Good News for People Seeking Tech Jobs in San Francisco!

[jade408]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

From what I've read in the past, biotech hardly ever makes any money, not sure if that's still true or not.

As for tech in SF, it creates a lot less jobs compared with other industries. You have a relatively small number of people making a fair bit of money, but they don't require any office support staff and don't depend on outside support vendors. A normal office like an investment bank or a law firm is top-heavy with highly paid talent, but they also need a lot of support staff like secretaries, clerks, paralegals, etc, and pay outside support for things like copying and so on. A tech firm just needs an office, a bunch of nerds and an internet connection.

It's a start and it's better than nothing, but it's not going to affect the unemployment rate very much and is going to make SF into even more of an exclusive yuppie paradise.

Also tech companies are notoriously cheap. So even when they do grow, they are under-resourced in terms of support staff. Very small numbers of admins, executive assistance etc. They are also very likely to have dual or triple role support staff: HR/accounting/office manager person.

Additionally, they tend to be very engineering focused. It takes a long time for a typical tech company to even ramp up on marketing staff.

Biotech is possibly worse, since they'll spend 5-8 years in product development with only a team of scientists developing technology before they are in a position to bring on other staff: sales, support and marketing.

A tech company has to bu HUGE before they think about even hiring on an IT person. They also tend to be pretty self sufficient, not bringing on many consultants. And they like to keep their payroll/fixed costs small by bringing on lots of contractors.

If there isn't free money flowing in from deep pocketed investors, growth can be pretty small for an average job seeker.

[dmod]

I don't know if I agree with the notion that Tech companies do not create jobs in a large scale. Case in point is India, where back office, low value tech work created millions of jobs. One problem could simply be the lack of skills/willingness among the population at large to become a computer programs. I have heard in Bangalore they will recruit you to a programming job even though you may not have a degree in computer engineering.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

I know everyone is complaining about how horrible the job market is in San Francisco, but look at these numbers!

S.F. tech jobs climb near level of dot-com peak

The tech market is heating up because of the excitement over facebook.

The rest of the economy in the area (non-IT) seems to be staying the same or even getting slightly worse.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by jade408

A tech company has to bu HUGE before they think about even hiring on an IT person.

Not true at all. They just have to be funded.

They also tend to be pretty self sufficient, not bringing on many consultants.

not true, consultants are hired all the time

And they like to keep their payroll/fixed costs small by bringing on lots of contractors.

Contractors often cost more than full time staff, so again that wasn't really an accurate statement

[jade408]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

Not true at all. They just have to be funded.



not true, consultants are hired all the time



Contractors often cost more than full time staff, so again that wasn't really an accurate statement

I am talking tech jobs here. Not other departments. I have yet to meet a small startup that bothers with an IT team. They just repurpose the internal team for all issues. And hire contractors instead of full timers with limited hours. There are lots of bootstrapping startups out there. And lots of cheapos.

[gnomatic]

Bangalore they will recruit you to a programming job even though you may not have a degree in computer engineering.

My experience is quite the opposite. Who you know, where you went to school (down to the specific campus), what degree you have, where you are from, where you have been, plays a HUGE role.

Originally Posted by jade408

I am talking tech jobs here.

Contractor software engineers costs more then salary employees. 20% to 40% more. Some actually prefer the dynamic nature of the work, and don't mind handling your own insurance etc. Also you can deduct a lot more as business expenses working as an independent contractor. Advantage to a company is that they are not included in headcount, and could be cut/added easily. However, many contractors actually work for another "consulting" company, that takes a big cut.

If a small startup needs a TEAM to handle IT, one (including investors) have to question their technical abilities. Grow/hire as the company grows is prudent, not cheap. Some startups are just trying to produce enough to attract a big company to acquire them, so they either never got that far or failed. And if "management" needs someone to do their copying for them, they will loose respect VERY quickly. It has nothing to do with being cheap.