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What if you didn't have to attract the "most" 18 to 30 year olds? What if what you really needed was to attract an underserved niche of 18 to 30 year olds? I t

What if you didn't have to attract the "most" 18 to 30 year olds? What if what you really needed was to attract an underserved niche of 18 to 30 year olds? I think Atlanta or Nashville is ripe. Northeasterners can and do move to California already. Southerners are much less likely to do so imo. The rural market is grossly underserved right now. Almost none of the efforts to get people into computer science are hitting rural communities. I'd very much like to see that change.

needz 11y ago
I think Birmingham fits well in that list. We have a very low cost of living and our downtown is undergoing a huge revival these past few years. Great access to nature too.
- Apocryphon 11y ago
  Any tech scene, though?
  - needz 11y ago
    We have 'Code for Birmingham' non-profit organization that works to build software for the city, a strong computer science department at the local major University (UAB), and a few tech incubators. We're lacking in the 'meetup.com' department of the tech scene, but the point is we're primed for an influx of entrepreneurs and startups.
    - forrestthewoods 11y ago
      How is the computer science program at University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa? Does it have a growing emphasis? Historically C.S. hasn't been big at SEC schools but I've no idea if that's still the case. (I grew up an hour west of Knoxville. And have family in B'ham/Tuscaloosa.)
      - needz 11y ago
        Not too sure. I just moved to the area 2 years ago so aside from basic rivalry knowledge I can only speak for UAB, where I graduated from. Excellent professors and a strong sense of community among the C.S. undergrads. Also home to a very active chapter of the ACM that holds upper-grad presentations for lower-grad students and regular one-on-one study sessions between the two.
joelrunyon 11y ago
Commenting to call out Nashville as the next Austin. Lots of similar characteristics, business friendly environment, and fast internet.
- reneherse 11y ago
  I concur, and will add: a growing developer community, bad (and increasing) traffic, and quickly escalating housing costs. :)
Yhippa 11y ago
Either of these cities socially liberal? Hard to tell based on my visits there.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- samsolomon 11y ago
  If you live in the City of Atlanta, it is quite liberal. The metro area is much more of a mixed bag. Beyond the metro area, the rest of Georgia isn't at all.
- forrestthewoods 11y ago
  Less liberal than the coasts. More liberal than their surrounding rural neighbors. We talk about how women make up 50% of the population and if we don't hire women then we're leaving a lot of talent on the table. Well 50% of the country is conservative and if we don't hire conservatives we're also leaving a lot of talent on the table. Conservatives are people too. Many who are incredibly smart, talented, and hard working. They shouldn't be overlooked.
  - pklausler 11y ago
    I don't think that tech companies are discriminating against the more conservative parts of the country because they're conservative, per se, but because the more conservative parts of the country tend (with exceptions, like Utah) to have low levels of funding for attractive amenities like good public schools. I'm not going to draw causation arrows, but the correlation is sure there.
  - leesalminen 11y ago
    But who wants to sit in a room with Bible Belt conservatives? I say this as a fairly conservative person living in a very liberal city.
- waterfowl 11y ago
  Atlanta proper is super gay(I am a gay who grew up in the south), I think a few years back it was the highest percentage of any city in the country. The issue with Atlanta as others have said is it is hugely sprawly and the actual city doesn't account for that much of the 'metro area.' State politics aren't really liberal, they just almost passed an NC style 'right to discriminate' or whatever law, but were smart enough to back down over the threats of the film production companies(GA has become a major film state of late). The city is very racially diverse, but I dunno what the social politics are really like in general(tho I think the pearl clutching about living around ~conservatives~ is a bit overblown having grown up in that area of the country(TN)). Plus Georgia Tech is there, so lots of smart computery folks around(from all over the world) in that part of ATL society.
L_Rahman 11y ago
To everyone proposing places like Nashville and Dallas - do you have any idea what it's like being a not-white person outside of the major coastal cities? It's a miserable experience. You go from seeing a lot of people who look like you in the industry of your choice, to being one of a token few. Food and grocery options go from omnipresent to something you have to hunt down. The way you lead your life goes from something you take for granted to a difference that you must confront at every turn. Good luck building the next Silicon Valley in a place that is not welcoming to multiculturalism.
- forrestthewoods 11y ago
  Nashville is less white than Seattle. And Seattle seems to be doing pretty well.
  - reneherse 11y ago
    However, from the perspective of having lived here for two years, Nashville neighborhoods (and social activities/nightlife) are highly segregated. The normal everyday full-spectrum multicultural mix that you tend to find in other cities simply doesn't exist here, IME.
- Apocryphon 11y ago
  That's definitely an important consideration. From what I've heard, Raleigh-Durham RTP actually has had a huge influx of immigrant engineers, and so is more diverse than one would expect from the South. Shame about their recent legislative decisions, though.
  - CuriouslyC 11y ago
    Raleigh/Durham is great in terms of cultural and employment diversity, and you can't beat it in terms of salary/cost of living. Most of the people outside the major cities and the elected officials are a ridiculous joke though.
  - mindcrime 11y ago
    The Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area is extremely diverse and multi-cultural. Between the major universities here (UNC, Duke, NCSU) and all the big companies in RTP (IBM, Glaxo, EMC, Cisco, etc.) people come from all over to work here or go to school here. And this area (colloquially, "the Triangle") is much different than most of the rest of NC in terms of being socially tolerant and inclusive. Yeah, the whole HB2 thing was something of a stain on our state (OK, we're the laughing stock of the whole damn country, fine...) but that really does not accurately reflect what life is like in the Triangle area.
Xcelerate 11y ago
> Northeasterners can and do move to California already. Southerners are much less likely to do so imo The South is in dire need of at least one giant tech city. I can't be the only person who wants to stay here near family, but the lack of any world-class tech opportunities is extremely frustrating. My girlfriend doesn't understand why I keep wanting to move to the west coast — "Surely you can find a decent job somewhere in the southeast?" Yes, if "a job" is all that I'm looking for, then I can certainly find one. I think she's frustrated with my constant talk about jobs located outside of the South, but I don't really know how to explain the situation to her :/
- Apocryphon 11y ago
  Isn't Raleigh already a giant tech city? Even though apparently it's mostly located in a vast research park that's more South Bay than SF, and the tech companies are usually giants like RedHat, rather than startups?
- frankydp 11y ago
  There are mountains of tech Goliaths in the SE. If you look beyond social and gig, you will find very interesting and challenging scale companies. Most of the big retail chains(Home Depot), huge DoD and Federal(NASA, CDC, DARPA) opportunities, huge transportation(Air, Rail), infrastructure(ATT, VZ), GE's entire physical, firmware, and on-board development division(ie it has to work level smart people). These are huge companies with bleeding edge technology problems and solutions, that also have ample vertical mobility.

