Affordable Austin: No Longer A Tech Meccha (Sunnyvale, West: apartment, crime)

[texastrigirl]

Facebook is also opening an office in Seattle...it will be an engineering office for 30 employees while Austin is more a sales and operations office apparently.

There Goes The Neighborhood: Facebook To Open Seattle Office

[nomore07]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

But what about the many mid-sized software companies active in Austin that aren't on the radar for many? Companies like Convio - just IPO'd last week. Surgient, BazaarVoice, Sailpoint, Motive, etc.? Other companies that are doing interesting things include BMC Software, Rocket Software, and IBM (still).

A handful of small software startups does not make a "tech hub". Most of the so-called "tech" jobs here are specifically in web development.

Originally Posted by jobert

Let's not forget Gowalla and Facebook either. Facebook is the kingpin of social media, and last week it opened the only other office outside of it's silicon valley HQ right here in Austin. It had the choice of any city in the US.

It's a sales office. They opened an infrastructure office in Seattle.

[bmw88rider]

I know that it's an old blog but there are still a lot of tech people and companies that are coming here. The big names in Tech like microsoft, Intel, and APC are starting to or already have decreased their presence here but you are seeing folks named in the post above along with a lot of specialty folks moving in.

Example being Cobb Tuning. They are one of the largest aftermarket auto ECU tuning companies in the world. They just moved their offices here from Salt Lake. Also, a lot of the larger national Tech resellers like EPlus, Insight, SHI, and others have inside sales and operation offices here in town.

The thing is these are the types of companies no one notices but they are here. They aren't fortune 1000 companies but each one of them employs at least 50 people in Austin.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by nomore07

A handful of small software startups does not make a "tech hub". Most of the so-called "tech" jobs here are specifically in web development.

There are many more than what I listed. Are they going to turn into the next Dell or Apple or Microsoft? Probably not. But new companies are still being created in Austin. That is a sign of good things.

It isn't booming here. But it isn't rotting in hell like it is in many other places. And it doesn't cost much to start something here. There are talented people.

Silicon Valley will for a very long time be the US mecca for information technology. While Sun Microsystems fades into an Oracle subsidiary Google and Apple continue to grow.

But Austin (and Texas) will be attractive to many companies for reasons already listed. New businesses and their employees will be attracted by the low taxes and general low cost of doing business here. California's problems will not go away when the recession ends. They have huge structural challenges with the state government. Real estate, even with the recent drop in housing prices, will always be far more expensive than in Texas. California's water and energy problems will weigh on it more heavily than here.

[nomore07]

Another interesting page.

Carlsen: On Comparing Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas

[orbius]

Originally Posted by jobert

How do you know "competition is much stiffer now"?

Do you know what the other tech centers are doing to bring companies to there respective cities? No one seems capable of proving their point, and as a result this topic has become fuzzy. No one cares to contribute any meaningful data to the argument - so far we have a self-referencing blogger and a list of cities from wikipedia.

Heard of a little boom economy called China? If you dont know of emerging tech hubs around the world Austin competes with to bring in jobs then you should educate yourself not demand everyone else do it.

[bgrn198]

Originally Posted by bmw88rider

I know that it's an old blog but there are still a lot of tech people and companies that are coming here. The big names in Tech like microsoft, Intel, and APC are starting to or already have decreased their presence here but you are seeing folks named in the post above along with a lot of specialty folks moving in.

Example being Cobb Tuning. They are one of the largest aftermarket auto ECU tuning companies in the world. They just moved their offices here from Salt Lake. Also, a lot of the larger national Tech resellers like EPlus, Insight, SHI, and others have inside sales and operation offices here in town.

The thing is these are the types of companies no one notices but they are here. They aren't fortune 1000 companies but each one of them employs at least 50 people in Austin.

You also have Hanger Orthopedic that is moving their headquarters here from Maryland not a tech company but still a good sized company.

