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Ha. I will answer you, not because I think my opinion matters due to my $500 win but more so because I currently reside in Chicago. I just bought a condo, given the recent prices of real estate in Chicago I foresee a boom happening in the next 20 years. Our prices don't even touch New Yorks Real Estate. With the investment that Chicago is making towards technology firms I am guessing there will be a major boom in real estate prices and cost of rent. I am in the an e-commerce industry and of the 5 major companies in my industry all but 1 have an office in Chicago. My old company even said that they were trying to increase the amount of jobs in Chicago because the cost of living is much cheaper than NY (meaning they can pay us less) and the talent is just as good.
Ha. I will answer you, not because I think my opinion matters due to my $500 win but more so because I currently reside in Chicago. I just bought a condo, given the recent prices of real estate in Chicago I foresee a boom happening in the next 20 years. Our prices don't even touch New Yorks Real Estate. With the investment that Chicago is making towards technology firms I am guessing there will be a major boom in real estate prices and cost of rent. I am in the an e-commerce industry and of the 5 major companies in my industry all but 1 have an office in Chicago. My old company even said that they were trying to increase the amount of jobs in Chicago because the cost of living is much cheaper than NY (meaning they can pay us less) and the talent is just as good.
20 years is a really really really long horizon. Right now kids that are in kindergarten in CPS could be done with law school, married with kids of their own. Our vaporized by a rogue nation's nuclear launch...
Although Chicago, as both a municipal entity and a general "investment community" could be said to be investing in technology through both things like tax incentives to attract firms in tech sectors and "venture capital", the degree to which these investments are paltry in comparison to not just traditional hotbeds of technology like Silicon Valley but even other areas that once were "rust belt" towns, college towns or even just sleeply southern cities is not impressive. In some ways the "venture capitalists" trying to expand tech in Chicago remind me more of misguided efforts to add inappropriate sports to regions where there is no history of support -- hockey in Arizona as it were. This dilutes talent, makes it impossible for "team owners" to cover expenses and ultimately is wasted effort.
The physical location of many kinds of technology jobs is irrelevant -- folks with the talents needed to develop core technology can live wherever they want with ubiquitous network connectivity and telepresence. The reasons that real estste costs in Manahattan are sky high is not really driven by tech people but by folks in a handful of narrow financial industries where physical presence is a bigger factor. Lifestyle factors are certsinly influenced by the presence of certain industries though despite decades of a "head start" over emerging markets in China the fact is even Chicago's important futures / options community is likely to be eclipsed by the structure of China's emerging financial markets...
No doubt the eager young kids fresh out of college will be thrilled to accept a sales job for Yelp or google or some similar advertising driven tech firm but how a few decades ago such jobs trying to hawk ad space for the Yellow Pages quickly led to disillusioned young people getting into better sales opportunities the dearth of other options may result is dramatic "bust" once the "boom" of worthless "social media" dies out.
Though there is too often a remarkably short "shelf life" on "press releases" about "manufacturing technology centers" and other ways to truly create a more viable long term economy that has the potential to employee far more people of various levels of education it is my sincere hope that these efforts are not just part of "poltical give aways" that some still feel are the only way to secure their place in office with "low information voters" and instead truly and effort to great a viable and inclusive economy. There are still enough "real" engineers graduating from Northwestern, Purdue, Chambana, Rose-Hulman and other regional schools for Chicago to honestly attract such employment but previous efforts for "incubators" at NU and even Argonne have not been sustainable as Illinois tax policies often drive these firms to friendlier locations. The efforts of folks with ties to Chicago to bring some jobs back to the area like the Laguanitas Brewing strike me as a whole lot more likely to have upside than some dweeb trying to convince more dry cleaners to run ads on Yelp.
20 years is a really really really long horizon. Right now kids that are in kindergarten in CPS could be done with law school, married with kids of their own. Our vaporized by a rogue nation's nuclear launch...
Although Chicago, as both a municipal entity and a general "investment community" could be said to be investing in technology through both things like tax incentives to attract firms in tech sectors and "venture capital", the degree to which these investments are paltry in comparison to not just traditional hotbeds of technology like Silicon Valley but even other areas that once were "rust belt" towns, college towns or even just sleeply southern cities is not impressive. In some ways the "venture capitalists" trying to expand tech in Chicago remind me more of misguided efforts to add inappropriate sports to regions where there is no history of support -- hockey in Arizona as it were. This dilutes talent, makes it impossible for "team owners" to cover expenses and ultimately is wasted effort.
