Carnegie Mellon is absolutely in the midwest.
Pennsylvania is a big state.
In Defense of the Midwest
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Re: In Defense of the Midwest
#12[deleted]
Re: In Defense of the Midwest
#13I live in Memphis TN and I've found that comments on HN towards the middle of the US are skewed negative. Perhaps I have a bias for remembering negative comments. Nonetheless, I find this attitude perplexing from the HN crowd. I understand the value of physical proximity to lots of other like minded, smart people. However, I would have thought that the tech crowd would be the first to decry the inefficiencies of havi…
> Every large city (>1M people) will almost certainly have communities of people who share your culture or at least tolerate and support it.
That is not enough. There need to be companies willing to hire. Those companies spring around where there is more talent so they don't have to relocate everyone. Where is more talent? Around more companies. It is a feedback loop. Network effect is probably the correct phrase here.
Unless large tech companies perhaps move their main offices or open large offices around these Midwest or Southern cities the situation will not change. But do we see Google, Facebook, Apple moving their HQ to Cleveland, or Memphis?
Re: In Defense of the Midwest
#14There is a huge difference between founding a startup in the midwest and being an engineer in the midwest. I believe that gets lost in a lot of the rhetoric from both sides. I love hiring engineers in the midwest. Consistently great work ethics, etc, etc.
On the other hand, if you're an entrepreneur, you don't live in SF and you're building a consumer internet startup, you're fucked. Primarily because your access to capital is so limited it's ridiculous. Most people that live in the midwest aren't able to put in the time required to build out the relationships needed to successfully fundraise in the Valley.
Re: In Defense of the Midwest
#15As a native Clevelander I can fully back this piece. I came back to Cleveland upon graduating college in May and have not regretted my decision one bit. While the resources are nowhere as easy to come by as in the Valley there still is a great startup community that's been building over the past few years. The cheap cost of living, beautiful seasons and plethora of things to do year-round have me recruiting college friends to come join me instead of vice versa.
Re: In Defense of the Midwest
#16I live in Memphis TN and I've found that comments on HN towards the middle of the US are skewed negative. Perhaps I have a bias for remembering negative comments. Nonetheless, I find this attitude perplexing from the HN crowd. I understand the value of physical proximity to lots of other like minded, smart people. However, I would have thought that the tech crowd would be the first to decry the inefficiencies of havi…
> Every large city (>1M people) will almost certainly have communities of people who share your culture or at least tolerate and support it. That is not enough. There need to be companies willing to hire. Those companies spring around where there is more talent so they don't have to relocate everyone. Where is more talent? Around more companies. It is a feedback loop. Network effect is probably the correct phrase her…
I was going to add a comment at the end about how I fear that I may be fighting a losing battle against socioeconomic feedback loops.
That's profoundly sad to me though. Concentrating all of the technological revolution's talent and wealth in a few cities will have bad effects on the rest of the country.
Re: In Defense of the Midwest
#17I feel a lot of the same feelings the author felt while doing his undergrad, and it's nice to know other people feel the same way about their geographic location.
I'm also from Ohio and completing my undergrad, and considering where to possibly move for a career. (If that means much at all)
Re: In Defense of the Midwest
#18Carnegie Mellon is absolutely in the midwest. Pennsylvania is a big state.
Pennsylvania the 33rd largest state. It is definitely not a large state by western standards. I guess if you consider NYC the center of the universe then maybe it's the Midwest, but as a Midwesterner (from Minneapolis) I'm not really feeling that.
Re: In Defense of the Midwest
#19There's also a really great budding startup scene in Columbus centered around Ohio State. The midwest really shouldn't be discounted for work, especially considering how cramped the valley's becoming.
Do you work/live in Columbus? I graduated from OSU in 2012 and it's great to hear on HN other people who feel the city is exciting.
Re: In Defense of the Midwest
#20In Defense of Silicon Valley
1. World class food. There is no way you can get the same quality of chinese,japanese,korean,indian,french,italian,californian,thai,vietnamese in Cleveland.
2. People creating things in coffeeshops on the weekends, instead of wasting life watching TV or drinking beer. You only get one life in this great country.
3. It's not ice freezing cold
4. It's not superficial (like LA), not money worshipping (like NY), not power hungry (like DC), not gun/football crazy (like Texas), not corrupt (like Florida)
5. Diversity
6. Tech, Venture networks
7. Silicon Valley people are great people. The entrepreneurs are supportive of each other, since they know how much pain it is to start a company. The people who take risks moving across country to here are brave and adaptive and optimistic. (instead of rotting away on a couch in midwest complaining about lack of jobs)