing it to a large group is not very accurate. I grew up in the south in a super backwards small town and now live in a really forw…

I'm tarring an entire region because I say, truthfully, that I left it because I experienced discrimination there? Can you elaborate the ways I'm obligated to caveat and contextualize my experience so I don't hurt other people's feelings by honestly relaying it?

Being more specific about the locale would help. Nashville is not Atlanta, NOLA is not Tampa when it comes to flavors of discriminatory attitudes - and rural or suburban attitudes are different as well. Describing where you went to for relief also adds even more context.

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

#159

Post by nilkn » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 4:57 PM UTC

scarmig wrote: post #69

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…

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.

It's important to clarify that you are mixing up two geographic regions here. You seem to mostly be referring to the deep south (especially since you refer to Atlanta in a later comment), which according to generally popular definitions is physically distinct from the midwest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_South

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States

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

#160

Post by tjr225 » Tue, Oct 06, 2020, 4:57 PM UTC

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…

I have a family(kid, partner, dogs) and just relocated from the Midwest back to Seattle.

I couldn't stand living in the Midwest and lasted just under a year. I grew up there, and have lived in a couple larger cities throughout the midwest. The weather is absolutely terrible and if I lost my remote tech job I'd be SOL until I could find another one. It is harder to find other parents/families/friends with things in common with, as well.

Another thing people don't talk about is the crime. Here in Seattle we have a lot of crime but not a lot of violence. In larger midwestern cities there are huge poor black neighborhoods, even entire parts of cities encompassing many neighborhoods, where the violence and suffering is incredible. Years ago, I used to live on Troost Ave in Kansas City, for example. Troost itself can be dangerous but is mostly fine- go a half a mile east and drive around and it is almost unrecognizable as America as someone who grew up white and did not have to see it. Bullets literally went through the window of the library my wife worked at.

I think either leaving or wanting to leave or big cities or job hubs/writing articles about leaving big cities or job hubs is something that is "in vogue" right now.

Probably a symptom of expensive housing and a pandemic that forced everyone to go remote. People, for some reason, love to dog on big cities/west coast but these coastal cities have undeniable positives to living in them; Weather, nature/mountains/ocean/public lands, interesting work, high pay, cultural stuff, etc- all things I want my child to grow up with even if it is expensive.