Does the tech industry ruin cities?

[3rd&Brown]

Lol Nashville is not a tech city.

The biggest tech scene in the south is in Atlanta hands down. Every major has a significant presence and Microsoft is building an entire campus on the west side. A few years back the tech giants realized that it was probably a lost cause to attract black engineers to Seattle so instead they went to the motherland in search of diverse talent.

Those who label Miami as a tech city are also lol.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

Lol Nashville is not a tech city.

The biggest tech scene in the south is in Atlanta hands down. Every major has a significant presence and Microsoft is building an entire campus on the west side. A few years back the tech giants realized that it was probably a lost cause to attract black engineers to Seattle so instead they went to the motherland in search of diverse talent.

Those who label Miami as a tech city are also lol.

I think Miami is far more of a startup hub than Atlanta, but I'm sure Atlanta has more big tech jobs. For a while Miami was ranking high as a destination for venture capital, although that might have fizzled out quite a bit.

[Crawford]

I'm pretty sure the Miami tech thing is 90% hype. It's allegedly the crypto capital, now the tropical tech capital, and of course Wall Street South (West Palm now claims it's the real Wall Street South, not Miami). And remember those pandemic-era articles of tech bros mass-relocating to Miami?

If you look at the actual industry-specific job numbers, it's mostly PR/politicized spin. Miami's economy is mostly people from other parts of the country and world taking advantage of favorable climate and tax/regulatory rules, but doesn't really produce much.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

The biggest tech scene in the south is in Atlanta hands down. Every major has a significant presence and Microsoft is building an entire campus on the west side. A few years back the tech giants realized that it was probably a lost cause to attract black engineers to Seattle so instead they went to the motherland in search of diverse talent.

A wide variety of people won't move to Seattle (or San Francisco), such as people who don't like the 60F highs we sometimes get in May or anyone who wants a big house and big yard at a moderate price. I'm sure attracting more Black workers is another component in Atlanta's favor, but it's several things.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I'm pretty sure the Miami tech thing is 90% hype. It's allegedly the crypto capital, now the tropical tech capital, and of course Wall Street South (West Palm now claims it's the real Wall Street South, not Miami). And remember those pandemic-era articles of tech bros mass-relocating to Miami?

If you look at the actual industry-specific job numbers, it's mostly PR/politicized spin. Miami's economy is mostly people from other parts of the country and world taking advantage of favorable climate and tax/regulatory rules, but doesn't really produce much.

Depends on what you mean. Miami was attracting a decent amount of venture dollars prior to the tech slowdown, and it wasn't just crypto. The hype was a bit overstated relative to the size of their tech sector, though. The hype made it seem as if Miami was as much of a powerhouse as NYC or Austin, but that was not the case.

Doing a quick check on funding data and list of unicorns, Atlanta and Miami come out about even. I counted 7 unicorns in Miami vs 6 in Atlanta per CB Insights. They were also about even in early stage venture funding last year, according to Carta.

[mhays]

Start-ups are a component, but how many mature companies individually employ thousands of people in true, well-paid tech positions?

[JManc]

Originally Posted by mhays

Start-ups are a component, but how many mature companies individually employ thousands of people in true, well-paid tech positions?

Most. If we're talking about companies like Meta, Apple, Google, Salesforce, Microsoft and so on. Amazon is the outlier because it has a massive logistics component that relies on low paid manual labor like warehouse employees and delivery drivers. The tech component of Amazon are well paid. Even the non tech (devs, coders, engineers, etc) are well paid. I was a PM and made more than I would have outside the industry.

[mhays]

That's not what I meant. I'm asking whether Miami has mature techs that employ that many people.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by mhays

That's not what I meant. I'm asking whether Miami has mature techs that employ that many people.

Gotcha.

[cabasse]

Originally Posted by mhays

That's not what I meant. I'm asking whether Miami has mature techs that employ that many people.

there's one that kinda flies under the radar - citrix. (hq in fort lauderdale)

[Gordo]

Originally Posted by ATXboom

All the super talks have significant presence in Austin. Usually their 2nd largest employee / office presence outside of HQ.

This definitely isn't true for Meta or Google or Apple, who all have their second largest presence in Seattle. Similarly, Amazon and Microsoft have their second largest presence in the Bay Area. In Amazon's case it's through many smaller companies that they've bought over the years + regular Amazon offices. In Microsoft's case it's LinkedIn, GitHub, and a very large Silicon Valley campus that dates from the 90s.

And really, if we're looking at true second largest presence for most of them it'll be Ireland or India.

[Gordo]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

Lol Nashville is not a tech city.

The biggest tech scene in the south is in Atlanta hands down. Every major has a significant presence and Microsoft is building an entire campus on the west side. A few years back the tech giants realized that it was probably a lost cause to attract black engineers to Seattle so instead they went to the motherland in search of diverse talent.

Those who label Miami as a tech city are also lol.

Microsoft has effectively canceled the Atlanta project, fyi: https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/mic...ect-in-atlanta

[ATXboom]

Originally Posted by Gordo

This definitely isn't true for Meta or Google or Apple, who all have their second largest presence in Seattle. Similarly, Amazon and Microsoft have their second largest presence in the Bay Area (in Amazon's case it's through many smaller companies that they've bought over the years + regular Amazon offices).

And really, if we're looking at true second largest presence for most of them it'll be Ireland or India.

