Is there a big "unspoken" reason why a lot of people move to the Seattle area? (tenants, college)

[RVD90277]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

UW has the 6th best computer science program in the nation (behind MIT, Stanford, Texas, Carnegie Mellon, and Cal Tech), one of the best medical programs, and one of the best business schools. What are you talking about?

i would say that at best, it may have an argument for #6. Cal (Berkeley) is definitely better than UW.

I generally put rankings more in tiers because year after year, the actual rankings will change slightly.

But for CS you basically have:

Tier 1: MIT, Cal Tech, Stanfurd, Cal, CMU
Tier 2: UW, Michigan, Cornell, Texas, Illinois, Georgia Tech, Ivies (Princeton, Penn, Harvard), Cooper Union, UCLA, Harvey Mudd (HM guys would argue that they should be tier 1), etc.

The top of tier 2 can be any of those schools.

[RVD90277]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

I would cry if my kid said he was going to Reed. It's nothing but a liberal arts college. A very expensive liberal arts college that will prepare you for a breathtaking career as a shoe salesperson at Nordstrom's. If I'm going to be spending 200 grand on a college education for someone, I'd like them to study something that's actually, you know, marketable and useful.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I would cry too.

By the time my kid is in school, it will be more like $300k on a college education (including room and board, etc.).

FYI, my graduate degree cost me $160k and that was only for 2 years with no financial aid available. Yes, it was freaking painful. Worth it? I don't know. Most of my classmates had rich parents, took out a lot of loand (student loans, home equity loans, bank loans, etc.), or had a lot of savings from a nice wall street job. And this was only a few years ago...

RVD.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

The onus isn't on me to go do research for you. This isn't a debate setting, this is a conversational forum. I understand somebody who can't even figure out an image's page source probably isn't the best Googler, but I have confidence you will be able to find a neighbor kid that will help you out. The fact was, is, and will remain, that the companies you listed have placed MUCH larger facilities in the eastern suburbs than they have in Seattle. You can stick your fingers in your ears and scream "LALALALALALALALA" all you like, but it won't change it. You can close your eyes and pretend you don't see the Google complex if you're in Kirkland, but it'll still be there. You can refuse to look at the HTC building if you're driving east on 90 and pretend the only office they have is the 2 room suite in Seattle that has like 8 people in it, but that larger building still exists. While you're at it, pretend that Microsoft has a huge presence in Seattle and ignore their 3 skyscrapers in Bellevue or the campus in Redmond, etc.

Don't worry, though - I'm sure somewhere on this forum there's somebody actually dumb enough to believe what you're putting down.

Amazon's Expansion Plans Reveal Three New Office Towers and More - Tricia Duryee - Commerce - AllThingsD
At the end of the year, Amazon had 56,200 employees, up 67 percent year over year. Most of the hiring occurred in operations and customer service, including 17 new fulfillment centers.
It’s not clear how many employees Amazon has in its Seattle headquarters, but it already leases about 2.7 million square feet, including 1.7 million square feet in the so-called South Lake Union neighborhood, which has recently been revitalized by Seattle tech leader Paul Allen, and sits just outside the downtown core.
The attraction: South Lake Union's rapid evolution as a high-tech hub, thanks to Amazon.com Inc.'s new HQ, the nearby headquarters of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a number of medical research facilities that have opened in the neighborhood.
Job growth attracting universities to SLU - Puget Sound Business Journal
Vulcan
The guy from Vulcan talking about re-imaging SLU into a hub of tech - namingly, BIOtech
Arron has played a key role in turning a gritty stretch of aging industrial property into a high tech hub that’s home to Amazon.com, architecture firm NBBJ, and a growing number of life sciences and tech firms.
Business & Technology | Amazon.com on a hiring spree | Seattle Times Newspaper
Job growth exceeds estimates in Seattle’s booming South Lake Union neighborhood - GeekWire
“You certainly can’t argue that Amazon by far and away has been the big driver,” said Chris Moe, a senior vice president at Kidder Mathews. “But it’s not all Amazon. It’s them and two dozen other healthy local companies.”
Amazon.com alone has relocated “thousands” of employees to the district since moving its headquarters in 2010
BioMed Realty Trust Inc. (BMR), a San Diego-based owner of biotechnology and pharmaceutical offices and labs, won city council approval in December to build a research center to 85 feet.