needz 11y ago

I think Birmingham fits well in that list. We have a very low cost of living and our downtown is undergoing a huge revival these past few years. Great access to nature too.

Apocryphon 11y ago
Any tech scene, though?
- needz 11y ago
  We have 'Code for Birmingham' non-profit organization that works to build software for the city, a strong computer science department at the local major University (UAB), and a few tech incubators. We're lacking in the 'meetup.com' department of the tech scene, but the point is we're primed for an influx of entrepreneurs and startups.
  - forrestthewoods 11y ago
    How is the computer science program at University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa? Does it have a growing emphasis? Historically C.S. hasn't been big at SEC schools but I've no idea if that's still the case. (I grew up an hour west of Knoxville. And have family in B'ham/Tuscaloosa.)
    - needz 11y ago
      Not too sure. I just moved to the area 2 years ago so aside from basic rivalry knowledge I can only speak for UAB, where I graduated from. Excellent professors and a strong sense of community among the C.S. undergrads. Also home to a very active chapter of the ACM that holds upper-grad presentations for lower-grad students and regular one-on-one study sessions between the two.

joelrunyon 11y ago

Commenting to call out Nashville as the next Austin. Lots of similar characteristics, business friendly environment, and fast internet.

reneherse 11y ago
I concur, and will add: a growing developer community, bad (and increasing) traffic, and quickly escalating housing costs. :)

