Slashdot Mirror
Duolingo To Silicon Valley Workers: Move To Pittsburgh, Where You Can Actually Afford a Home (venturebeat.com)
As the cost of living continues to rise in Silicon Valley, tech companies in other parts of the country are getting more aggressive in pitching workers to move to their cities for a better quality of life. From a report: This week, the language-learning platform Duolingo put up an ad along San Francisco's US Highway 101, encouraging residents to move to Pittsburgh where the company's headquarters are based. In Pittsburgh, you can both "work in tech" and "own a home," the ad touted. Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn told VentureBeat in an email that the company was prompted to put up the ad after realizing that most of its Pittsburgh employees who relocated to the city cited the low cost of housing as one of the deciding factors.
Von Ahn said that 85 percent of the company's Pittsburgh-based employees moved to the city from somewhere else. The company has 110 employees, the majority of whom work out of Pittsburgh. "One [employee] who recently joined Duolingo moved from the Bay Area and ended up buying a house almost immediately," von Ahn said. "He said he never would have been able to do that before, but here in Pittsburgh, he found a reasonably priced home on a large plot of land and jumped on the opportunity to be a homeowner and have a huge yard for his dog."
Von Ahn said that 85 percent of the company's Pittsburgh-based employees moved to the city from somewhere else. The company has 110 employees, the majority of whom work out of Pittsburgh. "One [employee] who recently joined Duolingo moved from the Bay Area and ended up buying a house almost immediately," von Ahn said. "He said he never would have been able to do that before, but here in Pittsburgh, he found a reasonably priced home on a large plot of land and jumped on the opportunity to be a homeowner and have a huge yard for his dog."
Thats great for the lifestyle of the wealthy workers.
a.k.a. the workers who bring the most value to the company.
Why are the shareholders and owners of a company subsidizing workers in a state with that tax rate?
Because they understand that without good empoyees, their shares won't do very well.
Move to a better state with lower taxes. Enjoy the profits and savings.
You'll have huge profits with almost no payroll, for maybe 6 months.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
But then you’re probably surrounded by right wingers who beat and rape their children between participating in gun-fondling groupies.
Everything you just stated, except for the HVAC system issues, can be said about Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, etc... So, really, your pitch for CA comes down to, "You don't have to know how to use a thermostat".
Yes, it has its problems, but I would hardly call it "armpit of America."
Yes, a better term would be groin. With crotch itch.