Site sources. Not beliefs. Apple says otherwise.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/...of%20Cupertino.

Times are changing. It ain’t 2010.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by mhays

That's not what I meant. I'm asking whether Miami has mature techs that employ that many people.

Miami is not a huge outpost for Big Tech but neither is Atlanta.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Gordo

This definitely isn't true for Meta or Google or Apple, who all have their second largest presence in Seattle. Similarly, Amazon and Microsoft have their second largest presence in the Bay Area. In Amazon's case it's through many smaller companies that they've bought over the years + regular Amazon offices. In Microsoft's case it's LinkedIn, GitHub, and a very large Silicon Valley campus that dates from the 90s.

And really, if we're looking at true second largest presence for most of them it'll be Ireland or India.

I believe NYC has the second largest worker presence for both Google and Meta. I think NYC is also Microsoft's third largest worker presence outside of Seattle and the Bay Area. LinkedIn alone has a huge office in the Empire State Building, and Microsoft has long held most of the space in 11 Times Square.

[homebucket]

According to this Apples biggest corporate workforce outside of the Bay Area is in Austin.

https://www.apple.com/job-creation/

According to Meta AI:

Meta has offices in multiple cities around the world, but I don't have access to the most up-to-date information on employee distribution. However, according to Meta's career website, some of the main offices with a high number of employees include:

1. Menlo Park, California (Global Headquarters)
2. New York City, New York
3. Seattle, Washington
4. San Francisco, California
5. London, United Kingdom

[homebucket]

For Google it’s either NYC or Seattle depending on how you interpret their official statements:

Tapping into the energy and diversity of New York City, Google’s second largest office (spanning two campuses in Chelsea and Hudson Square) is a focal point for innovation in fields ranging from computer science to creative branding. Solving programming challenges in a collaborative environment, our engineers play key roles in Search, Google Ads, Cloud, and Maps. Our sales team, one of Google’s biggest, caters to global clients including major media companies and ad agencies.

In Washington (Seattle, Kirkland, Bellevue and Redmond), we bring creative ideas to large-scale projects that affect billions of lives. Google Washington is the second largest global engineering office outside of the Bay Area, representing almost every Google product. Washington Googlers regularly cycle to work, rain or shine. Our LEED-certified buildings have sweeping views of the Seattle skyline for inspiration on demand. If you need a break, take your Doogler (that's a Googler's dog) for a walk or enjoy a locally roasted pour-over from one of our rooftop decks. After work, borrow a kayak and paddle the Lake Washington Ship Canal, rock out at an open mic, or go the distance with our relay team.

And here’s Austin and Atlanta.

The Google Austin site is located in the heart of the state’s capital and serves as a hub for Corporate Social Responsibility efforts. Austin Googlers can experience offices inspired by the Austin landscape, a speakeasy meet up space, art by local artists, rooftop cafe views, a dog park and more. Outside the office, Googlers are in the “Live Music Capital of the World,” the home of SXSW and ACL Festivals, and one of the highest ranking tech cities in the US. The Austin site has a diverse product area makeup with roles in Corporate Engineering, Google Cloud, People Operations, Fiber, Finance, Legal, and more.

Located in the heart of Midtown, Google Atlanta is a regional hub for several teams, including Core Engineering, Machine Learning, Marketing and more. Our office exhibits southern hospitality at its best, with a population as diverse as the city we call home. We've hosted many notable guests, from critically acclaimed artists, to Emmy Award winning filmmakers and former presidents! The center of the 1960's Civil Rights Movement and home to the world's busiest airport, Atlanta has attained international prominence, impacting global commerce, technology, education, politics & entertainment.

https://www.google.com/about/careers...ons/locations/

[cabasse]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Miami is not a huge outpost for Big Tech but neither is Atlanta.

atlanta has a pretty sizeable tech presence - probably one of the main things that helped the city get out of the rut it found itself in after the 2008 crisis and losing so many of its homegrown companies in the 2000s.

there's lots of fairly big regional offices for some of the most well known companies with lots of programming related roles. microsoft pulled away from its massive west midtown campus, but they do still have a couple of large buildings in atlantic station, along with meta. google has taken half a million sq feet at a new building in midtown. my husband works for micron who opened a memory design center in midtown. NCR has their HQ in midtown, salesforce has a large regional office in buckhead. there are definitely more, but those are the main ones off the top of my head.

i was a contingent worker dev myself a few years back for about 16mo, working on helping fixing various integration issues with salesforce and law firms used for immigration processing, among other things. i never actually made it into the office but i do have my DE teams tshirt, lol.

[mhays]

Seattle's claims are usually specific to "engineering" rather than total employment. The latter can include manufacturing, content creation, call centers, back-office functions, etc. None of those are strong suits for Seattle or San Francisco due to cost.

I don't know how we rank under any definition other than the links people are providing, but for engineering I've heard #2 for a lot of companies. Apple has a 600,000 sf office in South Lake Union (edge of Downtown Seattle) and is was rumored to be looking for a third building that was recently vacated by Meta.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by homebucket

According to this Apples biggest corporate workforce outside of the Bay Area is in Austin.

https://www.apple.com/job-creation/

According to Meta AI:

Meta also has offices in Brazil (Sao Paulo I think), Singapore, Mexico City, Dublin and I think a couple more countries. Plus, offices in Fremont and Sunnyvale. They closed down Mountain View location and Consolidated to one building in SF.