Slashdot Mirror
Bay Area Tech Job Growth Has Rapidly Decelerated (mercurynews.com)
An anonymous reader shares a MercuryNews report: Job growth in the tech industry used to zoom like a race car, but these days, hiring by this principal driver of the Bay Area's economy chugs along more like a family SUV. The technology industry's job growth in the nine-county region has dramatically decelerated, according to this newspaper's analysis of figures released by state labor officials and Beacon Economics. Tech's annual job growth throttled back to 3.5 percent, or 26,700 new jobs, in 2016. That's much slower than the 6 percent annual gain of 42,300 jobs in 2015, or the 6.4 percent gain in 2014. And while the industry's 3.5 percent growth last year is still a sturdy annual pace, Bay Area technology companies have already disclosed plans to slash about 2,000 jobs in the first three months of 2017.
It's 2017, and you're a technology company, no, I will not move to the Bay Area.
The problem when any one area becomes really hot like the Bay Area has over the last thirty years is that it reaches a point when increasing costs outstrip even the lucrative pay and entertainment options. This becomes especially true as one gets a little older and the demands of family make indulging in those entertainment options impossible or at least difficult.
That's before you even factor in those now-established employers turning to look inward to figure out what they can do to reduce costs, and paying the salaries required to live some place like San Francisco, and paying for the real estate to have operations there will be up for consideration. Datacenters can be just about anywhere, and if operations are established in places that are not so expensive, like Cisco is pursuing with their TAC in Raleigh, NC, then they can reduce corporate costs.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Studios, 1, 2 bedroom apts are ~$2000, $2500, $3000 respectively. Rooms are $1000-1500/mo.
Or more likely there is only so much room to fit people in the Bay Area, so hiring in other cities has started to take up the slack. It really is ridiculous to pay developer $200k a year in a place where that doesn't even give you an upper middle class lifestyle when you can pay people $150k in most large cities (or their suburbs) which can give employees a much higher standard of living.
I wouldn't take a job in the Bay Area for even a $100k/yr raise, since my comfortable six figure salary in the Chicago suburbs gives me a 2500 sq ft house with a nice yard and public schools that rival the best private schools. My $500k house would cost at least $3 million in the Bay Area.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
There's a shortage of tech workers to hire. Industry must have increased H1B caps!
That is all.
They're realizing that they can't keep importing indentured servants. The 21st century's Big Cotton is collapsing.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
LinkedIn says there are 100,000+ tech jobs available in the San Francisco Bay Area.
On the downside, you're in the Chicago suburbs.
You are welcome on my lawn.
There seems to be this idea that Silicon Valley is the center of all things tech. It really only accounts for a tiny fraction of the Tech labor force. What makes it "special" is the access to venture capital. If you had a big idea and wanted to be the next Facebook or Instagram sure, Silicon Valley might be for you. If you want to be a computer programer you could stay in any big Midwest City, make $150K (Full Time W2)/200+K (1099 Contract), and pay less than $1000/mo for home mortgage.
Dump some of the H1B visas, send those people back to where they came from, hire U.S. citizens at a good wage. The other issue is there are too many "startups" that do nothing but drain money. They don't PRODUCE anything.
IIRC an average of 3 people/year die in Chicago from ice falling off buildings. You can have it.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Or more likely there is only so much room to fit people in the Bay Area.
Can always cram more people in. Manilla has a population density per sq km of:
41,515 people.
San Francisco itself has a population density of
6,659
(I imagine the combined Bay area will be a little lower than that) So you should be able to cram at least 30million more people into the Bay Area if you try).
You could create a lot of SnapChat clones with 30million programmers.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Probably something like 3 people/day die in Chicago for looking at someone the wrong way. The Ice wouldn't scare me.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
I'm sure more than three people a year die in California after receiving their tax bills for the year.
At least the ice is sort of natural.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
But doesn't not needing to pay as much in rent cancel out higher tax rates?
I know! I know!
A venture capital app.
Or is that recursive?
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Even if they were to hire more people it would be from outside the country. Whether hiring stalls or is accelerating it doesn't make a difference to americans.
Twinstiq, game news
Places with a bad reputation tends to not be as bad when you are used to living there.
In the same fashion places with a good reputation tends to attract all kinds of assholes making the place not as good as its reputation.
I live in one of those immigrant dense suburbs with a crap reputation.
