I think there is also another shift underway: experienced workers prefer to work as consultants for one or more companies, so: (a) they not beholden to any specific corporation and its hierarchy (b) they get tax write offs (c) they get to work on projects that excite them (d) they stay current with skills rather than stagnate (d) and other advantages I can’t think of right now :) And for consultants, being remote is…
Hasn't this always been the case in tech however? Experienced folks either seek more interesting/remunerative work, or they locate the closest sinecure via moving into low-pressure management, or high profit low ops maintenance efforts. An independent consultant can make bank, but for many legacy companies - the consultant is the only one they can pressure into working hard.
The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving
181–190 of 195 posts
Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving
#182This year we finally moved to the US after 2 years of Covid-induced delays. We moved to Seattle because it's where my team is based. I'm far from impressed. The housing market is so inaccessible that we had to rent a house about 1 hour commute from the office. I have hardly visited the offices a handful of times since we moved, and every time there is maybe 1 or 2 people there. Also this spring seems to be one of the…
For the same price, I could get a small, mediocre 1 BR/1 BA apartment in Austin with views of... another apartment, and a wall.
In San Jose or Seattle, I imagine I'd get just a bedroom for $1300.
Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seattle weather is... polarizing... even in a more typical year. I personally find it hard to deal with so little sunshine.
I think it's interesting how much people complain about Seattle, because it's one of the only cities with as little sunshine as… most of Europe. Every city in the UK has less sunshine than Seattle, for instance.
Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving
#184The flexibility side is for Riviera's (witch in some countries might be called cities, or at least being inside some cities) where people is "a bit dense" but not too much, where we have single-family homes with some ground around (let's say 1k-2km² (~10k-20k ft²) land per single one/two stairs home to have room for future changes) mixed with workspace (small buildings for various activities) and few "more dense" areas for specific activities (hospitals, schools, military/gov buildings, airports, harbors, ...) + some local districts (large enterprises, mining, manufacturing etc).
For a certain amount of decades we have pushed the efficiency model, now perhaps 'efficiency' have reached a level where fragility and absence of flexibility is too much so we shift toward 'resilience' witch happen to be given by well-crafted flexibility.
The point is: will it be exaggerated as we have exaggerated before? Or will it be too little too late? Or the right amount? Some theorist have crafted a "small-medium city" hypothetical future (UN New Urban Agenda), I have many doubt on it but anyway we need both a certain density for economy of scale and sociability and flexibility to evolve in a changing world. My personal choice is a middle ground but still outside urban area to have room to evolve while being near-enough to urban area to avoid being completely "out of civility", I suspect not so much but not so little others have done similar choices. Not much "talented" but just those who can and care about their future. Future air mobility might arrive in less than a decade bridging the gap between actual-city density and actual riviera density or to have the best of both world in a spread model.
That's a dream, a sci-fi one, so something with some valid and solid bases behind, just in need to be drawn more and implemented :-)
Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. Here in Southwest Montana we have seen a very significant increase in transplantation in the past 2 years. House prices have soared. The freeway looks like 101 now (101 north of Eureka, but heck..)
You must be a transplant yourself. A native Montanan would not say “Eureka” without a qualifier referring to the one in California rather than the one in Montana. Imposter!
Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving
#186Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
Suggestions please! I've found the food especially in Dallas proper (but not downtown) to be surprisingly good but always looking for more. Also the art museums are a lot better than I expected. We went to Vrindivan last weekend and it was easily the best Indian food I've ever had outside of India.
Well, this is gonna be a doozy... this might be multiple posts, and I'm rate-limited, so we'll see... Let's start with Chinese food... There are multiple places here that can easily be called Chinatowns, the bigger ones being the one in Richardson on Greenville between Arapaho and Belt Line/Main and the one in Plano at Park & Coit. Lots and lots of good restaurants in both places, and the one at Park & Coit has a lot…
Indian food... good Indian food is all over Dallas. Probably my favorite is Sigree, at Belt Line & Midway in Addison. They have a huge menu with lots of choices including a sizable amount of Indo-Chinese food. Other good places include Mumbai Grill at Preston & McCallum in Far North Dallas, India Chaat Cafe at Preston & Frankford in Far North Dallas, Mughlai Fine Indian Cuisine at Alpha & Noel Road in Far North Dallas, Curry Bliss at Coit & Belt Line in Richardson (this one is entirely vegetarian, and absolutely fantastic... their paneer is to die for), Maharaja Indian Restaurant at Coit & Spring Creek in Plano, and several others. If you want a buffet, I recommend Vindu at Frankford & the Tollway in Far North Dallas or Chennai Cafe at Preston & Gaylord in Frisco. There's a huge Indian community in Irving with lots of restaurants, but I can't give any specific recommendations because Irving is pretty far from where I live and I don't really go to that part of town.
Nepalese food... yes, we have Nepalese food! If you're not familiar with it, their specialty is a kind of dumpling called momos, and they also have a number of curries similar to Indian food. Most of the Nepali restaurants here are in Irving, which again I don't really go to, but there are a couple in my neck of the woods. Everest at McDermott & Custer in Plano is amazing, and I'm also fond of Momo Magic and More at Coit & Plano Pkwy, also in Plano.
Ethiopian food... most of it is clustered in the Lake Highlands area around Forest & Greenville or in eastern Richardson around Buckingham & Jupiter. Unfortunately, it's been a few years and I haven't dragged myself out that far east in ages so I don't remember the names of any specific restaurants, but you should be happy with anything there. If you're not willing to go that far, there's Queen of Sheba on Inwood Road in Addison just south of Belt Line and Shebelle at Preston & Campbell in Far North Dallas.
