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Both Madsion (Go Badgers!) and Ann Arbor have major universities, which probably spurs the developer culture. It isn't just size that matters. Of course, Sili

by dabent 16y ago

Both Madsion (Go Badgers!) and Ann Arbor have major universities, which probably spurs the developer culture. It isn't just size that matters. Of course, Silicon Valley has Stanford and Boston has both Harvard and MIT which is part of what makes them strong. It's a combination of things that makes for a good developer city, pg touches on that here: http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html

tptacek 16y ago
Madison has two things: a sizeable metro area with diverse employers, and a tech university culture. Ann Arbor only has one of those things, because the "diverse employers" belong to Detroit Metro instead of A2. Indianapolis does not have a notable tech university culture (I hope I'm not offending Indy people with that), but it's large enough that it's employer base affords opportunities to be selective about jobs. I've never seen anyone recommend Indy as a good place to start a tech career, but I'm agreeing with the original article: it's doable in a city like Indy. It's not doable in Grand Rapids, I don't think. I know people who live in GR and they're happy and they've put down roots and it seems a lovely place to build a family, but setting up shop in Grand Rapids is unlikely to be your escape from dead-end coding jobs.
- sudont 16y ago
  While you're right about Madison's culture, I couldn't find crap for work there. MPLS has been much, much better to me. The tech community there is much too insular: web jobs are nonexistent and everything else is pretty much biotech or through the university (Masters degrees then are a minimum requirement). I say this having interned around the town at a top design shop, with no workable industry contacts resulting from.
- zaphar 16y ago
  I have an in-law who works in the Grand Rapids area for sourceforge. He telecommutes. If you limit the scope of this discussion to exclude telecommuting then your right. However, thats not your only option.

by dabent 16y ago

tptacek 16y ago

Madison has two things: a sizeable metro area with diverse employers, and a tech university culture. Ann Arbor only has one of those things, because the "diverse employers" belong to Detroit Metro instead of A2. Indianapolis does not have a notable tech university culture (I hope I'm not offending Indy people with that), but it's large enough that it's employer base affords opportunities to be selective about jobs. I've never seen anyone recommend Indy as a good place to start a tech career, but I'm agreeing with the original article: it's doable in a city like Indy. It's not doable in Grand Rapids, I don't think. I know people who live in GR and they're happy and they've put down roots and it seems a lovely place to build a family, but setting up shop in Grand Rapids is unlikely to be your escape from dead-end coding jobs.

sudont 16y ago
While you're right about Madison's culture, I couldn't find crap for work there. MPLS has been much, much better to me. The tech community there is much too insular: web jobs are nonexistent and everything else is pretty much biotech or through the university (Masters degrees then are a minimum requirement). I say this having interned around the town at a top design shop, with no workable industry contacts resulting from.
zaphar 16y ago
I have an in-law who works in the Grand Rapids area for sourceforge. He telecommutes. If you limit the scope of this discussion to exclude telecommuting then your right. However, thats not your only option.