Some decade ago there was a reported shooting. (A gun-nut neighbor shot his rifle to celebrate whatever and probably took reasonable safety precautions.)
Apart from that it is fscking utopia where everyone is friendly and nothing ever happens.
Still people in other suburbs thinks where I live is some sort of no-go war-zone.
Well, I don't mind, it keeps the rent down.
But when you go outside your house, you're in the Chicago suburbs.
Don't get me wrong. I'm a lifelong Chicagoan, currently living in Houston, but eager to go back. I love Chicago like a family member. But if you're going to live in the Chicago area, and brave the miserable winter, the miserable mayor, and the Chicago Bears, you at least ought to live closer to downtown, where accessibility to a decent Italian beef somewhat ameliorates the misery.
You are welcome on my lawn.
You need to talk to someone who owns property in Chicago and ask them about their taxes.
You are welcome on my lawn.
chugs along more like a family SUV.
Obviously the author has not seen how "family" SUVs are driven. I can assure you, they do not chug along. More like, "Prepare for ramming speed!"
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
That is the issue. VCs don't want anything but the tried and true. If the app slings ads, and it slurps up data to be sold for analytics, -boom- it gets funded. If your app actually does something useful, it won't. Look at the Meitu app as an example of the what is the Holy Grail of what is wanted by the VC people.
The Chicago area is a dump, traffic nightmare, and a liberals wet dream! Taxes are so high in the NW Burbs. Glad to be gone.
Taxes are incredibly high in the NW Burbs (about $14k per year on a $500k house) but you also get private school quality education paid for with those taxes. There are plenty of Chicago suburbs with low taxes, but your kids ultimately pay for it. That or you pay far more in private school tuition than you would have in taxes.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
I'm seeing more and more tech companies that are headquartered in the Bay Area, and hiring mostly remote workers. With the right kind of team leader, and the right workers, a remote team can be nearly as effective as an in-house team, and costs are not as high. I wonder if these stats are skewed by remote workers, since they are technically not in the "Bay Area", even though the HQ may be?
Are you sure you're not from, or related to, a Minnesotan?
Gotta have something to complain about during the winter, dontcha'-know.
In seriousness... I left Chicago for L.A., now in Atlanta.
I wouldn't likely go back, even though the schools in Libertyville, Evanston, Glenview, and Naperville are some of the best in the entire nation.
The suburbs (there at least) are culturally isolated, conformity is king; even with Indian and Asian kids I grew up with, who were culturally nurtured at home. Hugely whitewashed, and the corporate overlords at Abbott, Motorola, Baxter, etc. seem to really like it that way. Want something to do on Friday? Go to the mall. Or a bar. Or little Betty's dance recital.
After leaving I realized that I'd missed out on a LOT; maybe that was my parents though.
I get the feeling suburbs are this way everywhere, so some Chicago 'burbs seems to have it better than many places by a little.
As Rush sang,"The suburbs have no charms to sooth the restless dream of youth"
-
Mod this fella up!
I lived in Libertyville growing up and the schools are some of the best in the nation.
L.A. is MUCH crunchier than Chicago/NW Suburbs; Chicago is very midwestern most of the time, while L.A. is a bit tweaky and disjointed, but more diverse; much more than Chi-town.
-
I think my subject text says it all. I live on the Front Range of Colorado and the place is growing like crazy, as I think we're taking some of the overflow from the Silicon Valley. There's plenty of land to accommodate the growth but home builders are way behind in meeting the need.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
IIRC an average of 3 people/year die in Chicago from ice falling off buildings. You can have it.
Here in the UK, about 10 people a year die from accidentally falling off cliffs. So I'm not getting within a hundred miles of the sea. Oh, wait...
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
It's not the house that's expensive in the Bay Area. It's the land.
Or more likely there is only so much room to fit people in the Bay Area
Ummm, no. More likely this is another bubble, and we're seeing the first signs its going to pop. How many of these "businesses" that sell "free" products are actually turning a profit? And how many are just waiting to be bought out? Sound familiar? It's the tech version of flipping houses.
I grew up in the suburbs. What exactly I miss? I lived on the literal border of all the wilderness I could handle (lifelong avid hiker) and a 65c bus ride to downtown, grocery store 200m away, 15 minute walk to the movie theater and mall and a 20 minute bike ride to the amphitheater where I saw some big name bands. Also had a big yard with a huge vegetable garden.