West African food... I'm not too familiar with it, but there are a couple of places: Afrika Fusion at the Tollway & Haverwood and Aso Rock Market at Frankford & Midway, both in Far North Dallas.
Mexican food... Dallas is full of great Mexican and Tex-Mex, unfortunately the best of it is all south of I-30, which is waaaaaaaaay far from where I live (I have been told to specifically look for places on Jefferson Blvd), so I don't get to go there often. My favorite place near me is Don Pepe's Rancho, which just moved into a new location at Arapaho & Hillcrest in Far North Dallas. Another excellent place is Gio's Taqueria at Trinity Mills & Marsh in Carrollton. It also feels weird recommending a chain, but you have to try the queso at Torchy's. It's not an authentic place, it's a chain from Austin, and their tacos are overrated (not bad, just overrated), but the queso is to die for.
Other Latin American food... for Peruvian food, I'd recommed Tineo Peruvian Cafe at Arapaho & Custer in Richardson. For Colombian, I'd recommend Casa Vieja at Belt Line & Josey. There are a number of Salvadorian restaurants that serve pupusas, and I remember ordering from one once and loving it but can't remember what it's called for the life of me (I tried searching Uber Eats, but it turned up more places than I was expecting). There are a couple of good Cuban places at Josey & Trinity Mills in Carrollton, including Cuba Bella Cafe and Cuban Dulceria International Bakery. I've heard good things about a couple of Venezuelan restaurants but haven't gotten to try them yet: El Arepazo Vzla at Midway & Trinity Mills in Carrollton and Big Yummy at Midway & Keller Springs in Addison. Good Latam fusion places I'd recommend are E.B. Latin Bistro at Park & Midway in Plano and Latin Deli. Latin Deli is a local chain with a number of locations around town... I always ordered from the one in Addison Circle but Google says it's closed now, though Uber Eats says it's still open. The one at 15th & Custer in Plano should still be open though, and they have fantastic sandwiches from all over Latin America including Puerto Rican-style tripleta, Peruvian-style butifarra and lomo saltado sandwiches, Mexican tortas, and more. And I might as well mention it here even though it's not strictly Latin, though it's from the part of the world right next door: we have an excellent Jamaican restaurant in the Island Spot at Midway & Trinity Mills in Carrollton (if I knew more Jamaican places, this probably would be its own paragraph).
Mediterranean food... we've got a lot of it here. There's a _huge_ cluster of Middle Eastern places in Downtown Richardson on Greenville. If you want a buffet, I'd recommend Afrah at Greenville & Belt Line or Ali Baba at 75 & Campbell. Our most authentic Greek restaurant is Zorba's, at Preston & Plano Pkwy in Plano. It blew my mind when I went there. And even though it's a chain, we have a number of Little Greek locations that have really tasty gyros and falafel.
German food... it's Texas, we have Germans here. The king of German places in Dallas is Bavarian Grill on Premier just north of 75 & Parker in Plano (that whole area is a nightmare to navigate). It's expensive but well worth the money. For someplace cheaper but with a less impressive (but still tasty) menu, there's Henk's near Northwest Hwy & Greenville in Dallas. The best thing about Henk's isn't the food menu but the attached German and Dutch food mart, where you can buy a lot of nifty goodies. Yes, German and Dutch, they have both... including a whole rack of Dutch licorice which had me feeling like a kid in a candy store (yes, I love salty licorice, it's an acquired taste but oh so good once you acquire it). And though it's not strictly German, we have an Austrian restaurant too, Jörg's Cafe Vienna at 15th & K in Downtown Plano (keep in mind that it's run like an actual European restaurant, which means their hours are really really wonky, make sure to look them up if you go there). And of course, if you're comfortable with crowds, don't forget to go to our Oktoberfest celebration at Addison Circle in September, supposedly it's one of the biggest ones outside of Germany.
Other regional American foods... our single best New York-style deli is Deli News at Preston & Campbell. There's also a local chain called Cindi's, with several locations all over, that's not bad, but Deli News is way better... except for the matzo ball soup, Cindi's is unbeatable at that one. We have a number of decent Philly cheesesteak places too, with two local chains that are really damn good: Texadelphia and Fred's Downtown Philly. They've got a handful of locations. For southern soul food, I'd recommend Trucker's Cafe at Arapaho & Custer in Richardson.
...and I'm sure I'm missing _something_ but I'm gonna wrap this one up now. Maybe I'll have a third post with stuff that's fallen through the cracks, maybe not.
Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
Immigrants aren’t dumb. The problem is that westerners have no idea what a median persons life in Africa or South America is like
It’s true. I was asking a person I know from Kenya what’s it’s like there. She said it’s a beautiful please, pretty good but I’d have to hire security guards to avoid getting kidnapped and ransomed. We just don’t realize how good the US is.
Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seattle weather is... polarizing... even in a more typical year. I personally find it hard to deal with so little sunshine.
I think it's interesting how much people complain about Seattle, because it's one of the only cities with as little sunshine as… most of Europe. Every city in the UK has less sunshine than Seattle, for instance.
Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
It doesn't sound like you're familiar with the area. Seattle is geographically constrained and there was already no empty land available for development in 2010 when the latest surge of new residents began. We can only accommodate new people by tearing down structures that already exist and replacing them with denser structures. > This likely points to slow bureaucracies or people fighting change or growth at all cos…
Land utilization is always close to 100% in cities. It's a misnomer that cities can "run out of land". Cities go up, they increase density. If they can't go up, it is usually because of zoning restrictions. And that's a choice of local residents and authorities.
What I'm really talking about what I say "geographically constrained" is the elasticity of housing supply. Cities like Seattle, SF and NYC have less elastic housing supply in part because of their current land utilization and geographic constraints hemming in new development. That's a pretty well understood phenomenon.