Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This is a good question, and it raises another closely related question: what KIND of people is Phoenix attracting? Are we bringing in highly skilled, educated, ambitious, career minded/entrepreneurial types ... or is the growth mainly the result of people who are only here for the sun, and have no goals in life except sitting by the pool or hiking Camelback Mountain?
Ill go out on a limb and say that PHX is definitely attracting more unskilled workers than not. There is a growing feeling that we are slowly bringing in entrepreneurial, ambitious workers, but there just wont be enough to make a big dent. People like that go to places like NYC, CHI, SF, ATL, BOS, MPLS, etc. The southern portions of the USA have generally been, for lack of better words, less ambitious than their northern counterparts. Its true. Ive lived in the south and southwest, and the lack of ambition is quite shocking. Up north there is a drive to be successful. Its in the air when you walk around the big cities. You see limos and marble-walled highrises. Business women and men on power lunches in their S Class Mercedes. Here in the southern portions of the US, the drive just doesn't seem to be there. People leave the fast life of the north and east for the relaxed lifestyle of the south, and I think that plays into things. Is it true for everybody? No, not even. But you can see it and feel it in the south. We even dress casually!
Long story short, highly skilled and ambitious workers flock to the cities I mentioned above because that high class, fast-paced business life is what they want, and I think places like PHX (on a whole) just don't offer it, therefore we tend to attract the people who would rather have sun and a slower life than those who really don't give a crap and gravitate towards high-powered business.
That is a fantastic graphic! Crazy how much smaller the footprint of city of Philadelphia is compared to Phoenix.
It makes you wonder what a similar article will look like a hundred years from now when some crazy city like Bumfork, New Mexico surpasses Phoenix's population yet has 4 times the footprint. Or Maybe Philadelphia will once again surpass Phoenix with it's city-grid and great subway system becoming the city Millenial's grandchildren flock to.
That is a fantastic graphic! Crazy how much smaller the footprint of city of Philadelphia is compared to Phoenix.
It makes you wonder what a similar article will look like a hundred years from now when some crazy city like Bumfork, New Mexico surpasses Phoenix's population yet has 4 times the footprint. Or Maybe Philadelphia will once again surpass Phoenix with it's city-grid and great subway system becoming the city Millenial's grandchildren flock to.
Here's another fantastic graphic someone should make:
The 2016 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metro Area, Pennsylvania, population is 6,069,880. There are 1,319 people per square mile (population density).
Of U.S. metros with at least 50,000 people, Phoenix ranks 57th for population density. As of 2010, (the most recent data available), there were 3,165 people per square mile in the Phoenix metro area. More than 3.6 million people in the metro area were spread over 1,147 square miles
A lot whining about density from a region that's actually less dense than Phoenix. Not to mention... WTH cares.
Ill go out on a limb and say that PHX is definitely attracting more unskilled workers than not. There is a growing feeling that we are slowly bringing in entrepreneurial, ambitious workers, but there just wont be enough to make a big dent. People like that go to places like NYC, CHI, SF, ATL, BOS, MPLS, etc. The southern portions of the USA have generally been, for lack of better words, less ambitious than their northern counterparts. Its true. Ive lived in the south and southwest, and the lack of ambition is quite shocking. Up north there is a drive to be successful. Its in the air when you walk around the big cities. You see limos and marble-walled highrises. Business women and men on power lunches in their S Class Mercedes. Here in the southern portions of the US, the drive just doesn't seem to be there. People leave the fast life of the north and east for the relaxed lifestyle of the south, and I think that plays into things. Is it true for everybody? No, not even. But you can see it and feel it in the south. We even dress casually!
Long story short, highly skilled and ambitious workers flock to the cities I mentioned above because that high class, fast-paced business life is what they want, and I think places like PHX (on a whole) just don't offer it, therefore we tend to attract the people who would rather have sun and a slower life than those who really don't give a crap and gravitate towards high-powered business.
Make sense?
Man you make me really happy to NOT live in the north, power lunches and douchebags in Mercedes' is really not my speed at all.
I will argue with you all day and night about ambitious people here, I know many of them and stay in touch with many of my ASU class who are doing quite well right here in the south you are making a poor attempt to talk down upon. Do we need to post another list of all the companies moving jobs here?
Man you make me really happy to NOT live in the north, power lunches and douchebags in Mercedes' is really not my speed at all.
I will argue with you all day and night about ambitious people here, I know many of them and stay in touch with many of my ASU class who are doing quite well right here in the south you are making a poor attempt to talk down upon. Do we need to post another list of all the companies moving jobs here?
