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Quirky diners are one of the biggest things I miss from seacoast NH. What is there to do for tech work in Baltimore? All jobs I've seen are in the MIC, which

Quirky diners are one of the biggest things I miss from seacoast NH. What is there to do for tech work in Baltimore? All jobs I've seen are in the MIC, which I dislike.

etempleton 5y ago
There are quite a large number of well regarded universities and hospitals. In addition, Under Armour and a few other Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Baltimore. Baltimore is a cool town. People have a perception of it based on national media, and don’t get me wrong, it has it’s share of issues, but every city does. It is one of the quirkiest, weirdest cities in the US. It is not quite a northern city and not quite southern either.
- whimsicalism 5y ago
  > It is not quite a northern city and not quite southern either. That's because it is in the mid-atlantic! Baltimore reminds me of DC ~20 years ago.
brianlweiner 5y ago
There's still lots of non Military / Fed stuff! And it's getting better. https://www.sparkpost.com/ https://www.sparkpost.com/ https://www.cloudtamer.io/ https://www.cloudtamer.io/ https://www.contrastsecurity.com/ https://www.contrastsecurity.com/ A few off the top of my head. I'm currently working (remotely) for a BigCo that acquired my startup employer last year. Technical.ly can be a good resource for local postings. I've worked as a SWE in Baltimore for 10 years and have never had employment issues. I don't quite make SV money, but I make solid 6 figures and can afford a very nice home on just my salary and send my kids to private school, etc.
- alexjplant 5y ago
  If you (OP of the parent's parent) do interview in the area be sure to dig in to find what the company's lines of business are. CloudTamer, for instance, is ostensibly a commercial product-based company but does business with federal agencies and contractors (per their web site) and was at the AWS Public Sector Summit a few years ago. A different company that I interviewed at in an adjacent space (security vs CloudTamer's compliance) was in a similar position... they were selling their product to the Air Force but swore up and down that they'd never contract with them outside of being a vendor. I was skeptical and my suspicions were proven correct six months later when they put out a press release announcing the award of an Air Force contract. Maryland/Northern Virginia are _not_ the places to be if you want career options outside of government [contracting] work. It's not un-doable but you'll be much better served looking for work in a place where 80% of the value of the economy doesn't revolve around Washington-type work.
  - whimsicalism 5y ago
    TBF, "Washington-type" work also includes journalism and NGOs, so it could be the place to live (along with NYC) if you want to do tech in either of those fields.
  - RicoElectrico 5y ago
    Can anyone give a perspective why is it the case? In Europe it seems impossible not to have commercial software positions in a big local hub city - and in US whole areas seem to be devoid of them as HN crowd implies.
    - alistairSH 5y ago
      See my sibling comment. I think the OP overstated the lack of non-government jobs in the area. I've lived here (Dulles tech corridor) most of my life and work in non-government software.
    - alexjplant 5y ago
      It's because Washington, DC is the nation's capital and where our legislative bodies, heads of state, and our various departments (ministries) are based out of. There are also many military bases in close proximity and the military headquarters (Pentagon) is across the river in Virginia. I think people are misinterpreting my comment... there _are_ non-defense/government jobs in the area but they are dwarfed by the number of such jobs because of the pervasive nature of the aforementioned entities. When I lived in the area more than 90% of LinkedIn recruiter messages that I got were about these jobs. This ceased being the case after I moved even when I was still in the defense contracting industry.
  - alistairSH 5y ago
    Maryland/Northern Virginia are _not_ the places to be if you want career options outside of government [contracting] work. While it's true that .gov work is huge in DC metro (and extending to Baltimore), there are MANY companies completely outside, or on the periphery, and even more if you just want to eliminate military jobs. Amazon has large AWS offices, plus HQ2 is spinning up. Google and Microsoft both have substantial presences (albeit much of that is .gov work). Walmart has their innovation centre here (Walmart Labs?). Oracle. VW of A. Several universities. Smaller companies like Ellucian (my employer). Freddie and Fannie (.gov-adjacent). The list is long.
