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No. We don't need government intervention to bring tech jobs to the large cities listed, they already have them. I could have my pick of jobs if I were willing

No. We don't need government intervention to bring tech jobs to the large cities listed, they already have them. I could have my pick of jobs if I were willing to relocate or commute to one. It's a singular failure of Silicon Valley that so many tech jobs still need to be done in person. All physical infrastructure is going to need a contingent of warm bodies onsite (or at least on-call locally), but there's no reason in 2020 that the vast majority of tech positions can't be remote.

lettergram 7y ago
My team regularly designs systems on white boards, we discuss, refer to the board as we write docs, and implement. I’ve attempted the same thing remote. Unfortunately, there is nothing more creative / better than having those in person sessions. I hope one day VR can replace this, but today there just isn’t anything there. I should note, we are an internal research and consulting group inside a large corporation. So it is specialized, arguably most full-stack jobs can be done remote. My personal suggestion is to build teams in cities (5 people per team). These teams can be setup in a small office and maybe you get 3-4 teams per office. That’s how my group is currently setup and it works fairly well. The only issue is ensuring facilities are decent and backfilling team members because it can be a challenge to backfill and often attrition snowballs
- aantix 7y ago
  For remote collaboration, have you tried something like the Meeting Owl to bridge that gap? https://www.owllabs.com/meeting-owl https://www.owllabs.com/meeting-owl
  - lettergram 7y ago
    I haven’t but we have done a camera on a whiteboard. It just doesn’t work super well. I think a lot of it has to do with just being stuck in a room together without distractions from personal stuff.
SQueeeeeL 7y ago
It's helpful to physically speak to management. Remote can create a fragmented environment of mistrust between your engineers and executives making decisions because they are essentially isolated from each other. It also doesn't allow quick informal meetings which facilitate a lot of information exchange
- macintux 7y ago
  I've worked remotely, and while I loved that job and would go back again in a heartbeat had the company not closed, I have to respect the immense latency and bandwidth benefits that proximity brings to communications. The downside is that, absent serious discipline, that proximity also lends itself to a preference for tribal knowledge vs proper documentation.
danans 7y ago
> It's a singular failure of Silicon Valley that so many tech jobs still need to be done in person. Even if they could be done remotely, people still want to live in cities for lots of good reasons - reasons that are centuries old. Today, a large number of people who live in cities work without a common central office. This goes beyond tech workers to include lawyers, accountants, designers, in-home businesses like child care, and trades conducted strictly at client sites like landscapers and handymen. The density of cities supports those sorts of work arrangements, and other things that a significant number of people value, like museums, libraries, parks, etc. As a social technology, cities have demonstrated a tremendous amount of value per unit of investment, which makes them a natural target for investment.

lettergram 7y ago

My team regularly designs systems on white boards, we discuss, refer to the board as we write docs, and implement. I’ve attempted the same thing remote. Unfortunately, there is nothing more creative / better than having those in person sessions. I hope one day VR can replace this, but today there just isn’t anything there. I should note, we are an internal research and consulting group inside a large corporation. So it is specialized, arguably most full-stack jobs can be done remote. My personal suggestion is to build teams in cities (5 people per team). These teams can be setup in a small office and maybe you get 3-4 teams per office. That’s how my group is currently setup and it works fairly well. The only issue is ensuring facilities are decent and backfilling team members because it can be a challenge to backfill and often attrition snowballs

aantix 7y ago
For remote collaboration, have you tried something like the Meeting Owl to bridge that gap? https://www.owllabs.com/meeting-owl https://www.owllabs.com/meeting-owl
- lettergram 7y ago
  I haven’t but we have done a camera on a whiteboard. It just doesn’t work super well. I think a lot of it has to do with just being stuck in a room together without distractions from personal stuff.

SQueeeeeL 7y ago

It's helpful to physically speak to management. Remote can create a fragmented environment of mistrust between your engineers and executives making decisions because they are essentially isolated from each other. It also doesn't allow quick informal meetings which facilitate a lot of information exchange

macintux 7y ago
I've worked remotely, and while I loved that job and would go back again in a heartbeat had the company not closed, I have to respect the immense latency and bandwidth benefits that proximity brings to communications. The downside is that, absent serious discipline, that proximity also lends itself to a preference for tribal knowledge vs proper documentation.

danans 7y ago

> It's a singular failure of Silicon Valley that so many tech jobs still need to be done in person. Even if they could be done remotely, people still want to live in cities for lots of good reasons - reasons that are centuries old. Today, a large number of people who live in cities work without a common central office. This goes beyond tech workers to include lawyers, accountants, designers, in-home businesses like child care, and trades conducted strictly at client sites like landscapers and handymen. The density of cities supports those sorts of work arrangements, and other things that a significant number of people value, like museums, libraries, parks, etc. As a social technology, cities have demonstrated a tremendous amount of value per unit of investment, which makes them a natural target for investment.