Amazon HQ2

[Atlanta3000]

Originally Posted by deerhoof

I have a friend in town for SXSW promoting on behalf of the City of Atlanta to attract tech workers to move there. Apparently, Atlanta's lack of tech talent was a big part in why they didn't get Amazon HQ2. The reason I bring it up is because the decision obviously hasn't been made public that Atlanta didn't get HQ2 even though it was considered a strong contender, but the City of Atlanta is already working to try to remedy that problem for the city. Atlanta must already know they didn't get it.

It's also cool they came to Austin to get Tech workers to move to Atlanta, which implies Austin has lots of quality tech workers. Though, many people come in for SXSW from other parts of the country and world, so I'm sure that's the biggest reason they are promoting Atlanta here.

"Today is the day! ������ We’re taking over #SXSW with the largest presence at the job fair. Come see why companies like @HomeDepot, @ManhAssocNews, and @GeorgiaPower #ChooseATL. http://www.chooseatl.com/sxsw #AtlantaIsNow – at Lester E. Palmer Events Center" - https://twitter.com/chooseATL/status/972511364991406082

ChooseATL, is run by an advertising agency for the social media campaign of attracting companies to Atlanta. There is 0% chance anyone at the advertising agency or at ChooseATL would have any insider info.

Atlanta has approximately 120K high-tech workers and Austin has approximately 50K high-tech workers. It is absolutely true Austin has a higher % of high-tech workers in your labor force than Atlanta - just to be clear.

As for Atlanta being out of the race, who knows. What I do know is Amazon was scouting sites in Atlanta as early as 2016 for HQ2 sites. This is a year prior to when they released their RFP. Does this mean Atlanta is the front runner? Absolutely not. What it does mean is Amazon believed Atlanta does have the talent to support their HQ2.

Best of luck to Austin in the race.