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I would be interested in seeing a follow-up analysis where the figures are adjusted to account for the resident populations in each of the listed cities (and me

I would be interested in seeing a follow-up analysis where the figures are adjusted to account for the resident populations in each of the listed cities (and metro areas). Looking at US cities only, the Bay Area is utterly exceptional in terms of tech/startup career opportunities. Amsterdam (at 4.15 jobs per 100k) is better than NY or LA, but is an order of magnitude worse than San Francisco. City Pop Jobs Jobs/100k New York 8175133 165 2.018315788 Los Angeles 3792621 58 1.52928542 Chicago 2695598 21 0.779047914 San Francisco 805235 344 42.72044807 Boston 617594 64 10.36279498 Washington 601723 23 3.822356799 Seattle 608660 42 6.900404167 Austin 790390 30 3.79559458 Palo Alto 64403 89 138.1923202 Amsterdam 820256 34 4.1450474

untog 14y ago
I think that all those figures prove is that HN has a Bay Area bias, not that "the Bay Area is utterly exceptional in terms of tech/startup career opportunities". I mean, it is great, but a developer would have no problems finding a good job in New York or Boston, at least.
- coldarchon 14y ago
  Actually those figures only show HN has users with career opportunities. Period. No other information. You cannot use this information about quantities of locations of startups nor anything else.
- whichdan 14y ago
  The numbers do match up pretty closely with careers.stackoverflow.com, atleast.
- majormajor 14y ago
  Another possible interpretation of the jobs/population number is "which cities have lots of job openings despite not being dominated by the tech industry," if someone wanted to be somewhere more diverse. Though, unsurprisingly, the answer is basically "the big ones" so it's not all that interesting there.
- condiment 14y ago
  I agree that this may be the case. My aim in posting these figures was just to give an example how correlating the number of job postings with each area's population can give additional meaning to the data. So instead of being fooled by a population graph masquerading as a job graph, we can see where jobs outpace the population, and by how much. For a more detailed analysis, marshaling job postings from additional startup-focused job boards and correcting the city population figures to reflect the metro areas would provide a minimum level of rigor to the data. Comparisons between startup job postings and 'corporate' postings could provide a bit of extra perspective as well.
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akincisor 14y ago
I think a more correct measure would take the population of the entire bay area into account, since many people who work in startups don't live in San Francisco or Palo Alto directly.

untog 14y ago

I think that all those figures prove is that HN has a Bay Area bias, not that "the Bay Area is utterly exceptional in terms of tech/startup career opportunities". I mean, it is great, but a developer would have no problems finding a good job in New York or Boston, at least.

coldarchon 14y ago
Actually those figures only show HN has users with career opportunities. Period. No other information. You cannot use this information about quantities of locations of startups nor anything else.
whichdan 14y ago
The numbers do match up pretty closely with careers.stackoverflow.com, atleast.
majormajor 14y ago
Another possible interpretation of the jobs/population number is "which cities have lots of job openings despite not being dominated by the tech industry," if someone wanted to be somewhere more diverse. Though, unsurprisingly, the answer is basically "the big ones" so it's not all that interesting there.
condiment 14y ago
I agree that this may be the case. My aim in posting these figures was just to give an example how correlating the number of job postings with each area's population can give additional meaning to the data. So instead of being fooled by a population graph masquerading as a job graph, we can see where jobs outpace the population, and by how much. For a more detailed analysis, marshaling job postings from additional startup-focused job boards and correcting the city population figures to reflect the metro areas would provide a minimum level of rigor to the data. Comparisons between startup job postings and 'corporate' postings could provide a bit of extra perspective as well.

deleted 14y ago

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akincisor 14y ago

I think a more correct measure would take the population of the entire bay area into account, since many people who work in startups don't live in San Francisco or Palo Alto directly.