Apple Should Open a Seattle Office • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Should Open a Seattle Office

#11

Post by cfallin » Sat, Aug 16, 2014, 7:16 PM UTC

millstone wrote: post #6

btgeekboy wrote: post #3

Apple already made their choice in second location - Austin, TX, where the cost of living is cheaper and the Vitamin D is plentiful.

The Austin location wasn't an engineering office last I checked, though that may have changed. However, Apple does have an engineering office in Paris, and one in Pittsburgh (I think), so they certainly aren't against having multiple engineering locations.

Their Austin location is where they do their CPU design (or at least large parts of it), from what I've heard.

Re: Apple Should Open a Seattle Office

#12

Post by peterkelly » Sat, Aug 16, 2014, 7:17 PM UTC

jsolson wrote: post #10

peterkelly wrote: post #9

You could make the same argument for most major cities in the world that have a strong developer community.

You could, although in Seattle they'd be joining Amazon (HQ), Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and Adobe (among many others). I don't know how many other cities can claim all of those companies having a significant presence there.

Many other cities have lots of really smart people. Sydney? London? Berlin?

Less competition too...

Re: Apple Should Open a Seattle Office

#13

Post by dsjoerg » Sat, Aug 16, 2014, 7:19 PM UTC

I find this article strangely unnecessarily specific without justification. Why not just say All Good Companies Should Open an Office In Every Major City?

What is so special about Apple and Seattle that notably that company should open an office in that city?

Re: Apple Should Open a Seattle Office

#14

Post by johansch » Sat, Aug 16, 2014, 7:21 PM UTC

cfallin wrote: post #11

millstone wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Austin location wasn't an engineering office last I checked, though that may have changed. However, Apple does have an engineering office in Paris, and one in Pittsburgh (I think), so they certainly aren't against having multiple engineering locations.

Their Austin location is where they do their CPU design (or at least large parts of it), from what I've heard.

There's a very well-defined interface between CPU and software; the instruction set. Sure, they do need to talk (figure out clever ways to optimize the whole stack), but not every 10 minutes.

I think it's quite smart to put all software engineering in one physical location. Physical distance kills cooperation so badly :/.

Re: Apple Should Open a Seattle Office

#15

Post by psykotic » Sat, Aug 16, 2014, 7:23 PM UTC

dsjoerg wrote: post #13

I find this article strangely unnecessarily specific without justification. Why not just say All Good Companies Should Open an Office In Every Major City? What is so special about Apple and Seattle that notably that company should open an office in that city?

Two possible reasons: Seattle is the largest tech center outside of the Bay Area, and the cost of living is still manageable.

Re: Apple Should Open a Seattle Office

#16

Post by nardi » Sat, Aug 16, 2014, 7:31 PM UTC

peterkelly wrote: post #12

jsolson wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could, although in Seattle they'd be joining Amazon (HQ), Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and Adobe (among many others). I don't know how many other cities can claim all of those companies having a significant presence there.

Many other cities have lots of really smart people. Sydney? London? Berlin? Less competition too...

He didn't say anything about smart people. He mentioned the companies that have a presence there. That's significant, because people living in Seattle and working for Microsoft, Adobe, Google, etc., may be interested in working for Apple, but Apple has no presence there.

Re: Apple Should Open a Seattle Office

#17

Post by jseliger » Sat, Aug 16, 2014, 7:32 PM UTC

psykotic wrote: post #15

dsjoerg wrote: post #13

I find this article strangely unnecessarily specific without justification. Why not just say All Good Companies Should Open an Office In Every Major City? What is so special about Apple and Seattle that notably that company should open an office in that city?

Two possible reasons: Seattle is the largest tech center outside of the Bay Area, and the cost of living is still manageable.

the cost of living is still manageable

True, though they are rising rapidly: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021673014_rentincrea... .

Seattle has had a better response than San Francisco's: http://www.citylab.com/housing/2013/10/san-francisco-exodus/... ("Over the past two decades, San Francisco has produced an average of 1,500 new housing units per year. Compare this with Seattle (another 19th century industrial city that now has a tech economy), which has produced about 3,000 units per year over the same time period (and remember it's starting from a smaller overall population base)"), but it is still subject to many of the dysfunctional political-economic-legal beliefs described in The Rent Is Too Damn High: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0078XGJXO.

It's worth noting too that Seattle and Washington don't have income taxes, which can be a substantial issue for many tech workers.

Re: Apple Should Open a Seattle Office

#18

Post by morgante » Sat, Aug 16, 2014, 7:33 PM UTC

jsolson wrote: post #10

peterkelly wrote: post #9

You could make the same argument for most major cities in the world that have a strong developer community.

You could, although in Seattle they'd be joining Amazon (HQ), Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and Adobe (among many others). I don't know how many other cities can claim all of those companies having a significant presence there.

All those companies (and many more) also have offices in NY.

Re: Apple Should Open a Seattle Office

#19

Post by revertts » Sat, Aug 16, 2014, 7:34 PM UTC

dsjoerg wrote: post #13

I find this article strangely unnecessarily specific without justification. Why not just say All Good Companies Should Open an Office In Every Major City? What is so special about Apple and Seattle that notably that company should open an office in that city?

> What is so special about Apple and Seattle that notably that company should open an office in that city?

It's potentially the largest hub of independent mac/iOS developers outside of the valley. Seattle Xcoders is a bit of an institution and has been very active for a long time. Omni Group, Black Pixel, Flying Meat, Aged and Distilled, Q Branch (1/3rd of it) are all here. So there is justification for this specific pairing, though it wasn't explicitly mentioned in the article.

Re: Apple Should Open a Seattle Office

#20

Post by tlercher » Sat, Aug 16, 2014, 7:41 PM UTC

nardi wrote: post #16

peterkelly wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many other cities have lots of really smart people. Sydney? London? Berlin? Less competition too...

He didn't say anything about smart people. He mentioned the companies that have a presence there. That's significant, because people living in Seattle and working for Microsoft, Adobe, Google, etc., may be interested in working for Apple, but Apple has no presence there.

People UK, Asia or Germany also may be interested in working for Apple… (As Example Microsoft, Adobe, Google AND Apple [mostly Retail/Administration no engineering] having Offices in Munich)

Google as Example has large a HQ in Zurich, Microsoft as explained above in Munich.

This Blogpost seems to me to be a call for more decentralized operations in engineering.