Well-written except the part about here in the south.
Please don't associate Phoenix with the southern United States unless you want to be associated with bible belt places like Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, or Georgia.
Location: The edge of the world and all of Western civilization
984 posts, read 1,191,283 times
Reputation: 1691
Quote:
Originally Posted by locolife
Man you make me really happy to NOT live in the north, power lunches and douchebags in Mercedes' is really not my speed at all.
I will argue with you all day and night about ambitious people here, I know many of them and stay in touch with many of my ASU class who are doing quite well right here in the south you are making a poor attempt to talk down upon. Do we need to post another list of all the companies moving jobs here?
I think you have, at best, a delusional grasp on Phoenix for reasons I pointed out in another thread. I don't agree with BIG CATS on almost anything, but I do on the point to which you are replying here. I moved here for a job that didn't work out, took a temp job, then moved to my current job... and in my experience, mediocrity seems to be the norm in Phoenix. I will admit that I've so far worked with only one person who has any amount of drive, and frankly I think his work ethic is admirable. But of the 50+ other people I've worked with since moving here, no, I don't see much ambition. In fact, that's a point of frustration for me because it feels like I'm around dead weight that drags me down when I have always taken a driven, aggressive approach to improving my situation.
If this weren't the case, I think Phoenix would have a much more diverse economy, a larger collection of better paying jobs, more room for job growth, etc. You don't have to look too deep in this forum to see people move here because they want what they perceive to be an easy way out. Furthermore, people move here and want to disconnect, so they don't often really care about what's happening to this town (hence why so many people on this thread seem more fixated on problems in where they used to live, not where they live now).
On top of that, I noticed that no one is really addressing some cautionary tidbits in that article...
But Stanton and Mackay both said the quality of Phoenix is more important than the number of people who live here. That means retaining people who grew up or were educated here, as well as sustaining the growth..."We're still deciding what we want to be when we grow up," [Stanton] said.
Quality is a tremendous issue in Phoenix, and it faces a lot of hurdles which are only going to be harder to overcome. Retaining and sustaining are both telling issues no one else seems to acknowledge: New York and Philadelphia are the only two cities to remain in the top 10 most populous cities since the first census in 1790, whereas many have appeared on and fallen off it as times/trends change. Phoenix making this list is no different than the few dozen others to have once been on that list—what matters is what it does now. That last statement might be tongue-in-cheek, but for a city this size, that's not really something to brag about. One would hope Phoenix would have a better understanding of what it's going to do with itself, but hence my pessimism. I think Phoenix is currently, and has been for some time, bringing in a lot of people who really just don't care, and that's going to show in time.
I think you have, at best, a delusional grasp on Phoenix for reasons I pointed out in another thread. I don't agree with BIG CATS on almost anything, but I do on the point to which you are replying here. I moved here for a job that didn't work out, took a temp job, then moved to my current job... and in my experience, mediocrity seems to be the norm in Phoenix. I will admit that I've so far worked with only one person who has any amount of drive, and frankly I think his work ethic is admirable. But of the 50+ other people I've worked with since moving here, no, I don't see much ambition. In fact, that's a point of frustration for me because it feels like I'm around dead weight that drags me down when I have always taken a driven, aggressive approach to improving my situation.
If this weren't the case, I think Phoenix would have a much more diverse economy, a larger collection of better paying jobs, more room for job growth, etc. You don't have to look too deep in this forum to see people move here because they want what they perceive to be an easy way out. Furthermore, people move here and want to disconnect, so they don't often really care about what's happening to this town (hence why so many people on this thread seem more fixated on problems in where they used to live, not where they live now).
On top of that, I noticed that no one is really addressing some cautionary tidbits in that article...
But Stanton and Mackay both said the quality of Phoenix is more important than the number of people who live here. That means retaining people who grew up or were educated here, as well as sustaining the growth..."We're still deciding what we want to be when we grow up," [Stanton] said.
Quality is a tremendous issue in Phoenix, and it faces a lot of hurdles which are only going to be harder to overcome. Retaining and sustaining are both telling issues no one else seems to acknowledge: New York and Philadelphia are the only two cities to remain in the top 10 most populous cities since the first census in 1790, whereas many have appeared on and fallen off it as times/trends change. Phoenix making this list is no different than the few dozen others to have once been on that list—what matters is what it does now. That last statement might be tongue-in-cheek, but for a city this size, that's not really something to brag about. One would hope Phoenix would have a better understanding of what it's going to do with itself, but hence my pessimism. I think Phoenix is currently, and has been for some time, bringing in a lot of people who really just don't care, and that's going to show in time.
