Is Vancouver a Legitimate Tech Hub? - Page 8

trofirhen · #**141** Posted **Feb 27, 2016, 5:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Box

Vancouver is not much of a tech hub at all. Hub implies it's a big deal. For film, yes. Seattle is barely a tech hub itself.

Thank you for that American perspective. I would have thought Seattle a rather large tech hub, but if you no, then I was wrong after all. The main hub will surely remain San Jose.(?)

Klazu · #**142** Posted **Feb 27, 2016, 2:47 PM**

Seattle for sure is a global tech hub with several very successful and big Fortune 500 tech companies. Vancouver is not a global tech hub, but it for sure is a Canadian tech hub. Just check how many open Vancouver tech positions there are on Techvibes vs. other Canadian cities. And this doesn't even inclue any of the big players (for any of the cities). There is a lot going on in the local tech circles, but the matter of fact just is that there are not many big time Canadian tech companies in existence.

http://www.techvibes.com/job/vancouver/

Black Box · #**143** Posted **Feb 27, 2016, 9:41 PM**

Compared to the Valley, Seattle is small, which is what was meant by barely.

Pinion · #**144** Posted **Feb 27, 2016, 9:59 PM**

Everything's small compared to the bay area. There's no need to make that comparison. Seattle is important.

WarrenC12 · #**145** Posted **Feb 28, 2016, 2:52 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinion

Everything's small compared to the bay area. There's no need to make that comparison. Seattle is important.

Amazon & Microsoft. That's all you need to say.

LeftCoaster · #**146** Posted **Feb 29, 2016, 9:23 PM**

Honestly, the if you're not first you're last mentality is just ridiculous.

I guess New York is the only banking hub in the world. Someone should notify London and Hong Kong the gig is up...

Seattle is very much a tech hub, and while Vancouver is far behind Seattle, the industry is increasingly important to the city and is growing incredibly fast.

twoNeurons · #**147** Posted **Feb 29, 2016, 10:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Amazon & Microsoft. That's all you need to say.

And Expedia. And Cray. And Salesforce.com, And Nintendo of America. And Boeing. (Technology, imho, is not restricted to 'Software and computer companies' and there are plenty of tech jobs with Boeing )

Not to mention well-known websites like Zillow, AllRecipes and Classmates.com.

Seattle doesn't have much of a startup mentality, it's more corporate, for sure. But Seattle is important to the technology industry as a whole. Bellevue

LeftCoaster · #**148** Posted **Feb 29, 2016, 11:08 PM**

Salesforce is San Fran, but your point stands.

I would disagree about the startup mentality though, it's just that they are overshadowed by the big established guys. Bottom line is most of the big established guys were startups in Seattle at one point.

Klazu · #**149** Posted **Feb 29, 2016, 11:14 PM**

Tableau Software is also from Seattle and bigger than anything we have here in Vancouver. So if you add up all the names mentioned, that's at least ten tech companies headquartered in the Metro Seattle that are employeing in the thousands! That's huge and certainly a tech hub!!

twoNeurons · #**150** Posted **Mar 1, 2016, 2:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Salesforce is San Fran, but your point stands.

My mistake. I saw an article on them moving into an article in Bellevue and made an assumption.

casper · #**151** Posted **Apr 7, 2016, 1:21 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klazu

Tableau Software is also from Seattle and bigger than anything we have here in Vancouver. So if you add up all the names mentioned, that's at least ten tech companies headquartered in the Metro Seattle that are employeing in the thousands! That's huge and certainly a tech hub!!

Acording to Wikipedia head count at MacDonald Detwiller Associates is about double Tableau. MDA has over 4,000 employees.

Some local Vancouver companies:
- 1-800 got junk
- Apparent Networks
- Avigilon
- D-wave
- Ballard Power
- Hootsuite
- Sierra Wireless
- Vision Critical

Aroundtheworld · #**152** Posted **Apr 7, 2016, 5:13 AM**

As someone who is in the tech scene, Vancouver is tiny compared to any of the bigs in the states. However, it is burgeoning here and in the next few years I think you'll more companies like Hootsuite emerge as serious players. Also, many companies like Microsoft and Amazon are setting up offices here which will nurture or bring in talent. It takes time though.

Migrant_Coconut · #**153** Posted **Apr 7, 2016, 5:20 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aroundtheworld

As someone who is in the tech scene, Vancouver is tiny compared to any of the bigs in the states. However, it is burgeoning here and in the next few years I think you'll more companies like Hootsuite emerge as serious players. Also, many companies like Microsoft and Amazon are setting up offices here which will nurture or bring in talent. It takes time though.

Agreeing with everything except this. There's a higher chance of the Canucks actually winning the Stanley Cup.

GMasterAres · #**154** Posted **Apr 7, 2016, 6:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

You had some good points until this came up. Marpole and Dunbar are in no way "downtown."

https://www.walkscore.com/apartments...couver/Marpole

Look at rents. Pretty reasonable. Buying? Sure expensive. But most of the world rents and renting is what a lot of people especially in Europe do. Plenty affordable to live in those areas but I guess our definition of affordable differs if to you it means buying a property or a house. To me it is living.

Buying is a luxury.

Hourglass · #**155** Posted **Apr 7, 2016, 6:40 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Agreeing with everything except this. There's a higher chance of the Canucks actually winning the Stanley Cup.

lol, I hope in my lifetime...

I don't know whether Vancouver has reached critical mass, but all it takes is one or two unicorns (or narwhals I guess since it's Canada) and the whole dynamic changes. A whole raft of other companies offering supporting services spring up. And people start believing that they can be part of the next big thing.

It might not be Hootsuite, but there seem to be a few possible contenders that are Vancouver based.

Aroundtheworld · #**156** Posted **Apr 7, 2016, 2:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Agreeing with everything except this. There's a higher chance of the Canucks actually winning the Stanley Cup.

I was wondering what makes you think Hootsuite aren't a serious player?

They are worth over $1 Billion.
They are a leader in their industry.
They are growing rapidly.

No they're not a Microsoft or an Amazon or even a Twitter. But they are a huge success story. Hopefully they will be the first of many.

WarrenC12 · #**157** Posted **Apr 7, 2016, 3:09 PM**

I'd take Hootsuite more seriously once they start turning a profit. Time is ticking.

Aroundtheworld · #**158** Posted **Apr 7, 2016, 7:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I'd take Hootsuite more seriously once they start turning a profit. Time is ticking.

For a business like Hootsuite, I'm not sure profitability is so important at this stage. I think what's more important is growth and market share.

They could become profitable tomorrow if they laid off a bunch of staff, but then they wouldn't be growing.

Klazu · #**159** Posted **Jul 1, 2016, 4:53 AM**

I don't have a source for this, but today I heard the claim that unemployment in the Vancouver tech sector is only at 1.5%. If true, that is really low and makes for a total employee's market! Province's official unemployment figure is at 5.7%.

Good news all around.

casper · #**160** Posted **Jul 2, 2016, 6:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klazu

I don't have a source for this, but today I heard the claim that unemployment in the Vancouver tech sector is only at 1.5%. If true, that is really low and makes for a total employee's market! Province's official unemployment figure is at 5.7%.

Good news all around.

I don't have any numbers either. What I have noticed in the last little while is a lot more people going from one company to another due to better offer/opertunity. Feels more like the Telco build up in Ottawa and the oil sector in Calgary during the boom cycles.