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C'mon. These companies are fleeing because they can't be competitive in the local labor market. Who wants to work at HPE or Oracle? Almost literally nobody.

danielsht 6y ago
Is the same true of Tesla? I know of plenty of people who work or would like to work for Tesla. Another group of companies that haven't received as much attention in the recent "SF exodus" narrative are Google and FB. Google has been opening large offices outside of SF for years and is slowly contributing to the growing of tech hubs around the country. Google's Boulder office comes to mind as a good example. I'm not aware of any large FB spokes, but FB remote work allowance might end up having a similar effect. Not to mention the many startups that have realized that the distributed model works fairly well if you know how to do it, and opens up a large talent pool. I currently work for such a startup and we don't plan on going to back to a central SF office model post pandemic.
- moocow01 6y ago
  To be fair Tesla hasn't moved as of yet
  - jjulius 6y ago
    Yeah, and Google's HQ remains in Mountain View.
    - 11thEarlOfMar 6y ago
      And Facebook, Google, Nvidia and Apple all spent $1 Billion + to build new headquarters in the last 5 years. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/jul/23/inside-billion-dollar-palaces-of-tech-giants-facebook-apple-google-london-california-wealth-power https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/jul/23/inside-... https://officesnapshots.com/2018/10/15/nvidia-headquarters-santa-clara/ https://officesnapshots.com/2018/10/15/nvidia-headquarters-s...
- tomjakubowski 6y ago
  Google is not part of any California exodus, but the opposite. In addition to building and buying outside the state, they have been aggressively expanding, not contracting, their square footage within California.
Justin_K 6y ago
While it's catchy and hip to say that nobody wants to work for these companies, the reality is hundreds of thousands do. Both your example companies may not be popular with the cool kids and have their own controversies, but they offer great pay, benefits and consist of a lot of smart people.
- rdw 6y ago
  They don't really have great pay, though, do they? They can't afford to pay what qualified employees demand in California. So they move to a state where the average expected salary is lower. Oracle's reputation was of abysmal pay for senior employees, for decades. I'm willing to bet that economically they should have moved a long time ago, but Larry Ellison's pride kept them in the Bay Area. He designed the campus buildings to look like database icons, that's not something you give up easily.
  - Justin_K 6y ago
    I'm pretty sure the HQ change has more to do with laws and a tax base vs. where you have the most buildings.
bpodgursky 6y ago
The labor market has been catastrophically expensive for over a decade. They dealt with it. If anything, the flood of new wait-me-too CS grads and bootcamp graduates over the past couple years is great for legacy employers willing to slup up anyone who can write a line of code. The tax market is the new problem. Now they are leaving.
athms 6y ago
HPE and Oracle didn't leave the state, they moved their headquarters. The Oracle campus in Redwood City and the HPE campus in San Jose will remain, and they continue to hire locally. Also of note, both companies are incorporated in Delaware and that will continue to be the case.
oh_sigh 6y ago
200,000+ people work at those companies. I'm guessing not all of them are being held hostage there.

danielsht 6y ago

Is the same true of Tesla? I know of plenty of people who work or would like to work for Tesla. Another group of companies that haven't received as much attention in the recent "SF exodus" narrative are Google and FB. Google has been opening large offices outside of SF for years and is slowly contributing to the growing of tech hubs around the country. Google's Boulder office comes to mind as a good example. I'm not aware of any large FB spokes, but FB remote work allowance might end up having a similar effect. Not to mention the many startups that have realized that the distributed model works fairly well if you know how to do it, and opens up a large talent pool. I currently work for such a startup and we don't plan on going to back to a central SF office model post pandemic.

moocow01 6y ago
To be fair Tesla hasn't moved as of yet
- jjulius 6y ago
  Yeah, and Google's HQ remains in Mountain View.
  - 11thEarlOfMar 6y ago
    And Facebook, Google, Nvidia and Apple all spent $1 Billion + to build new headquarters in the last 5 years. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/jul/23/inside-billion-dollar-palaces-of-tech-giants-facebook-apple-google-london-california-wealth-power https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/jul/23/inside-... https://officesnapshots.com/2018/10/15/nvidia-headquarters-santa-clara/ https://officesnapshots.com/2018/10/15/nvidia-headquarters-s...
tomjakubowski 6y ago
Google is not part of any California exodus, but the opposite. In addition to building and buying outside the state, they have been aggressively expanding, not contracting, their square footage within California.

Justin_K 6y ago

While it's catchy and hip to say that nobody wants to work for these companies, the reality is hundreds of thousands do. Both your example companies may not be popular with the cool kids and have their own controversies, but they offer great pay, benefits and consist of a lot of smart people.

rdw 6y ago
They don't really have great pay, though, do they? They can't afford to pay what qualified employees demand in California. So they move to a state where the average expected salary is lower. Oracle's reputation was of abysmal pay for senior employees, for decades. I'm willing to bet that economically they should have moved a long time ago, but Larry Ellison's pride kept them in the Bay Area. He designed the campus buildings to look like database icons, that's not something you give up easily.
- Justin_K 6y ago
  I'm pretty sure the HQ change has more to do with laws and a tax base vs. where you have the most buildings.

bpodgursky 6y ago

The labor market has been catastrophically expensive for over a decade. They dealt with it. If anything, the flood of new wait-me-too CS grads and bootcamp graduates over the past couple years is great for legacy employers willing to slup up anyone who can write a line of code. The tax market is the new problem. Now they are leaving.

athms 6y ago

HPE and Oracle didn't leave the state, they moved their headquarters. The Oracle campus in Redwood City and the HPE campus in San Jose will remain, and they continue to hire locally. Also of note, both companies are incorporated in Delaware and that will continue to be the case.

oh_sigh 6y ago

200,000+ people work at those companies. I'm guessing not all of them are being held hostage there.