5 ms·

You could, although in Seattle they'd be joining Amazon (HQ), Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and Adobe (among many others). I don't know how many other c

by jsolson 12y ago

You could, although in Seattle they'd be joining Amazon (HQ), Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and Adobe (among many others). I don't know how many other cities can claim all of those companies having a significant presence there.

peterkelly 12y ago
Many other cities have lots of really smart people. Sydney? London? Berlin? Less competition too...
- nardi 12y ago
  He didn't say anything about smart people. He mentioned the companies that have a presence there. That's significant, because people living in Seattle and working for Microsoft, Adobe, Google, etc., may be interested in working for Apple, but Apple has no presence there.
  - tlercher 12y ago
    People UK, Asia or Germany also may be interested in working for Apple… (As Example Microsoft, Adobe, Google AND Apple [mostly Retail/Administration no engineering] having Offices in Munich) Google as Example has large a HQ in Zurich, Microsoft as explained above in Munich. This Blogpost seems to me to be a call for more decentralized operations in engineering.
morgante 12y ago
All those companies (and many more) also have offices in NY.
- jsolson 12y ago
  Ah, fair enough. I knew we (Google) had one there, but I didn't know all of the others did as well. I'm not surprised, though. That said, I think my point still stands: Seattle (and apparently New York) have good representation from the other what I'll (I suppose somewhat arrogantly) call 'tier one' tech companies. Most cities, even those with strong tech employment, don't have remote offices for the other large players. One could argue that this is simply because they haven't gotten around to it yet, but it's also a point in favor of the notion that there isn't a sufficient concentration of developers who are both (a) at the level the companies are looking for and at least as importantly (b) are willing to work for one of the big players. Elsewhere someone pointed out that there are smart people everywhere. I don't dispute that in the slightest. I also expect there are people who want to work for Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc. everywhere (and who are unwilling to move to the places where those companies are). I'm not certain that the intersection has a high enough density in, say, Atlanta (which has rather a lot of software engineering) to justify a remote office there. NY and Seattle have already demonstrated that they have a sufficiently high density in the intersection via an existence proof: a half dozen other tier one tech companies operate large successful remote offices in these cities.

by jsolson 12y ago

peterkelly 12y ago

Many other cities have lots of really smart people. Sydney? London? Berlin? Less competition too...

nardi 12y ago
He didn't say anything about smart people. He mentioned the companies that have a presence there. That's significant, because people living in Seattle and working for Microsoft, Adobe, Google, etc., may be interested in working for Apple, but Apple has no presence there.
- tlercher 12y ago
  People UK, Asia or Germany also may be interested in working for Apple… (As Example Microsoft, Adobe, Google AND Apple [mostly Retail/Administration no engineering] having Offices in Munich) Google as Example has large a HQ in Zurich, Microsoft as explained above in Munich. This Blogpost seems to me to be a call for more decentralized operations in engineering.

morgante 12y ago

All those companies (and many more) also have offices in NY.

jsolson 12y ago
Ah, fair enough. I knew we (Google) had one there, but I didn't know all of the others did as well. I'm not surprised, though. That said, I think my point still stands: Seattle (and apparently New York) have good representation from the other what I'll (I suppose somewhat arrogantly) call 'tier one' tech companies. Most cities, even those with strong tech employment, don't have remote offices for the other large players. One could argue that this is simply because they haven't gotten around to it yet, but it's also a point in favor of the notion that there isn't a sufficient concentration of developers who are both (a) at the level the companies are looking for and at least as importantly (b) are willing to work for one of the big players. Elsewhere someone pointed out that there are smart people everywhere. I don't dispute that in the slightest. I also expect there are people who want to work for Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc. everywhere (and who are unwilling to move to the places where those companies are). I'm not certain that the intersection has a high enough density in, say, Atlanta (which has rather a lot of software engineering) to justify a remote office there. NY and Seattle have already demonstrated that they have a sufficiently high density in the intersection via an existence proof: a half dozen other tier one tech companies operate large successful remote offices in these cities.