They have lot's of trains to get into the city. And traffic is not that bad
You want to pay someone $60K for an 60-80 hour week in the bay area and can't find anyone to fill that roll!
The overall tax rate is actually higher in Illinois than in California (for the average citizen). California has higher income and sales taxes, but Illinois has substantially higher property taxes, placing its overall tax burden just above California. The rankings change a bit if you include local taxes (county and city), but Illinois still taxes more than California.
So your point is that s/he could escape very quickly and very often?
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Bullshit, the trains are fine ... even the 2am "vomit commit".
IIRC an average of 3 people/year die in Chicago from ice falling off buildings. You can have it.
Three people per year is a rounding error. Do you really consider that an argument against Chicago? Because that makes me statistically feel much better about it!
I looked at buying a place in one of the western Chicago suburbs a few years ago and the high taxes really surprised me. They were around $6,000 to $7,000 per year, almost double what you'd pay in the city.
I've been renting my place on the south-side of Chicago for almost 10 years and pay $1,100 per month for a nice 3-bedroom place in a two-flat with a high ceiling, skylights and a third-floor addition. I've got a small backyard, a covered garage spot and plenty of street parking.
I thought I wanted my own place, but not after seeing what I'd have to pay for taxes or, God forbid, an HOA.
Aurora and Naperville might as well be Kentucky.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Atlanta is nice.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Racist against whom? Chicago has black suburbs and white suburbs. They're both suburbs.
Me, I like places that have sidewalks, but you'd probably say that makes me a racist, too.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Clearly the decline in population for the last few years in IL; I'd say a majority of people disagree with you.
Agreed. Regardless of what most people say, they would rather take a larger house for cheaper than give their kids the best education they can afford. Where I live $500k will get you a 2600 sq ft house in the best school district or a 4000 sq ft house in the much weaker school districts 5-10 miles away. Many people prioritize their three car garage over their kids' education. But that is what makes the best school districts the best; they have better parents. Combine parents who value education with a high tax base and you have the primary building blocks of great schools.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
I like to tell recruiters and head hunters out there and also on the east coast that they can't afford me. They like to respond that the pay is very generous and I tell them that I am not taking a decrease in my standard of living so unless I can afford a ~2000 sq ft house on a .5 acre lot that backs up to a 14 acre wooded park where my children will be going to some of the best schools in the state that will be paid off in 9 years and I have a commute that is at most 40 minutes all while owning a multi acre lake property that is within a 2.25 hour drive that has 210 feet of shore line on a lake without a public water access that is owned outright all while saving close to 30% of my post tax income I'm not interested. Their response is that such a place doesn't exist and I tell them that it does but they won't pay me enough to afford it out there.
Time to offend someone
You've never been to Naperville.
You are welcome on my lawn.
This is what happens when you don't buy your family new iPhones every year. You should feel ashamed, don't you know that a lot of us have 7 figure mortgages to pay?
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
It's more than die from droughts, forest fires and mudslides in all of CA (obviously, in an average year). You'd have to go back pretty far for earthquake casualties to get there, if you include the great SF earthquake, you should include the Chicago fire for fair comparisons.
Then we can get into which city has the most corrupt police in the nation. LA doesn't hold a candle to Chicago or New Orleans in that respect.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
It's not really so bad. To put it into perspective, cops and firefighters make $120k-$130k, more if they move up in the ranks. Cops get a lot of overtime and make a little extra money that way. Firefighters tend to have some kind of side business because they get a fair amount of time off. (Just about anything from working as a handyman to writing mobile apps). Median home price in some places might be $800k+, but 20 miles away you can find areas that are closer to $600k median and with a pretty large range. There are enough places that can be had for $400k here that maybe just need a little TLC and their school district is not the highest rated.
Rentals went up fast in SF, rents are in the same ballpark as a mortgage. SF is around $3k, Daly City and Pacifica are around $2.5k, Oakland is around $2.7k, etc. There are still decent apartments for under $2k/mo if you're willing to move further down the peninsula. Most of these cities have a median income of around $105k/yr, obvious there are a lot of people who make quite a bit less than that.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Don't worry, they'll raise the cap again.
Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
I recently got an e-mail from a recruiter who was offering $80K for a position that required a master's degree and 5+ years of experience. In New York City.
Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
Out of interest, do you intentionally not understand what "racist" means or are you genuinely confused?
SJW n. One who posts facts.
We call it, "Napertucky". If you drive through every day, you know very well that's true.
You are welcome on my lawn.