[eepstein]

Lets understand that ALL of CAlifornia's problems won't go away when the recession ends. AND it will always be more expensive in the Silicon Valley because the basic principal exists that "you get what you pay for". The San Francisco Bay area has the highest affluence and education levels in the entire NATION. San Jose is literally FLOODED with high end people who are heavily educated and into high tech. Very few of them would give up everything the San Jose area has to offer and take their chances in such a HUGE step down like Austin. There is simply NO comparison. Dont believe me??? Fine, take a trip to San Jose and visit all of it's suburbs and you tell me how many hicks and uneducated people you run into.

In Austin's defense, it DOES offer small areas that house highly educated people into high tech. However, but keep in mind that is overall a very small area (in comparison to San Jose). Once you leave the central/west austin area, you are QUICKLY entered into "vintage Texas" at its finest and some of the least desirable suburbs out there. When you live in San Jose, you virtually NEVER have to deal with hicks, rednecks, and anything "Texas" for that matter. It's ALL high end, pretty much until you get down to Gilroy and Hollister. Even THOSE areas have decent pockets of highly educated people that just like to commute.

The vast majority of Californians who are foolishly leaving the state are those who are lower and middle income who cannot afford to make ends meet anymore. There are VERY FEW south bay residents who are moving from The bay area to Austin. It's simply too big of a slap in the face. I read an interesting article that some SJ residents are relocating to SAC!! Of course, YES some people are, but you would have to be CRAZY to leave San Jose and everything it offers. Yes Austin is cheaper, but ANY desirable part of Austin isn't too much cheaper overall when you figure in the highest property taxes in the nation.

The very fact is the Austin's population boom is and will rapidly slow over the next couple of years. The city simply cannot sustain anymore growth without serious "quality of life issues". Sure the faceless undesirable suburbs will continue to grow with "undesirable people", but that isn't going to help out the metro area at all. It will only make matters worse.

It is very true that California is having some issues right now. But people PLEASE. California is the most powerful, greatest state in the country, and the 8th largest economy in the WORLD. You really think they won't get everything back together and once again lead this country to everything that is great and progressive??? I give it 5 years. But, we need to get rid of AWWWNOLD because he is slowly things down.

Originally Posted by hoffdano

There are many more than what I listed. Are they going to turn into the next Dell or Apple or Microsoft? Probably not. But new companies are still being created in Austin. That is a sign of good things.

It isn't booming here. But it isn't rotting in hell like it is in many other places. And it doesn't cost much to start something here. There are talented people.

Silicon Valley will for a very long time be the US mecca for information technology. While Sun Microsystems fades into an Oracle subsidiary Google and Apple continue to grow.

But Austin (and Texas) will be attractive to many companies for reasons already listed. New businesses and their employees will be attracted by the low taxes and general low cost of doing business here. California's problems will not go away when the recession ends. They have huge structural challenges with the state government. Real estate, even with the recent drop in housing prices, will always be far more expensive than in Texas. California's water and energy problems will weigh on it more heavily than here.

[centralaustinite]

Wow, I respect your opinion on SJ eepstein but my spouse actually has a California based job but we chose to live in Austin! The company has operations here (and around the world) but is headquartered in SJ. If we were a childless, two income couple, maybe we would have taken the transfer to California. But we have kids and feel that Austin is a much better environment for them. Austin has less crime, better education (California is killing the golden goose when it comes to education), and we can live on one income here. Housing is still way too high in SJ. San Jose seems barren and soul-less to us, particularly in contrast to Austin.

We do live central (I might take SJ over Avery Ranch to be honest) and for the first five years here, we hated it! But now we are true Texans, we root for the Longhorns, wear burnt orange on game day, attend all night City Council meetings, go to charity galas, can talk about brisket and smoked meats, and participate in many local charities and organizations.

Technology lets us stay in Austin, and we do!

[AutumnFOG]

Originally Posted by eepstein

But what you fail to see here is that California won't ALWAYS be bankrupt. Many of these jobs and high tech companies came to Austin because times were tough in California. I firmly believe that once all is well back in the golden state (5 years), then many of these companies will either leave austin altogether and head back, OR keep a small branch office in Austin and relocate their headquarters back to CA.

Not times "were" tough. Times "are" tough, in California. So if Austin is starting to lose the tech race, it has nothing to do with the solvency of California.