mendeza 5y ago
I am living in Baltimore and work out of DC as an ML engineer. The commute sucks, but with because of covid, I have been WFH. DC has a lot of tech companies, but lots of connections to defense.
- whimsicalism 5y ago
  The county or the city? Do you take the MARC? I am curious why someone would do this commute, it seems like there are lots of cheaper options closer to DC with their own semi-urban area.
  - neutronicus 5y ago
    A lot of times the answer is a domestic partner working at one of the Baltimore hospitals
    - rattray 5y ago
      Yep, that's the case for me. The plausible choices for me personally are basically remote work, commuting to DC on MARC, or starting a company with a remote cofounder.
  - throwaway6734 5y ago
    You can buy a home in Baltimore near Penn station for pretty cheap. There's also a big difference between urban and semi urban
  - mendeza 5y ago
    The city. I considered the MARC, but I have to go out to Herndon, VA and Fairfax, VA area so its just more convenient to drive. It's a tough commute at times, but a good podcast gets me through the drive. I have been WFH for all of 2020 an 2021, so now I just stay in Baltimore. WFH shift is working out great!
cardine 5y ago
Our startup (Cortx) does natural language generation work, is located in Fells Point, and is currently hiring Machine Learning Engineers and Full Stack Engineers :)
crispyambulance 5y ago
Johns Hopkins APL is not far south on 95 from Baltimore. It does MIC stuff, but is also involved with various space programs. There are a bunch of small and large tech companies in and around Baltimore and Baltimore county. I've worked in Columbia, Linthicum, and Rockville MD. (Rockville commute was insane before the new highway, now it would doable for folks who don't mind driving a lot). I lived there for 12 years. Generally speaking, Baltimore is good if you want relatively affordable housing. A number of neighborhoods are great for DINKS (dual-income, no kids). Public schooling is a hard no-go unless you really get involved and enroll your kids in a carefully selected charter or magnet school. There are some excellent private schools. Baltimore county has options too if you want something that's more suburban. As far a crime goes, the city has some really profound problems that are the result of white flight and systematic disinvestment. It was hit hard by the crack epidemic and has not really recovered. The TV shows "The Wire" and especially "The Corner" capture the flavor of the rough parts of Baltimore more than residents would like to admit. As far as safety is concerned, like other big cities, it's not really a problem for folks that would read HN, unless you enjoy hanging out in bars at 2am and getting into arguments with armed drug-trade people. Don't leave anything in your car, get a security system for your house.
- pp19dd 5y ago
  Re: JH APL, also, there's the Space Telescope Institute, which will be running the James Webb Space Telescope.
- willis936 5y ago
  APL space stuff sounds pretty good, but they move so slowly that 4 months notice isn't enough. I simply didn't have the time to wait for them.
  - cdstyh 5y ago
    Wait for them for what?
    - willis936 5y ago
settrans 5y ago
What is there to do for tech work in seacoast NH? (And why would you leave?)
- willis936 5y ago
  A fair amount for someone on the hardware side, surprisingly. Analog Devices and a mixed bag of test/measurement and signal integrity companies. The answer is the one you would most likely guess: two body problem. We both miss NH quite a bit, but we're along for the ride until they finish their PhD.
devchix 5y ago
Columbia is 22 miles south of Baltimore, home to an entity sometimes known as The Fort. 40 miles south is DC if you want to work GovTech. TRowePrice has/had a datacenter in Owings Mills, 20-some miles northwest of Baltimore. CapitalOne has offices in Baltimore but HQ in Virginia. Constellation Energy (not sure what they're known as now) used to have a datacenter south of Baltimore as well. It's not SV or Boston or NYC, to be sure.
biztos 5y ago
Sorry but what is the MIC? Google has given me many music venues… Thanks — left coaster
- wishinghand 5y ago
  I’m not sure but I think it stands for military industrial complex.
- rattray 5y ago
  Military Industrial Complex