The physical location of many kinds of technology jobs is irrelevant -- folks with the talents needed to develop core technology can live wherever they want with ubiquitous network connectivity and telepresence. The reasons that real estste costs in Manahattan are sky high is not really driven by tech people but by folks in a handful of narrow financial industries where physical presence is a bigger factor. Lifestyle factors are certsinly influenced by the presence of certain industries though despite decades of a "head start" over emerging markets in China the fact is even Chicago's important futures / options community is likely to be eclipsed by the structure of China's emerging financial markets...
No doubt the eager young kids fresh out of college will be thrilled to accept a sales job for Yelp or google or some similar advertising driven tech firm but how a few decades ago such jobs trying to hawk ad space for the Yellow Pages quickly led to disillusioned young people getting into better sales opportunities the dearth of other options may result is dramatic "bust" once the "boom" of worthless "social media" dies out.
Though there is too often a remarkably short "shelf life" on "press releases" about "manufacturing technology centers" and other ways to truly create a more viable long term economy that has the potential to employee far more people of various levels of education it is my sincere hope that these efforts are not just part of "poltical give aways" that some still feel are the only way to secure their place in office with "low information voters" and instead truly and effort to great a viable and inclusive economy. There are still enough "real" engineers graduating from Northwestern, Purdue, Chambana, Rose-Hulman and other regional schools for Chicago to honestly attract such employment but previous efforts for "incubators" at NU and even Argonne have not been sustainable as Illinois tax policies often drive these firms to friendlier locations. The efforts of folks with ties to Chicago to bring some jobs back to the area like the Laguanitas Brewing strike me as a whole lot more likely to have upside than some dweeb trying to convince more dry cleaners to run ads on Yelp.
I said within the next 20 years. Could be sooner! I bought my condo because I truly believe there is a lot of money to be made within Chicago's Real Estate. Its one of the lowest cost of living urbanized areas within the United States.
I was also referring to a small grant that Chicago received from the Federal Government. By Small, I mean only around $70million. Though, we have yet to see where that will be spent or exactly what kind of good it will do. Either way, its a step in the right direction. I have no idea how the venture capitalists foresight into Chicago tech firms reminds you of defunct sports teams. Chicago's tech firms are for the most part very successful. Companies like Yelp, Groupon, Belly, linkedin and others may not produce a physical product but they definitely provide a necessary service that I think will be around indefinitely.
Unless there is complete culture change in how managers think and how employees act, remote working will not be a very common thing. Even in my industry which can be done remotely we are still required to come into the office. All of the technical talent is located in big cities, particularly when it comes to new technology that is typically learned by the younger generations who have yet to be married, thus are single and want to live in the city.
I said within the next 20 years. Could be sooner! I bought my condo because I truly believe there is a lot of money to be made within Chicago's Real Estate. Its one of the lowest cost of living urbanized areas within the United States.
I was also referring to a small grant that Chicago received from the Federal Government. By Small, I mean only around $70million. Though, we have yet to see where that will be spent or exactly what kind of good it will do. Either way, its a step in the right direction. I have no idea how the venture capitalists foresight into Chicago tech firms reminds you of defunct sports teams. Chicago's tech firms are for the most part very successful. Companies like Yelp, Groupon, Belly, linkedin and others may not produce a physical product but they definitely provide a necessary service that I think will be around indefinitely.
Unless there is complete culture change in how managers think and how employees act, remote working will not be a very common thing. Even in my industry which can be done remotely we are still required to come into the office. All of the technical talent is located in big cities, particularly when it comes to new technology that is typically learned by the younger generations who have yet to be married, thus are single and want to live in the city.
There are a lot of people who can't see the good in the world. Luckily they mostly live far away from me so I rarely deal with them in real life. People who claim that Chicago is hemorrhaging well educated people and such. When that is the complete opposite of reality and easily researched by census numbers. I think some need to confirm their life choices to feel good about mind numbing and soul crushing living conditions.
There are a lot of people who can't see the good in the world. Luckily they mostly live far away from me so I rarely deal with them in real life. People who claim that Chicago is hemorrhaging well educated people and such. When that is the complete opposite of reality and easily researched by census numbers. I think some need to confirm their life choices to feel good about mind numbing and soul crushing living conditions.
