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Not sure if Washington, DC includes Northern Virginia (Ashburn, Herndon, Reston). AWS is already here. And a ridiculous amount of fiber seems to out through thi

by rdtsc 9y ago

Not sure if Washington, DC includes Northern Virginia (Ashburn, Herndon, Reston). AWS is already here. And a ridiculous amount of fiber seems to out through this area. I see new data centers popping up quite often. And prices are crazy expensive but probably still cheaper than the city itself. So I would pick this area if I was them. Though not sure how I'd personally feel about prices and traffic going up even higher with Amazon's second HQ moving in.

rayiner 9y ago
As someone who lives on the opposite side of D.C. from Reston, I'd be so smug if Amazon inflicted its HQ on NOVA.
hiram112 9y ago
I think the area around Reston / Dulles would make a great pick. The Silver Line will be finished soon, and there is plenty of room to build it up in the style of Arlington's Orange Line or Old Town's Blue. Dulles being 10 minutes away would be a huge advantage, especially compared to Denver where the airport is a long ways from both the tech corridor and the Boulder area. Traffic is still a nightmare and housing costs are pretty bad compared to most cities, but there is a lot of tech talent here and wages seem lower than NY, Seattle, and the Bay Area. NOVA is liberal, but Virginia is business friendly, unlike DC and MD. There is already the big NE Virginia AWS here, and I'm pretty sure most of the governments and intel communities AWS infrastructure is also housed close by.
- JPKab 9y ago
  Bad place for an HQ. The tech talent is a mix of actual tech talent vs. "I have all of the Microsoft and Cisco certs that XY Agency requires".
JPKab 9y ago
I currently live between Denver and Boulder. Lived in the DC area for 8 years. It's an AWFUL place to build an HQ, but Amazon might do it anyway. 1) Salaries are artificially inflated by competition from the Govt and Govt contractors. 2) Traffic is nightmarishly bad. 3) Housing is incredibly expensive 4) Tech skills aren't as high as the stats indicate. The gov't and contractors have an amazing way of creating people whose titles indicate they know what they're doing, but they don't. See healthcare.gov fiasco for an illustration. A senior data engineer in DC is someone who knows SQL and Informatica, as opposed to someone that can actually do real tech. The intelligence agencies have awesome talent, but they have enormous salaries inflated by their security clearances and you're not going to get them. 5) Weather fucking sucks. I lived there 8 years, it sucks. 6) Quality of life just isn't good. Average commute times and cultural amenities are bad.
- rdtsc 9y ago
  Heh. Yeah it's a mix of tech companies and gov. + gov contractors. A lot of people seem to work for the "State Dept." here (cough CIA cough) or other such agencies. Tech talent is varied as you say. There are a lot of tech companies, some of Amazon's AWS is here, and there Microsoft, Google and others. They are probably dwarfed by Lockheed, Booz, Northrop and "We put butts in seats" ManTech but overall at least the NoVa area seems tech-y enough. Traffic is not bad if you don't have to get on the beltway or go all the way to DC in rush hour. And there is Metro, with all the hate and issues they've been having it works and is better than other cities I've lived in. > Housing is incredibly expensive Compared to Midwest or South it is ridiculously expensive. But out in suburbs (and not DC proper) it's more manageable than Seattle, SF, NY and such it seems. > 5) Weather fucking sucks. I lived there 8 years, it sucks True, true. Though it's fall now. Finally a few weeks of nice cool mornings when opening windows feels nice. And I do like the mountains out West. Skyline drive, hiking and the small towns and farms. > 6) Quality of life just isn't good. Average commute times and cultural amenities are bad. I just tried not to commute and lived closed to work. Now work from home. Now you might ask why would I still stay in this area, and that would be a good question. So far it inertia mostly and maybe the idea that it's probably safer to stay in a tech area if had to wanted to switch jobs and working from home wasn't an option any more.

by rdtsc 9y ago

rayiner 9y ago

As someone who lives on the opposite side of D.C. from Reston, I'd be so smug if Amazon inflicted its HQ on NOVA.

hiram112 9y ago

I think the area around Reston / Dulles would make a great pick. The Silver Line will be finished soon, and there is plenty of room to build it up in the style of Arlington's Orange Line or Old Town's Blue. Dulles being 10 minutes away would be a huge advantage, especially compared to Denver where the airport is a long ways from both the tech corridor and the Boulder area. Traffic is still a nightmare and housing costs are pretty bad compared to most cities, but there is a lot of tech talent here and wages seem lower than NY, Seattle, and the Bay Area. NOVA is liberal, but Virginia is business friendly, unlike DC and MD. There is already the big NE Virginia AWS here, and I'm pretty sure most of the governments and intel communities AWS infrastructure is also housed close by.

JPKab 9y ago
Bad place for an HQ. The tech talent is a mix of actual tech talent vs. "I have all of the Microsoft and Cisco certs that XY Agency requires".

JPKab 9y ago

I currently live between Denver and Boulder. Lived in the DC area for 8 years. It's an AWFUL place to build an HQ, but Amazon might do it anyway. 1) Salaries are artificially inflated by competition from the Govt and Govt contractors. 2) Traffic is nightmarishly bad. 3) Housing is incredibly expensive 4) Tech skills aren't as high as the stats indicate. The gov't and contractors have an amazing way of creating people whose titles indicate they know what they're doing, but they don't. See healthcare.gov fiasco for an illustration. A senior data engineer in DC is someone who knows SQL and Informatica, as opposed to someone that can actually do real tech. The intelligence agencies have awesome talent, but they have enormous salaries inflated by their security clearances and you're not going to get them. 5) Weather fucking sucks. I lived there 8 years, it sucks. 6) Quality of life just isn't good. Average commute times and cultural amenities are bad.

rdtsc 9y ago
Heh. Yeah it's a mix of tech companies and gov. + gov contractors. A lot of people seem to work for the "State Dept." here (cough CIA cough) or other such agencies. Tech talent is varied as you say. There are a lot of tech companies, some of Amazon's AWS is here, and there Microsoft, Google and others. They are probably dwarfed by Lockheed, Booz, Northrop and "We put butts in seats" ManTech but overall at least the NoVa area seems tech-y enough. Traffic is not bad if you don't have to get on the beltway or go all the way to DC in rush hour. And there is Metro, with all the hate and issues they've been having it works and is better than other cities I've lived in. > Housing is incredibly expensive Compared to Midwest or South it is ridiculously expensive. But out in suburbs (and not DC proper) it's more manageable than Seattle, SF, NY and such it seems. > 5) Weather fucking sucks. I lived there 8 years, it sucks True, true. Though it's fall now. Finally a few weeks of nice cool mornings when opening windows feels nice. And I do like the mountains out West. Skyline drive, hiking and the small towns and farms. > 6) Quality of life just isn't good. Average commute times and cultural amenities are bad. I just tried not to commute and lived closed to work. Now work from home. Now you might ask why would I still stay in this area, and that would be a good question. So far it inertia mostly and maybe the idea that it's probably safer to stay in a tech area if had to wanted to switch jobs and working from home wasn't an option any more.