Quirky diners are one of the biggest things I miss from seacoast NH. What is there to do for tech work in Baltimore? All jobs I've seen are in the MIC, which I dislike.

etempleton 5y ago

There are quite a large number of well regarded universities and hospitals. In addition, Under Armour and a few other Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Baltimore. Baltimore is a cool town. People have a perception of it based on national media, and don’t get me wrong, it has it’s share of issues, but every city does. It is one of the quirkiest, weirdest cities in the US. It is not quite a northern city and not quite southern either.

whimsicalism 5y ago
> It is not quite a northern city and not quite southern either. That's because it is in the mid-atlantic! Baltimore reminds me of DC ~20 years ago.

brianlweiner 5y ago

There's still lots of non Military / Fed stuff! And it's getting better. https://www.sparkpost.com/ https://www.sparkpost.com/ https://www.cloudtamer.io/ https://www.cloudtamer.io/ https://www.contrastsecurity.com/ https://www.contrastsecurity.com/ A few off the top of my head. I'm currently working (remotely) for a BigCo that acquired my startup employer last year. Technical.ly can be a good resource for local postings. I've worked as a SWE in Baltimore for 10 years and have never had employment issues. I don't quite make SV money, but I make solid 6 figures and can afford a very nice home on just my salary and send my kids to private school, etc.

alexjplant 5y ago
If you (OP of the parent's parent) do interview in the area be sure to dig in to find what the company's lines of business are. CloudTamer, for instance, is ostensibly a commercial product-based company but does business with federal agencies and contractors (per their web site) and was at the AWS Public Sector Summit a few years ago. A different company that I interviewed at in an adjacent space (security vs CloudTamer's compliance) was in a similar position... they were selling their product to the Air Force but swore up and down that they'd never contract with them outside of being a vendor. I was skeptical and my suspicions were proven correct six months later when they put out a press release announcing the award of an Air Force contract. Maryland/Northern Virginia are _not_ the places to be if you want career options outside of government [contracting] work. It's not un-doable but you'll be much better served looking for work in a place where 80% of the value of the economy doesn't revolve around Washington-type work.
- whimsicalism 5y ago
  TBF, "Washington-type" work also includes journalism and NGOs, so it could be the place to live (along with NYC) if you want to do tech in either of those fields.
- RicoElectrico 5y ago
  Can anyone give a perspective why is it the case? In Europe it seems impossible not to have commercial software positions in a big local hub city - and in US whole areas seem to be devoid of them as HN crowd implies.
  - alistairSH 5y ago
    See my sibling comment. I think the OP overstated the lack of non-government jobs in the area. I've lived here (Dulles tech corridor) most of my life and work in non-government software.
  - alexjplant 5y ago
    It's because Washington, DC is the nation's capital and where our legislative bodies, heads of state, and our various departments (ministries) are based out of. There are also many military bases in close proximity and the military headquarters (Pentagon) is across the river in Virginia. I think people are misinterpreting my comment... there _are_ non-defense/government jobs in the area but they are dwarfed by the number of such jobs because of the pervasive nature of the aforementioned entities. When I lived in the area more than 90% of LinkedIn recruiter messages that I got were about these jobs. This ceased being the case after I moved even when I was still in the defense contracting industry.
- alistairSH 5y ago
  Maryland/Northern Virginia are _not_ the places to be if you want career options outside of government [contracting] work. While it's true that .gov work is huge in DC metro (and extending to Baltimore), there are MANY companies completely outside, or on the periphery, and even more if you just want to eliminate military jobs. Amazon has large AWS offices, plus HQ2 is spinning up. Google and Microsoft both have substantial presences (albeit much of that is .gov work). Walmart has their innovation centre here (Walmart Labs?). Oracle. VW of A. Several universities. Smaller companies like Ellucian (my employer). Freddie and Fannie (.gov-adjacent). The list is long.

