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Maybe it's not only the money. In Silicon Valley, engineers are treated like stars, not sent to the basement with the worst office. In most cities, the business

Maybe it's not only the money. In Silicon Valley, engineers are treated like stars, not sent to the basement with the worst office. In most cities, the business leaders run the show, and treat engineers as a commodity, to be added or disposed of when needed: "let's go faster by adding more engineers, who cares about the talent level, what's the difference".

fudged71 8y ago
Sadly software is still treated as a cost center for a lot of companies. It's depressing how many forms you fill out having to say you're in "I.T."
sixdimensional 8y ago
This is very true but I think it might be slowly changing as the older generations age out. I think it has to do with the old management styles/structures still hanging on, where IT is still treated as it was 20, 30, more years ago. Let's face it, today we are hard pressed to find almost any organization where IT/IS is not a critical part of the organization. I think as organizations change to more modern, organic, less hierarchical structures, the importance of IT is changing. It is going from being a "separate concern" to an "integrated concern". New students are being taught technology at younger and younger ages, which means they can combine it with other fields of study, and thus "business" and "IT" are finally closer to being the same exact thing. Right now, people are flocking to Silicon Valley with the currently somewhat true but somewhat misguided belief (IMHO) that "that is where all the smart people and opportunities are". It is not the ONLY place the smart people and opportunities are. There are smart people and opportunities everywhere. Sure, if they cluster in one place, that's entirely possible and makes that place valuable. However, when the cost of living exceeds some natural limit, I suspect that it will be infeasible to continue to grow Silicon Valley further - and when that happens, the desire to save money and shave off expenses will naturally drive businesses, organizations and people to other areas.

fudged71 8y ago

Sadly software is still treated as a cost center for a lot of companies. It's depressing how many forms you fill out having to say you're in "I.T."

sixdimensional 8y ago

This is very true but I think it might be slowly changing as the older generations age out. I think it has to do with the old management styles/structures still hanging on, where IT is still treated as it was 20, 30, more years ago. Let's face it, today we are hard pressed to find almost any organization where IT/IS is not a critical part of the organization. I think as organizations change to more modern, organic, less hierarchical structures, the importance of IT is changing. It is going from being a "separate concern" to an "integrated concern". New students are being taught technology at younger and younger ages, which means they can combine it with other fields of study, and thus "business" and "IT" are finally closer to being the same exact thing. Right now, people are flocking to Silicon Valley with the currently somewhat true but somewhat misguided belief (IMHO) that "that is where all the smart people and opportunities are". It is not the ONLY place the smart people and opportunities are. There are smart people and opportunities everywhere. Sure, if they cluster in one place, that's entirely possible and makes that place valuable. However, when the cost of living exceeds some natural limit, I suspect that it will be infeasible to continue to grow Silicon Valley further - and when that happens, the desire to save money and shave off expenses will naturally drive businesses, organizations and people to other areas.