Yhippa 11y ago

Either of these cities socially liberal? Hard to tell based on my visits there.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
samsolomon 11y ago
If you live in the City of Atlanta, it is quite liberal. The metro area is much more of a mixed bag. Beyond the metro area, the rest of Georgia isn't at all.
forrestthewoods 11y ago
Less liberal than the coasts. More liberal than their surrounding rural neighbors. We talk about how women make up 50% of the population and if we don't hire women then we're leaving a lot of talent on the table. Well 50% of the country is conservative and if we don't hire conservatives we're also leaving a lot of talent on the table. Conservatives are people too. Many who are incredibly smart, talented, and hard working. They shouldn't be overlooked.
- pklausler 11y ago
  I don't think that tech companies are discriminating against the more conservative parts of the country because they're conservative, per se, but because the more conservative parts of the country tend (with exceptions, like Utah) to have low levels of funding for attractive amenities like good public schools. I'm not going to draw causation arrows, but the correlation is sure there.
- leesalminen 11y ago
  But who wants to sit in a room with Bible Belt conservatives? I say this as a fairly conservative person living in a very liberal city.
waterfowl 11y ago
Atlanta proper is super gay(I am a gay who grew up in the south), I think a few years back it was the highest percentage of any city in the country. The issue with Atlanta as others have said is it is hugely sprawly and the actual city doesn't account for that much of the 'metro area.' State politics aren't really liberal, they just almost passed an NC style 'right to discriminate' or whatever law, but were smart enough to back down over the threats of the film production companies(GA has become a major film state of late). The city is very racially diverse, but I dunno what the social politics are really like in general(tho I think the pearl clutching about living around ~conservatives~ is a bit overblown having grown up in that area of the country(TN)). Plus Georgia Tech is there, so lots of smart computery folks around(from all over the world) in that part of ATL society.

L_Rahman 11y ago

To everyone proposing places like Nashville and Dallas - do you have any idea what it's like being a not-white person outside of the major coastal cities? It's a miserable experience. You go from seeing a lot of people who look like you in the industry of your choice, to being one of a token few. Food and grocery options go from omnipresent to something you have to hunt down. The way you lead your life goes from something you take for granted to a difference that you must confront at every turn. Good luck building the next Silicon Valley in a place that is not welcoming to multiculturalism.

forrestthewoods 11y ago
Nashville is less white than Seattle. And Seattle seems to be doing pretty well.
- reneherse 11y ago
  However, from the perspective of having lived here for two years, Nashville neighborhoods (and social activities/nightlife) are highly segregated. The normal everyday full-spectrum multicultural mix that you tend to find in other cities simply doesn't exist here, IME.
Apocryphon 11y ago
That's definitely an important consideration. From what I've heard, Raleigh-Durham RTP actually has had a huge influx of immigrant engineers, and so is more diverse than one would expect from the South. Shame about their recent legislative decisions, though.
- CuriouslyC 11y ago
  Raleigh/Durham is great in terms of cultural and employment diversity, and you can't beat it in terms of salary/cost of living. Most of the people outside the major cities and the elected officials are a ridiculous joke though.
- mindcrime 11y ago
  The Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area is extremely diverse and multi-cultural. Between the major universities here (UNC, Duke, NCSU) and all the big companies in RTP (IBM, Glaxo, EMC, Cisco, etc.) people come from all over to work here or go to school here. And this area (colloquially, "the Triangle") is much different than most of the rest of NC in terms of being socially tolerant and inclusive. Yeah, the whole HB2 thing was something of a stain on our state (OK, we're the laughing stock of the whole damn country, fine...) but that really does not accurately reflect what life is like in the Triangle area.

Xcelerate 11y ago

> Northeasterners can and do move to California already. Southerners are much less likely to do so imo The South is in dire need of at least one giant tech city. I can't be the only person who wants to stay here near family, but the lack of any world-class tech opportunities is extremely frustrating. My girlfriend doesn't understand why I keep wanting to move to the west coast — "Surely you can find a decent job somewhere in the southeast?" Yes, if "a job" is all that I'm looking for, then I can certainly find one. I think she's frustrated with my constant talk about jobs located outside of the South, but I don't really know how to explain the situation to her :/

Apocryphon 11y ago
Isn't Raleigh already a giant tech city? Even though apparently it's mostly located in a vast research park that's more South Bay than SF, and the tech companies are usually giants like RedHat, rather than startups?
frankydp 11y ago
There are mountains of tech Goliaths in the SE. If you look beyond social and gig, you will find very interesting and challenging scale companies. Most of the big retail chains(Home Depot), huge DoD and Federal(NASA, CDC, DARPA) opportunities, huge transportation(Air, Rail), infrastructure(ATT, VZ), GE's entire physical, firmware, and on-board development division(ie it has to work level smart people). These are huge companies with bleeding edge technology problems and solutions, that also have ample vertical mobility.