Amazon HQ2

[paul78701]

This isn't directly Amazon HQ2 related, but it gives some insight as to what companies' decision makers are thinking when they expand tech operations in ATX.

Walmart gets creative with new tech design center in downtown Austin:
http://www.512tech.com/technology/walmar...-downtown-austin/f3iWwhdaUtUQeIjhZEt0RI/

The decision to invest in Austin is part of a strategy to recruit skilled tech workers by locating where they are, said Jason Norris, Walmart director of engineering and Austin site lead.

“At Walmart we are really changing the way we work in a lot of ways,” Norris said. “Austin is a really unique city in that you have a very deep pool of that talent, but you don’t incur some of those higher costs of living that you do on the West Coast and East Coast,” Norris said.

“Austin has many characteristics that make it appealing to major corporations looking for deep technical talent,” Austin-based industry analyst Patrick Moorhead said. “Technologists like to live in Austin because it’s “happening” with music, festivals and downtown life as well as being affordable. Employers like it because technologists like it, it’s much less expensive than other tech hubs in New York and Silicon Valley and there is a large pool of talent.”

[The ATX]

Amazon also announced several hundred layoffs on Monday at their Seattle HQ.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by paul78701

This isn't directly Amazon HQ2 related, but it gives some insight as to what companies' decision makers are thinking when they expand tech operations in ATX.

Walmart gets creative with new tech design center in downtown Austin:
http://www.512tech.com/technology/walmar...-downtown-austin/f3iWwhdaUtUQeIjhZEt0RI/

Yea they took what was a club to make their offices. Just a reminder that we need to do a better job at keeping our DT entertainment venues thriving since they claim that very reason for why they want to come here. Well maybe build your offices in an actual office building...

[Sigaven]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

Yea they took what was a club to make their offices. Just a reminder that we need to do a better job at keeping our DT entertainment venues thriving since they claim that very reason for why they want to come here. Well maybe build your offices in an actual office building...

To be fair, that space was never successful as a club. It probably went through 10 different clubs after the drafthouse closed. I understand lamenting the loss of a club space, but in this case, I'm not that upset. I used to frequent that space when it was V and it was not that good of a club space anyway.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

Yea they took what was a club to make their offices. Just a reminder that we need to do a better job at keeping our DT entertainment venues thriving since they claim that very reason for why they want to come here. Well maybe build your offices in an actual office building...

Office space is extremely limited in Austin.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

Yea they took what was a club to make their offices. Just a reminder that we need to do a better job at keeping our DT entertainment venues thriving since they claim that very reason for why they want to come here. Well maybe build your offices in an actual office building...

Well, it is a rather large space for a bar/club. With a high price per sq ft, it may be difficult to make that work. I always thought it was better suited for some sort of music/movie/theater/entertainment venue.

The new Parker Jazz Club may have done well there. It's already a tough place to get a seat.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by paul78701

Well, it is a rather large space for a bar/club. With a high price per sq ft, it may be difficult to make that work. I always thought it was better suited for some sort of music/movie/theater/entertainment venue.

The new Parker Jazz Club may have done well there. It's already a tough place to get a seat.

Yea I really want to check Parked Jazz Club out. From what I've heard it's really nice.

The main problem with the space that Wal-Mart took over wasn't the space itself, but rather how It was operated. As someone who has been a regular bar and club goer since the late 90s, meeting bar/club managers and owners, watching clubs come and go over the years, you get to learn quite a bit about the industry works in this city. I know what works and what doesn't just by walking into a place, see how it's layed out, how they promote, the events they hold and how consistent their schedule is. You have to be competitive in this city or you won't last long. I've frequently thought about if I ever had the kind of money and resources needed, that It would be a life adventure to say the least in opening up a club DT. We really do need to preserve that element of DT because it was what made Austin what it is today.

[We vs us]

Interesting post on the “campus-ification” of tech real estate in select downtowns around the country. Puts HQ2’s square footage requirement into some better context.

https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/02/the-quiet-rise-of-the-downtown-tech-campus/553379/

[KevinFromTexas]

Renderings revealed for Baltimore's proposal.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/...t-the-amazon-hq2-proposal-baltimore.html

Take a look at the Amazon HQ2 proposal Baltimore pitched

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Renderings revealed for Baltimore's proposal.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/...t-the-amazon-hq2-proposal-baltimore.html

That was pretty good. But feel good promo videos appeal much more to boosters than those making business decisions. Baltimore's reputation is going to take a long time to fix, and that needs to happen before it becomes a place where its easy to recruit people.

[KevinFromTexas]

https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/...-georges-county-amazon-hq2-pitch-dc.html

Here's what a suburban D.C. county pitched for Amazon HQ2 — and why it lost

By Katie Arcieri – Staff Reporter, Washington Business Journal
4 hours ago

Weeks after being shut out of Amazon's short list of contenders for HQ2, Prince George's County, Maryland, has learned why it did not make the cut: The county doesn't have a large enough pool of senior-level software engineers.

"They saw deeper concentrations of software development engineers in other areas," said David Iannucci, a top economic development official for Prince George's who spoke with Amazon, along with other county officials, on a phone call. "They literally told us there was nothing we could have done differently in the RFP to change the outcome."

[loonytoony]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/...-georges-county-amazon-hq2-pitch-dc.html

Can any tech folks in here comment on how we compare? Who the rivals might be in this regard? I assume we have enough, being in the running still, just am out of that loop..

[jbssfelix]

Originally Posted by loonytoony

Can any tech folks in here comment on how we compare? Who the rivals might be in this regard? I assume we have enough, being in the running still, just am out of that loop..

