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Old 01-05-2011, 10:24 PM
 
2,744 posts, read 6,083,365 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hoffdano View Post
The San Antonio IT industry is not a $9B industry.

The SA Chamber of Commerce claims an "economic impact" of $9B but that is not the same as saying it is a $9B industry. The IT payroll in SA is less than $1B ($882M). Rackspace, a nice (maybe even great) company, has revenues of ~$550M.

IT is not doubling in five years. SA says it has grown 20% since 2005 (doubled over the last decade). The employment in 2008 is barely above the level it was in 2003.

The USAF "cyber security" push is great news and a nice coup for SA. I'm glad it is in SA and Texas instead of somewhere else. I'm also glad Microsoft built its newest datacenter in SA.

All of this is based on the SA Chamber's newest report.

Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce

I'm happy for SA and its IT industry growth. But it is exaggeration to characterize SA as a soon-to-be IT powerhouse.
CNBC believed the so called exageration and came down and set up in front of the Alamo. Good downplay though!
San Antonio calls itself the nation

Cyber security is said to double in size over the next 5 years and S.A. is the epicenter for the fairly new industry. That link you posted was 2008 before the major cyber divisions moved(Jan 2010) to San Antonio giving it the title as Cyber City. The new divisions are the 24th Air Force Cyber Warfare Comand and the NSA National Security Agency’s Cryptology Center which will add billions of ecomomic impact to the city.
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Old 01-06-2011, 12:06 AM
 
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What are the stats for Austin's IT industry? Isn't it said to be second only to the San Jose area?
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Old 01-06-2011, 10:02 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
13,715 posts, read 31,011,624 times
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Austin is usually listed as one of the "big five" technology centers in the US. They are:

San Jose
Seattle
Boston
Austin
Research Triangle (Raleigh, NC)

Each of these five cities/areas has significant technology industry, including information technology and semiconductors. I don't believe Austin is #2 but I don't know exactly where they rank. San Jose is surely a clear #1.

Since this thread is about "IT jobs" I thought the data below from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for "Computer and Mathematical Science Occupations" might be especially relevant. This data eliminates the hype and bluster that comes from any chamber of commerce, which twists the data to tell the story they want to tell. The BLS data is from May 2009, which I think is likely be very close to current figures since employment hasn't moved much up or down in the past year and a half.

For San Antonio:

San Antonio, TX - May 2009 OES Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

For Austin:

Austin-Round Rock, TX - May 2009 OES Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

The data shows that Austin employs 2.2 times as many (41,560 vs. 18,830) in these fields as San Antonio. I think it is especially important to look at the programming related jobs, which are more likely to be involved in building or manufacturing software for sale. In the jobs of programmer and software engineer Austin employs 17,500 vs. 5,860 - fully 3 times the number. The payroll associated with these "computer" jobs is more than 2.5 times greater for Austin than San Antonio.
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Old 01-06-2011, 03:35 PM
 
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San Antonio is clearly the Cyber defense hub of the USA, so no false hype or claims there. Is it one of the top Tech centers? Not anyone claiming that, but this growing sector of the Tech industry should raise San Antonio's profile over time.
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Old 01-06-2011, 06:11 PM
 
Location: Leesburg VA
156 posts, read 298,997 times
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Not sure I would say its the Cyber Defense hub, it has the AF Cyber Command and some other work. I work in the Cyber Security arena and can state that the DC area has the Govt Cyber Security crown. DOD, Navy/Marine Corp, IRS, Treasury, DHS, NSA, CIA and many more that I can not even begin to name. There are quite a few Govt Contractors that have their SOCs here as well.

Ironically I am moving from one Cyber Security job in DC to one that is in Austin or Dallas depending on my preference.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SweethomeSanAntonio View Post
San Antonio is clearly the Cyber defense hub of the USA, so no false hype or claims there. Is it one of the top Tech centers? Not anyone claiming that, but this growing sector of the Tech industry should raise San Antonio's profile over time.
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Old 01-07-2011, 01:25 AM
 
2,744 posts, read 6,083,365 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gcrissman View Post
Not sure I would say its the Cyber Defense hub, it has the AF Cyber Command and some other work. I work in the Cyber Security arena and can state that the DC area has the Govt Cyber Security crown. DOD, Navy/Marine Corp, IRS, Treasury, DHS, NSA, CIA and many more that I can not even begin to name. There are quite a few Govt Contractors that have their SOCs here as well.

Ironically I am moving from one Cyber Security job in DC to one that is in Austin or Dallas depending on my preference.

Supposedly San Antonio has more than DC now.
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Old 01-07-2011, 06:05 AM
 
Location: Leesburg VA
156 posts, read 298,997 times
Reputation: 64
Quote:
Originally Posted by SweethomeSanAntonio View Post
Supposedly San Antonio has more than DC now.
I am sure it has more than DC proper and that is probably where they get to make the claim. The Cyber jobs in the DC area are distrubuted in an area as far south as Quantico and up to Ft Meade & Baltimore (70 miles), east to Annapolis to the West near the WV border/Blue Ridge Mountains (80 miles). So no one city can claim the jobs but if you have ever been to the DC/NOVA/MD area you know it looks like one big city
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Old 01-15-2011, 10:50 PM
 
Location: South Texas
810 posts, read 1,418,770 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hoffdano View Post
I'm happy for SA and its IT industry growth. But it is exaggeration to characterize SA as a soon-to-be IT powerhouse.
SA will be an IT power house? That is laughable to anyone in Austin.
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Old 01-16-2011, 12:18 PM
 
Location: Great State of Texas
86,052 posts, read 84,141,708 times
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It really depends on what type of programming/IT work you do.
Gaming and embedded..then Austin wins hands down.
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Old 01-16-2011, 02:55 PM
 
2,744 posts, read 6,083,365 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Quattro72 View Post
SA will be an IT power house? That is laughable to anyone in Austin.


Whats laughable? A industry that has an almost $10 billion dollar impact on San Antonio and still growing strong. Not bad for San Antonio's 6th biggest industry right behind tourisim. Anyhow, I wouldn't have even made a thread comparing these cities in the first place for their IT industries. San Antonio's segment is concentrated in the DOD while Austin is developing software. It's like comparing San Antonio's Healthcare/Biomedical/research industry with Austins. You can compare them but it wouldn't be a fair match.
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