So my opinion is delusional having spent 12 years here, worked for 4 major organizations (2 of which are headquartered here), attended grad school here and volunteered at many different organizations over this time? I've been acquainted with and had the pleasure of working along some of the most talented people I've ever come across right here in Phoenix. Engineers, students, business managers and volunteers who share a passion for making Phoenix a better place. I'm the one that's delusional? What have you done here besides show up for work and complain about it?
You act like merely showing up in Phoenix (or anywhere really) that someone is going to hand you a high paying job and you'll suddenly be transported to a fairly-tale workplace where every single person is 100% plugged in and motivated. Guess what? Those jobs are hard to come by in ANY city, including here. You find them by networking, building a life and entrenching yourself in the community. Positions on teams with these qualities are rarely filled by job postings and almost always through networking.
Perhaps you moved here to disconnect but a lot of us don't, do you think we somehow created one of the largest art walks in the country because everyone here wants to disconnect? In 1994, Artlink began promoting the monthly First Fridays walk, which has grown to become one of the largest monthly art walks in the United States. With many venues open free to the public each month, First Fridays has succeeded in bringing people back to downtown Phoenix. The event sees anywhere from 14-20,000 visitors monthly and grows each year.
Do Silicon Valley transplants who start companies here show this kind of passion and love for a city they could hardly imagine moving to a few years prior to this decision?
"The people who live in Phoenix aren’t slouches either. It’s been our experience that people here want to build careers and businesses — not resumes. They aren’t hopscotching around, waiting for the latest startup to close a round so they can go off and join the next big thing. No, they’re committed: When equity vests, it’s not time to leave. It’s time to continue to make that equity worth something. They’re fighters, and they’re in it for the long haul. If you’re a founder, you can’t put a price on that kind of loyalty."http://downtownphoenixjournal.com/20...-phx-campaign/
Go spend some time at Make A Wish Foundation, which started here and tell me people aren't driven here.
Or Chicanos Por La Causa, First Things First foundation, Bruce Arian's foundation and tell me people in this city are not driven. Attend Pat's Run, the AHA Walk.... or pick one your passion, then get back to us all on my delusion.
Take some classes at ASU, meet some of the professors I have, who have dedicated their lives to Phoenix and are passionate about improving the city.
And the list of companies committed to the valley's employee base keeps growing.
I think you have, at best, a delusional grasp on Phoenix for reasons I pointed out in another thread. I don't agree with BIG CATS on almost anything, but I do on the point to which you are replying here. I moved here for a job that didn't work out, took a temp job, then moved to my current job... and in my experience, mediocrity seems to be the norm in Phoenix. I will admit that I've so far worked with only one person who has any amount of drive, and frankly I think his work ethic is admirable. But of the 50+ other people I've worked with since moving here, no, I don't see much ambition. In fact, that's a point of frustration for me because it feels like I'm around dead weight that drags me down when I have always taken a driven, aggressive approach to improving my situation.
If this weren't the case, I think Phoenix would have a much more diverse economy, a larger collection of better paying jobs, more room for job growth, etc. You don't have to look too deep in this forum to see people move here because they want what they perceive to be an easy way out. Furthermore, people move here and want to disconnect, so they don't often really care about what's happening to this town (hence why so many people on this thread seem more fixated on problems in where they used to live, not where they live now).
On top of that, I noticed that no one is really addressing some cautionary tidbits in that article...
But Stanton and Mackay both said the quality of Phoenix is more important than the number of people who live here. That means retaining people who grew up or were educated here, as well as sustaining the growth..."We're still deciding what we want to be when we grow up," [Stanton] said.
Quality is a tremendous issue in Phoenix, and it faces a lot of hurdles which are only going to be harder to overcome. Retaining and sustaining are both telling issues no one else seems to acknowledge: New York and Philadelphia are the only two cities to remain in the top 10 most populous cities since the first census in 1790, whereas many have appeared on and fallen off it as times/trends change. Phoenix making this list is no different than the few dozen others to have once been on that list—what matters is what it does now. That last statement might be tongue-in-cheek, but for a city this size, that's not really something to brag about. One would hope Phoenix would have a better understanding of what it's going to do with itself, but hence my pessimism. I think Phoenix is currently, and has been for some time, bringing in a lot of people who really just don't care, and that's going to show in time.
A few ASU awards and rankings:
#1 in the U.S. for innovation
Top 10 in the U.S. for employ-ability
#1 public university chosen by international students
#5 in the nation for producing the best-qualified graduates
#15 executive education in the world
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
