Dallas:Wall Street of the South? (Houston, San Antonio: tech job, vs, best)

[Sunbather]

I made the transition to fintech a few years ago. Dallas is booming in that regard. I did take a hit in regard to remote working - previously I worked downtown. I had remote flexibility and could work from home every day if I wanted, but I was in the office multiple days a week because the culture was great and it was an easy commute via train. Now, the financial world still has the mindset of mandatory in office days, even for remote or hybrid workers.

That being said, there is a boon in 300-400k fintech IC jobs in the area that was hard to ignore. And many of these companies are dedicated to growth in the DFW market.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by SanJac

That has been my experience. The other concession is not requiring employees to be in the office 5 days a week. 3 days a week is generally enough to appease the bosses. Employees, for their part, no longer have dedicated desks either. So employees can rotate coming into the office with less desk space.

Yes, a large share of white-collar employers are starting to accept 3-days in-office (usually T-W-Th) and allow remote the other days. Still, not all of them. The company that owns mine is requiring 100% in-office and has for the last year and a half. Fortunately, they haven't required it of my part of the firm.

[Leonard123]

Originally Posted by Sunbather

That being said, there is a boon in 300-400k fintech IC jobs in the area that was hard to ignore. And many of these companies are dedicated to growth in the DFW market.

I don't believe this for one second. In fact quite the opposite.


Regardless, I would think many people prefer a lower salary to commuting to an office on a regular basis. I know I would.

[Sunbather]

What part do you not believe? I'm talking total comp including bonuses, stock, etc in those figures by the way. I too was surprised at the comp packages when I started applying But multiple other financial companies are making big growth investments in the area. Goldman and Wells Fargo are just two examples in the news recently.

I also prefer working from home. However I decided I could deal with a small commute on the days I am in the office (which is not even every week since I'm designated remote) for what was a six figure increase. Not that much different than before where I was remote but had to travel to client offices or sites. Everyone has to weigh their own priorities of course. Nothing wrong with prioritizing 100% remote if that's your primary goal.

[Leonard123]

Originally Posted by Sunbather

What part do you not believe? I'm talking total comp including bonuses, stock, etc in those figures by the way. I too was surprised at the comp packages when I started applying But multiple other financial companies are making big growth investments in the area. Goldman and Wells Fargo are just two examples in the news recently.

I also prefer working from home. However I decided I could deal with a small commute on the days I am in the office (which is not even every week since I'm designated remote) for what was a six figure increase. Not that much different than before where I was remote but had to travel to client offices or sites. Everyone has to weigh their own priorities of course. Nothing wrong with prioritizing 100% remote if that's your primary goal.

I don't believe those numbers, nor do I believe it's any kind of "boon" or common occurrence, nor do I believe there are that many tech jobs. It's a competitive field with more candidates than jobs. Similarly I keep hearing about all these big pay increases and people finding all these better jobs, but I don't know anyone who has gotten a raise recently, and I don't see this big boon of easy-to-get jobs. I just don't believe the numbers or the headlines.

[ThomasCrown]

Originally Posted by Leonard123

It's a competitive field with more jobs than candidates. Similarly I keep hearing about all these big pay increases and people finding all these better jobs, but I don't know anyone who has gotten a raise recently, and I don't see this big boon of easy-to-get jobs. I just don't believe the numbers or the headlines.

Focus on what you just wrote. You believe there are more jobs than there are candidates... what do you think that does to salaries when companies have to compete for a small pool of workers? The price they're willing to pay to hire someone goes up, because those people have options.


People are still getting raises. I got a 5% raise last year and from what I hear around the office, the target for this year is 6%, but we won't find out for sure until April.

[Leonard123]

Originally Posted by ThomasCrown

Focus on what you just wrote. You believe there are more jobs than there are candidates... what do you think that does to salaries when companies have to compete for a small pool of workers? The price they're willing to pay to hire someone goes up, because those people have options.


People are still getting raises. I got a 5% raise last year and from what I hear around the office, the target for this year is 6%, but we won't find out for sure until April.

Sorry, I did get that backwards. I had meant to write more candidates than jobs. My mistake. Thanks for the correction.

So far, you're the only person I know that has. The companies I know are actually on a pay freeze due to the horrific market conditions right now, and people are not getting tech jobs due to an incredibly competitive field.

[Sunbather]

Originally Posted by Leonard123

I don't believe those numbers, nor do I believe it's any kind of "boon" or common occurrence, nor do I believe there are that many tech jobs. It's a competitive field with more candidates than jobs. Similarly I keep hearing about all these big pay increases and people finding all these better jobs, but I don't know anyone who has gotten a raise recently, and I don't see this big boon of easy-to-get jobs. I just don't believe the numbers or the headlines.

I don't know what to tell you about the numbers. I have no reason to lie. I'm not a headline, but an actual person sharing my experience. I had multiple offers in that range. I have also helped hire a few people in a tier below me (I'm an IC, so I don't 'manage' them, but they work on projects and scrum efforts I am responsible for) who are in the 200-250 total comp range. We have also hired two peers in the area in the last 12 months in the total comp range I listed earlier.

Admittedly on my part, boon was the wrong word. More correctly, there has been growth in that area in the DFW market. Nowhere did I say that the jobs were 'easy-to-get'. I would not expect that at this pay range. That doesn't mean there is not a growth in those jobs. They are competitive, and people are even moving to DFW to take them. So, yes, the talent pool is wide, but the roles are often looking for specific, cross-discipline experience to manage multi-functional teams or tech integration projects.

Also note that I made my job change almost 2 years ago. While there are layoffs in tech and banking, you have to look at the specific kind of functions. Especially when you're talking about massive companies. A bank laying people off in home lending when that is down does not mean they aren't ramping up hiring on the tech side. A massive tech provider laying off people in a division they are winding down does not mean they aren't hiring or don't have plans to ramp up elsewhere.

Is Dallas the 'wall street of the south'? I don't think so. But, is presence of the financial sector growing in DFW? By everything I am seeing, Yes. The interesting thing is that a lot of the growth I am seeing in this area is specifically related to tech in the financial industry: Investments in AI/ML, next gen data center growth being located here, financial software/app develop staff being ramped up in the area.

[TheOverdog]

Is Dallas the 'wall street of the south'? I don't think so.

I don't know, there aren't very many southern cities it is in competition with. What are the other options? Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and maybe Miami? that's pretty much it. One of them has to be the Wall Street of the south.


I don't get why people are suggesting Austin. Austin has about $200b in GDP vs DFW's $500b, they aren't on the same playing field.

[Sunbather]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

I don't know, there aren't very many southern cities it is in competition with. What are the other options? Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and maybe Miami? that's pretty much it. One of them has to be the Wall Street of the south.


I don't get why people are suggesting Austin. Austin has about $200b in GDP vs DFW's $500b, they aren't on the same playing field.

I guess I should clarify - I don't love the 'X of the Y' comparisons much. Is Dallas a financial heavyweight in the south/southwest? Yes, maybe even the biggest. But it's not really a comparison to Wall Street. It's a pretty different animal. The 'wall street' jobs arent really shifting to DFW, but tech jobs at various financial firms from all over the country are being consolidated or moved, including from places like the bay area and DFW is one of those targets. And new job growth for some companies is targeted at the DFW area. But it's not necessarily C suite, or executive, or traders etc. that I more traditionally think of as 'wall street'.