Folks love to talk about the Midwest as fly-over nation, but the Midwest is a great place to hire. Of Zapier's 9 person team we have 4 people in the Midwest: 2 engineers, 1 marketing, 1 support. And we have no intention of stopping hiring in the Midwest.
Bringing Silicon Valley to the Midwest
11–20 of 84 posts
Re: Bringing Silicon Valley to the Midwest
#12As a Midwesterner, I am slightly put off by the use of the term "outsourcing" in the title. Considering the term wasn't used in the article I feel it carries negative connotation. Maybe I am reading too deeply into this...
I have to admit, as a fly-over stater (Colorado) I found the tone be pretty condescending. There's an air of "we're moving the stuff people in the valley are to smart to do" to it. I'm not sure if it's intended, but it seems like they think the midwest is only good for the entry level. That really amazing developers don't exist outside of the valley. If that's true, I for one hope they don't change their position. We…
Is it possible to get an entry-level engineering job in the Valley today? It doesn't seem like that's common at all. So if you're just starting out and particularly if you don't happen to have a boutique degree, where are you going to start at entry level as a developer? To me, it sounds like a great way to hire.
Re: Bringing Silicon Valley to the Midwest
#13Re: Bringing Silicon Valley to the Midwest
#14I'm jealous -- I would love to telecommute from my home town in the Upper Peninsula, but it just wasn't happening when I was looking for jobs after college. I ended up moving to a bigger city just to get a job as a software engineer.
Still looking for a way to get back home, though. There have been so few options, and none where I felt I'd be able to advance my career. Self employment has always been the most attractive option.
Re: Bringing Silicon Valley to the Midwest
#15As a Midwesterner, I am slightly put off by the use of the term "outsourcing" in the title. Considering the term wasn't used in the article I feel it carries negative connotation. Maybe I am reading too deeply into this...
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Re: Bringing Silicon Valley to the Midwest
#16As a Midwesterner, I am slightly put off by the use of the term "outsourcing" in the title. Considering the term wasn't used in the article I feel it carries negative connotation. Maybe I am reading too deeply into this...
I think you are. This http://www.saturnsys.com/ "local" (as in ~200 miles away from me) Minnesota company has been using the tagline "Offshore to the North Shore" (...of Lake Superior) in their radio advertising for years. Their home page touts their "Rural outsourcing model."
Outsourcing is exactly what it is. Nothing to be offended about.
Re: Bringing Silicon Valley to the Midwest
#17As a Midwesterner, I am slightly put off by the use of the term "outsourcing" in the title. Considering the term wasn't used in the article I feel it carries negative connotation. Maybe I am reading too deeply into this...
The buzzword term I've seen used is "Onshoring", also, fellow midwesterner here
Re: Bringing Silicon Valley to the Midwest
#18This is potentially a great way to go and solve the "engineering shortage" in the U.S. There are tons of qualified engineers in places all over the U.S., but S.V. never bothers to look for them. The great side benefit is that the cost of living in most of the U.S. is much lower than on the coasts meaning you can almost get 2 people in nowhere Alabama or Nashville, Someplace for the price of 1 San Franciscan or 1 New…
I agree with your overall point of looking in the areas around DOE labs (disclaimer: I'm at one now and worked at a different one in the past), but maybe only half-ish of them are truly in nowheresville. I would say Idaho, Los Alamos, NETL, Pacific, and probably Ames definitely are; while Oak Ridge is kind of on the bubble. This might just be my bias having grown up in the Midwest.
The rest are in major metropolitan areas, or very close by, such as: Livermore, Brookhaven, Argonne, and NREL (among others).
One thing you might notice is that many of the more out-of-the-way labs are on or next to the campuses of large universities with strong technical bases that maybe you didn't know about, like Iowa State for Ames and West Virginia University for NETL.
Re: Bringing Silicon Valley to the Midwest
#19As a Midwesterner, I am slightly put off by the use of the term "outsourcing" in the title. Considering the term wasn't used in the article I feel it carries negative connotation. Maybe I am reading too deeply into this...
Not too deeply, I think. Outsourcing implies the use of second-rate talent (and literally refers to sourcing cheaper talent outside of the company, which is not the case here). It's definitely condescending, and I understand why tech talent in the Midwest would take offense to this tone. There is definitely a large pool of top notch talent in the Midwest, and it's no secret at all that it's the most cost effective part of the country.
Re: Bringing Silicon Valley to the Midwest
#20As a Midwesterner, I am slightly put off by the use of the term "outsourcing" in the title. Considering the term wasn't used in the article I feel it carries negative connotation. Maybe I am reading too deeply into this...
For the data entry jobs as a contract employee, I think it is actually the correct word. Outsourcing doesn't need to be on-shore, or even remote. IBM outsources its secretaries and maintenance who work in the same building as employees. This company wanted to outsource data entry and customer service.
If they are actually hiring the people (as it seems the author of the post had happen to him eventually), then it isn't outsourcing anymore.