Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 172 posts

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#11

Post by francisofascii »

RALaBarge wrote: post #4

30 miles West in Ann Arbor, there are tech gigs but not tons of them. If you are apart of the University of Michigan, there are tons of opportunities via the college and the groups there, but if not there aren't tons of openings. Detroit itself is an amazing city, but it isn't a tech hub, nor is it for everyone. It is the shell of the automotive companies that started to move their operations of out the country in th…

I'm curious if Lansing, the capital of Michigan, offers opportunities for government contractor work due to its proximity. With Lansing, Detroit, and Ann Arbor relatively close to each other, semi-remote roles might be feasible.

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#12

Post by JKCalhoun »

RALaBarge wrote: post #4

30 miles West in Ann Arbor, there are tech gigs but not tons of them. If you are apart of the University of Michigan, there are tons of opportunities via the college and the groups there, but if not there aren't tons of openings. Detroit itself is an amazing city, but it isn't a tech hub, nor is it for everyone. It is the shell of the automotive companies that started to move their operations of out the country in th…

> fully empty

Like that.

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#13

Post by whaleofatw2022 »

toyg wrote: post #5
cebert wrote: post #2

I live in the greater Detroit area and would love for it to become a thriving tech community. While articles like this portray a thriving tech scene here, it’s not entirely accurate. Many automotive companies claim a need for tech talent but establish labs and locations in the Bay Area. For instance, Rivian’s vehicle software isn’t developed in Michigan, despite being HQed here. The prominent tech employers in our ar…

The tech company I work for is listed on the NASDAQ and headquartered in Birmingham, a few minutes out of Detroit - originally it was in Rochester. There is a lot of money in Michigan. The main issue I can see is that you have to be in the right circles - there is definitely a class divide in the state, and it's pretty brutal.

Yeah class divides are weird in Southeast MI.

At smaller shops it leads to a lot of hubris from management. I've worked at more than one shop where circles of UofM grads insist on outsourcing everything new and having in-house employees only do maintenance or minor features. If you didn't go to UofM your opinion is worthless.

Leads to incredibly toxic shops and terrible software.

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#15

Post by yawgmoth »

In my experience, companies based in Michigan pay 20-50k lower and do not have staff/principal roles available. You have to find a remote role to stay competitive wage wise. Some companies are not willing to pay as much for Michigan workers as they are NY/SF/elsewhere workers, too.

I think the reality is Columbus and Chicago are growing quicker than Detroit. The relative increase here might be "buzzing" but in absolute terms, it's desolate.

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#18

Post by cobertos »

llm_nerd wrote: post #17

Unfortunate timing for this to front page here given that Detroit and Michigan in general are going to endure some extremely rough times in the coming months and years. Detroits revival just took some direct hits.

How do you mean? A lot of things have stayed pretty consistent here over the years. What are you expecting?

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#19

Post by santoshalper »

dhfbshfbu4u3 wrote: post #9

Detroit is buzzing because it’s gone through a complete and total deflation. Things are up because they went so far down, not unlike say… Argentina today or the rest of the US in 3-5 years.

Pretty much. At some point there is nowhere to go but up. Still, it's nice to see.

Re: Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

#20

Post by dcchambers »

I really thought the major "rust belt" cities were going to blow up after the big COVID WFH push. Why spend 2-10x as much to live in one of four coastal metros when you could get the same pay while living somewhere much cheaper. The biggest issue with these cities in the last 50 years has been a lack of high paying jobs and WFH tech jobs essentially negate that issue.

There are a ton of American cities that have fallen from their former glory but are full of cheap housing, interesting things, and lots of history.

Shame it doesn't seem like that has panned out much.

Post reply on HN