I will be the first to admit that Chicago and Illinois in particular SHOULD be hemorrhaging well educated people given the amount of debt and corruption. However with a city as beautiful and amazing as Chicago its hard not to be attracted to it. Plus its in the middle of one of the greatest countries in the world which gives it a unique position to be conveniently located as a services hub. Not too far time-wise from the east coast nor west coast.
I have very mixed feeling about the "Digital Manufacturing" thing, though I agree in theory such a thing could be a positive, and have earlier had some good feeling about the idea, the way it was specifically a "step around congress" troubles me as it could easily be "undone" through either direct congressional authority or even ruled "invalid" by the courts if it is seen as overstepping the President's role. Even putting aside the potential political mess there are some things that worry me about this kind of grant.
Firstly the value of anything like this is diluted by the fact that there are similar grants for different cities --
Quote:
..already launched similar "institutes" in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Youngstown, Ohio, and will also announce that Detroit will get one focusing on lightweight metals manufacturing..
Secondly when you see the companies that Rahm has managed to bully into supporting this initiative I am not seeing the kind of firms with "Chicago roots"
Quote:
Proctor & Gamble, Rolls Royce, Lockheed Martin, Seimens, and Dow Chemical
Thirdly NIST has been giving out much smaller grants for years and is arguably more effective -- total program is much "leaner" and probably more results oriented / less political pork -- http://www.nist.gov/amo/upload/AMTec..._FY14_0807.pdf
When it comes to buying vs renting I have long advocated for folks to very cautiously approach this often difficult choice. There is a wonderfully complete calculator available from the NYTimes. They also ran some articles in the spring warning that some markets again seem over valued -- http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/up...abt=0002&abg=1
There are special challenges with condos in the Chicago market. Unlike Manhattan which has been "built out" for all intents for decades (notable shifts due to (9/11...) Chicago has an ENORMOUS number of options for new construction. The older condo building in places like Edgewater are pretty crummy in terms of not just lack of amenities near by but also funky old fashioned lay out that is unlikely to resonate with buyers that will kill for in-unit washer& dryer, en suite master bath with dual vanity & luxury shower, doorman / concierge, etc. Further the older buildings often have really antiquated mechanical systems as well as all kinds of deferred exterior and interior maintenance issues that simply do not make sense with high HOA fees. Once a newer building springs up closer to better nicer amenities / better transportation options it can really turn existing values topsy-turvy. The bigger "threat" is not really NY or Kaula Lampur or Chengdu or Seattle or Tokyo, it is what happens when developers will overhaul a nearby rental building or build a new condo. You have a whole lot more "control" of value when buy a single family home in a more residential / desirable part of Chicago or a nice suburb where the competition is much more finite, especially if you can buy a place that needs some "TLC", to pump up your equity after quick updates. No matter if you want / need to get out quickly after that OR hang around for the long haul, in a single family detached home that you continue to maintain and invest in to remain "current" you will outpace condo appreciation...
Increasingly the tech people I work with have no real "office". They largely work on their own, often from their home wherever that may be, and might visit a client site in person just a few times over the course of a lengthy project. I don't really consider this sorts of situations "cutting edge" or the least bit unusual anymore. There is a wealth of experience in what sorts of people will be selected by these kinds of employers and what sorts of tools / strategies help in keeping such organizations vibrant and on-task. Managing a Geographically Dispersed Team - from MindTools.com The "dinosaur" type organizations that have some "everyone under one roof" model are the ones that are more likely to become extinct. Sure, there are some kinds of businesses that do benefit from having hundreds of thousands of sq ft of office space but fewer and fewer modern firms really want that kind of overhead and honestly that posses a bigger threat to some of the suburban areas that have staked their existence on this hard to redevelop / subdivide massive campuses which are probably only suited to a handful of firms in some specialized situations. I would argue that unless a firm is really deeply committed to some physical "products" it is foolish to have too much physical area for "housing" employees -- it is very very different to need test kitchens / labs / prototyping space to build/cook burgers/phones/trucks etc than dealing with / in things that largely exist as more of an "idea" or functional service...
The title of this thread has been edited to clarify the topic and to open the discussion to all members, not just a select few.
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