mendeza 5y ago

I am living in Baltimore and work out of DC as an ML engineer. The commute sucks, but with because of covid, I have been WFH. DC has a lot of tech companies, but lots of connections to defense.

whimsicalism 5y ago
The county or the city? Do you take the MARC? I am curious why someone would do this commute, it seems like there are lots of cheaper options closer to DC with their own semi-urban area.
- neutronicus 5y ago
  A lot of times the answer is a domestic partner working at one of the Baltimore hospitals
  - rattray 5y ago
    Yep, that's the case for me. The plausible choices for me personally are basically remote work, commuting to DC on MARC, or starting a company with a remote cofounder.
- throwaway6734 5y ago
  You can buy a home in Baltimore near Penn station for pretty cheap. There's also a big difference between urban and semi urban
- mendeza 5y ago
  The city. I considered the MARC, but I have to go out to Herndon, VA and Fairfax, VA area so its just more convenient to drive. It's a tough commute at times, but a good podcast gets me through the drive. I have been WFH for all of 2020 an 2021, so now I just stay in Baltimore. WFH shift is working out great!

cardine 5y ago

Our startup (Cortx) does natural language generation work, is located in Fells Point, and is currently hiring Machine Learning Engineers and Full Stack Engineers :)

crispyambulance 5y ago

Johns Hopkins APL is not far south on 95 from Baltimore. It does MIC stuff, but is also involved with various space programs. There are a bunch of small and large tech companies in and around Baltimore and Baltimore county. I've worked in Columbia, Linthicum, and Rockville MD. (Rockville commute was insane before the new highway, now it would doable for folks who don't mind driving a lot). I lived there for 12 years. Generally speaking, Baltimore is good if you want relatively affordable housing. A number of neighborhoods are great for DINKS (dual-income, no kids). Public schooling is a hard no-go unless you really get involved and enroll your kids in a carefully selected charter or magnet school. There are some excellent private schools. Baltimore county has options too if you want something that's more suburban. As far a crime goes, the city has some really profound problems that are the result of white flight and systematic disinvestment. It was hit hard by the crack epidemic and has not really recovered. The TV shows "The Wire" and especially "The Corner" capture the flavor of the rough parts of Baltimore more than residents would like to admit. As far as safety is concerned, like other big cities, it's not really a problem for folks that would read HN, unless you enjoy hanging out in bars at 2am and getting into arguments with armed drug-trade people. Don't leave anything in your car, get a security system for your house.

pp19dd 5y ago
Re: JH APL, also, there's the Space Telescope Institute, which will be running the James Webb Space Telescope.
willis936 5y ago
APL space stuff sounds pretty good, but they move so slowly that 4 months notice isn't enough. I simply didn't have the time to wait for them.
- cdstyh 5y ago
  Wait for them for what?
  - willis936 5y ago

settrans 5y ago

What is there to do for tech work in seacoast NH? (And why would you leave?)

willis936 5y ago
A fair amount for someone on the hardware side, surprisingly. Analog Devices and a mixed bag of test/measurement and signal integrity companies. The answer is the one you would most likely guess: two body problem. We both miss NH quite a bit, but we're along for the ride until they finish their PhD.

devchix 5y ago

Columbia is 22 miles south of Baltimore, home to an entity sometimes known as The Fort. 40 miles south is DC if you want to work GovTech. TRowePrice has/had a datacenter in Owings Mills, 20-some miles northwest of Baltimore. CapitalOne has offices in Baltimore but HQ in Virginia. Constellation Energy (not sure what they're known as now) used to have a datacenter south of Baltimore as well. It's not SV or Boston or NYC, to be sure.

biztos 5y ago

Sorry but what is the MIC? Google has given me many music venues… Thanks — left coaster

wishinghand 5y ago
I’m not sure but I think it stands for military industrial complex.
rattray 5y ago
Military Industrial Complex