If it's about the number of tech workers in a given metro, Austin arguably in the Top 3 in that regard, probably #1 among the top 20 if you look at per capita vs sheer gross numbers.

Other cities with a heavy tech influence:
Denver (similar in look/feel to Austin. Denver proper isn't quite as tech heavy, but places like Boulder and Ft Collins are flush with them)
Atlanta (relative newcomer to the tech game, but potential powerhouse)
Raleigh (also a relative newcomer)
NY/Chicago (Only in this list just because of the ginormous population, so obviously they'll have more software folks by default)

Potential dark horse:
Indianapolis (super duper underdog, but one of the pillar homes of Salesforce and a newly displaced workforce from Angie's List. Proximity to Purdue, a huge Amazon recruitee and engineer central, a bonus)

[freerover]

Originally Posted by jbssfelix

If it's about the number of tech workers in a given metro, Austin arguably in the Top 3 in that regard,

This isn't true. Austin is pretty far down the list in total tech workers but high in per capita.

[OKTX]

Originally Posted by freerover

This isn't true. Austin is pretty far down the list in total tech workers but high in per capita.

For reference (data scrubbed from BLS and Census)

# of Employs by Occupation: Computer/Mathematical
Prince George's County: 24k
Austin Metro: 56k
Atlanta Metro:112k
Wash. DC Metro:238k

#of Employees by Industry: Professional/Science/Tech+Information
Prince George's County: 52k
Austin Metro: 137k
Atlanta Metro: 341k
Wash. DC Metro: 638k

Austin has the "hip" factor going for it, but I can think of nothing else that would put Austin anywhere close to the lead (except maybe development cost which is comparable to what you will find in Atlanta and well below build costs in DC, before incentives). I want them to come here as much as anyone, but Austin is miles behind several other cities in the things that matter to a company looking to build a HQ.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by loonytoony

Can any tech folks in here comment on how we compare? Who the rivals might be in this regard? I assume we have enough, being in the running still, just am out of that loop..

I keep saying this, but, it's not as simple as shear numbers. It's about the quality of the tech workers (for lack of a better way of putting it). A tech support person or whatnot is often counted in those "tech worker" numbers. Those roles are NOT the same as a software engineer. So those numbers can be misleading. Cities with larger populations may have more "tech workers", but they do not necessarily have more software engineers.

Amazon wants/needs software engineers more than anything else. I don't know the raw numbers, but Austin is more than sufficient in this regard. Per capita, Austin is near/at the top of the list. There are reasons why Austin software engineers are paid more than they are in any other city (when adjusted for cost of living--there was a recent listing/article about this that I don't have the link to off hand).

[OKTX]

Originally Posted by paul78701

I keep saying this, but, it's not as simple as shear numbers. It's about the quality of the tech workers (for lack of a better way of putting it). A tech support person or whatnot is often counted in those "tech worker" numbers. Those roles are NOT the same as a software engineer. So those numbers can be misleading. Cities with larger populations may have more "tech workers", but they do not necessarily have more software engineers.

Amazon wants/needs software engineers more than anything else. I don't know the raw numbers, but Austin is more than sufficient in this regard. Per capita, Austin is near/at the top of the list. There are reasons why Austin software engineers are paid more than they are in any other city (when adjusted for cost of living--there was a recent listing/article about this that I don't have the link to off hand).

I understand your point and I agree with some of what you are saying, however the BLS also has the 2016 employment for software engineers and developers in each MSA. The numbers do not reflect the quality of these engineers, but a bigger pool of talent from which to choose is important to Amazon. I get that this isn't perfect data, but I want to put numbers to the points we are making. There are dozens of other tech-related occupations listed, but the below numbers are for software developers/engineers only.

Software Developers/Engineers by MSA
Austin Metro: 20k workers making on average ~$101k
Atlanta Metro: 34k workers making on average ~$101k
Wash. DC Metro: 50k workers making on average ~$115k

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by paul78701

I keep saying this, but, it's not as simple as shear numbers. It's about the quality of the tech workers (for lack of a better way of putting it). A tech support person or whatnot is often counted in those "tech worker" numbers. Those roles are NOT the same as a software engineer. So those numbers can be misleading. Cities with larger populations may have more "tech workers", but they do not necessarily have more software engineers.

Amazon wants/needs software engineers more than anything else. I don't know the raw numbers, but Austin is more than sufficient in this regard. Per capita, Austin is near/at the top of the list. There are reasons why Austin software engineers are paid more than they are in any other city (when adjusted for cost of living--there was a recent listing/article about this that I don't have the link to off hand).

I did a quick Google search. This list/article is a year old (I couldn't find the more recent one that I saw), but it essentially says the same thing:

San Francisco is actually one of the worst-paying places in the US for software engineers -
https://qz.com/906086/san-francisco-is-actually-one-of-the-worst-paying-places-in-the-us/

Chart graphic from the article:

[urbancore]

Originally Posted by OKTX

The numbers do not reflect the quality of these engineers, but a bigger pool of talent from which to choose is important to Amazon.

Why isn't the entire US the "pool of talent", or at least all of Texas? Most young graduates from any-uni the the US expects to pack up and move to wherever they get the best job offer. A company that plans to locate 50,000 people here over a period of decades worries less about the existing pool of people and more about developing a pipeline over time. They will have ZERO problem recruiting top quality engineers to Austin from around the globe to fill their pipeline. People (not all of course) will JUMP to come here....mark my word.

[The ATX]

I have never thought Austin would land HQ2. But we may have a better chance at HQ2 than an MLS team that was handed to the city for the taking.