30 Austin tech CEOs headed to California in search of workers • Hacker News Board

Re: 30 Austin tech CEOs headed to California in search of workers

#31

Post by toddmorey » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:36 PM UTC

joe-mccann wrote: post #15

First, Austin is NOTHING like Texas. It is a beacon of progressive hope in an otherwise bass-ackwards state. I moved to Austin from New York City by way of Portland, Oregon so believe me, when I say that there is no way I would live in TEXAS; Austin is anything but that. Also, other reasons Austin may be attractive to potential candidates: 1.) No state income tax. This is huge. If you make $140k a year in SF, you tak…

"It is a beacon of progressive hope in an otherwise bass-ackwards state." If you thought about it, wouldn't you say the same thing about Portland or NYC?

Re: 30 Austin tech CEOs headed to California in search of workers

#32

Post by joe-mccann » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:37 PM UTC

bretthoerner wrote: post #22

rdouble wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you get paid the same as in NYC? I get recruited by companies in the midwest who tout that the cost of living is half of NYC. But, they also pay half as much as NYC, no relo package available. Whenever I do the math I still come out ahead in NYC. The other downside I have found is that there are usually only one or two interesting companies and the rest is enterprise software.

> The other downside I found is that there are usually only one or two interesting companies and the rest is enterprise software. I moved from SF to Austin last year and have found this to be true.

I don't necessarily agree with this. I used to work at frog design and am now 100% independent (doing consulting/contract work). There are loads of companies from startups like Gowalla and Whaleshark to more established companies like Facebook and BazaarVoice. On top of that, there are some what I would consider "serious" startups with quality founders and funding, like Spacecraft and Mass Relevance.

Re: 30 Austin tech CEOs headed to California in search of workers

#33

Post by rdouble » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:38 PM UTC

toddmorey wrote: post #31

joe-mccann wrote: post #15

First, Austin is NOTHING like Texas. It is a beacon of progressive hope in an otherwise bass-ackwards state. I moved to Austin from New York City by way of Portland, Oregon so believe me, when I say that there is no way I would live in TEXAS; Austin is anything but that. Also, other reasons Austin may be attractive to potential candidates: 1.) No state income tax. This is huge. If you make $140k a year in SF, you tak…

"It is a beacon of progressive hope in an otherwise bass-ackwards state." If you thought about it, wouldn't you say the same thing about Portland or NYC?

Or any US state. Are there any states that aren't mostly redneck once you get up/out-state? Vermont?

Re: 30 Austin tech CEOs headed to California in search of workers

#34

Post by zbruhnke » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:38 PM UTC

I'm going to have to agree with most others here. I live less than five hours from Austin, travel there for business occasionally and rarely get calls from companies in Austin interested in hiring me or if I know anyone they should hire.

On the flip side, I am rarely in the valley (a few times a year at best) and I get calls or emails almost weekly asking either if I am interested in a job or if I might know someone who is, most of these even offering sign on bonuses and bounties for hires.

Yet the CEO's of companies in Austin are trotting out to the valley to find the talent while everyday good programmers from surrounding states go to the valley because they don't see Austin as a viable alternative.

They have a top tier engineering program only hours away (Rice) which has basically become a funnel for Microsoft and Amazon in Seattle yet they want to focus their attention on the valley.

Go to schools like Georgia Tech, Rice, Carnegie Mellon, Illinois, UT. Alot of those kids are coming from the south or the midwest and they end up in the valley because they think that is the only place they can make it.

At the end of the day this really comes down to marketing, and when you spend your money marketing to developers that have already been sold on another city often you are too late, but if you hit them earlier like the valley has gotten so good at doing they are MUCH more likely to see Austin as a viable solution

Re: 30 Austin tech CEOs headed to California in search of workers

#35

Post by joe-mccann » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:42 PM UTC

joe-mccann wrote: post #27

rdouble wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you get paid the same as in NYC? I get recruited by companies in the midwest who tout that the cost of living is half of NYC. But, they also pay half as much as NYC, no relo package available. Whenever I do the math I still come out ahead in NYC. The other downside I have found is that there are usually only one or two interesting companies and the rest is enterprise software.

My net income was significantly higher after leaving NYC. Let's put it that way =)

Are you asking me to share my specific income? That's not gonna happen. Let's do some hypotheticals.

$140k in NYC (this is a common salary/comp) $120k in Austin (this is a common salary/comp)

Nominal dollar amounts, yes, $20k is dollar for dollar, less. But now, factor in your taxes (NY State tax, Kings County, etc.) That $140k is now significantly less. Factor in cost of living being TWICE as much (literally, my rent per sq ft was more than twice what it was in Austin). You now are TAKING HOME less money.

So when I said net income, that's what I meant. If you're more concerned with a higher salary and less net income, then, well good luck to ya. I prefer to have more $$ in my pocket after it's all said and done.

Re: 30 Austin tech CEOs headed to California in search of workers

#36

Post by joe-mccann » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:45 PM UTC

toddmorey wrote: post #31

joe-mccann wrote: post #15

First, Austin is NOTHING like Texas. It is a beacon of progressive hope in an otherwise bass-ackwards state. I moved to Austin from New York City by way of Portland, Oregon so believe me, when I say that there is no way I would live in TEXAS; Austin is anything but that. Also, other reasons Austin may be attractive to potential candidates: 1.) No state income tax. This is huge. If you make $140k a year in SF, you tak…

"It is a beacon of progressive hope in an otherwise bass-ackwards state." If you thought about it, wouldn't you say the same thing about Portland or NYC?

Not exactly. Oregon has rednecks as does upstate NY (I used to live there as well). The delta is the level of racism, bigotry and religious fundamentalism that plagues the state is significantly higher in Texas than other states. Hicks and bigots exist everywhere, but from my experience, Texas as a whole has more per capita than "coastal" states like Cali, Oregon or New York.

Re: 30 Austin tech CEOs headed to California in search of workers

#37

Post by rdouble » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:46 PM UTC

joe-mccann wrote: post #35

joe-mccann wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My net income was significantly higher after leaving NYC. Let's put it that way =)

Are you asking me to share my specific income? That's not gonna happen. Let's do some hypotheticals. $140k in NYC (this is a common salary/comp) $120k in Austin (this is a common salary/comp) Nominal dollar amounts, yes, $20k is dollar for dollar, less. But now, factor in your taxes (NY State tax, Kings County, etc.) That $140k is now significantly less. Factor in cost of living being TWICE as much (literally, my ren…

I just asked whether you got paid the same in NYC as you do in Austin which is a yes or no question...no details required. Regarding take home, even with taxes and higher CoL I've still been able to save and invest more money in NYC due to much higher salaries. All that said it is good to know $120K is a common salary in Austin, thanks for the info.

Re: 30 Austin tech CEOs headed to California in search of workers

#38

Post by bretthoerner » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:46 PM UTC

joe-mccann wrote: post #32

bretthoerner wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The other downside I found is that there are usually only one or two interesting companies and the rest is enterprise software. I moved from SF to Austin last year and have found this to be true.

I don't necessarily agree with this. I used to work at frog design and am now 100% independent (doing consulting/contract work). There are loads of companies from startups like Gowalla and Whaleshark to more established companies like Facebook and BazaarVoice. On top of that, there are some what I would consider "serious" startups with quality founders and funding, like Spacecraft and Mass Relevance.

This is just proof that "interesting" is very subjective. :)

Re: 30 Austin tech CEOs headed to California in search of workers

#39

Post by bdr » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:46 PM UTC

a5seo wrote: post #28

bdr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you mind naming the startups?

HomeAway, indeed, Retailmenot, vast, Gowalla, myedu, uship, regretsy/passiveaggresivenotes, wpengine, otherinbox, Dell.

Any way I can contact you OOB? My email address is in my profile.

Re: 30 Austin tech CEOs headed to California in search of workers

#40

Post by joe-mccann » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:48 PM UTC

rdouble wrote: post #29

joe-mccann wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My net income was significantly higher after leaving NYC. Let's put it that way =)

Which I take to mean no, but you pay less in rent or mortgage.

So if you make $140k in NYC, but only take home say $95k.

Or you make $120k, but take home $95k. Then it's about the same.

Now factor in cost of living. The $$ in your pocket is higher. If you more concerned with the nominal/gross dollar amount as opposed to net income, I feel you are looking at the wrong metric.