Seattle’s Pioneer Square has tech, needs tribe - GeekWire
Payscale 100+ employees
Discovery Bay 35+ employees
Yapta 15 employees
Isilon employs 450 there now and is adding 200 more.
Pioneer Square tower plan: Jenga puzzle meets Borg ship - GeekWire
"For a while now we’ve been keeping an eye on developments in Pioneer Square as the Seattle neighborhood tries to make a comeback as a technology hum. More tech companies have been moving in, but one of the neighborhood’s big needs is more residential life, to keep the area populated after the workday. "
Isilon adding 200 jobs as it settles into Pioneer Square HQ - GeekWire
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/re...n-seattle.html
Paul Allen
Zynga pushing to Queen Anne still keeps it in Seattle.
Tech companies lead
"EMC Isilon, the largest company to move into the area in recent years, pumped 450 employees into the neighborhood just last month. It is among a number of companies have moved in over the past 18 months, including gaming giant Zynga Inc., online diamond retailer Blue Nile Inc., Discovery Bay, Nuance Communications Inc. and ShareBuilder Inc.
Smartphone maker HTC recently confirmed that it is looking for space in the area to expand its presence.
“It’s certainly always been a hub for technology companies, and it’s grown even more so recently,” said Sally Patterson, a commercial broker with CB Richard Ellis real estate firm. “Technology companies are expanding out into different areas of the market where they find creative spaces, such as the waterfront area, Fremont and Belltown, but people always come back to Pioneer Square because of the tech community there and the buzz around that.”

http://www.geekwire.com/2012/faceboo...posts-seattle/
Another day, another tech giant sets up shop in Seattle. Perhaps no story over the past 24 months has shaped the technology community in Seattle as much as the arrival of the powerhouses of tech. Drawn to the region by a stable of anchor tenants like Amazon.com, Expedia and Microsoft and enticed by top-notch computer scientists from the University of Washington, companies such as eBay, Facebook and, most recently, Groupon have decided to mine Seattle’s treasure trove of technical talent.

More Seattle Tech:
Facebook - 170 employees Downtown Seattle
Dessalt Systemes - French software company working with Boeing, 90 employees located in South Lake Union
Hulu - 12 employees just started in Downtown Seattle
Climate Corp -20 employees in Pioneer Square
Google - 1000 employees in metro with a third or more in Fremont
Groupon - 20-30 Seattle International District
Salesforce - South Lake Union
Splunk - TBD in South Lake Union
RichRelevance - 12 Just started on Third Ave. Seattle
TicketMaster - TBD in Pioneer Square
F5 - 2000 employees Elliott Ave. Seattle

Many more in Seattle but you get the point. Or you don't. I've never said there are not tech companies on the Eastside or that there is not tech growth on the Eastside. What I've said was I was glad to see that Seattle is getting some good growth too because I think it will be good for the area to have balanced growth. You on the other hand said that the tech companies are all moving to the Eastside due to the political environment. I disagree.

[Xanathos]

Oh hey look at you, posting up a bunch of links that I've ALREADY de-bunked as proof of some booming new tech setup within Seattle itself aside from Amazon.

That's how you know you've completely lost an argument - you have to go back to repeating things you already got beat up on.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

Oh hey look at you, posting up a bunch of links that I've ALREADY de-bunked as proof of some booming new tech setup within Seattle itself aside from Amazon.

That's how you know you've completely lost an argument - you have to go back to repeating things you already got beat up on.

You did not debunk them at all. I not only debunked your debunking, I added more. You can willfully ignore the truth but it doesn't make you right.

I've backed up my position but you still have not posted a link showing how tech companies are all leaving Seattle and moving to Bellevue due to the political environment.

If anyone takes the time to read all those links, they will learn to take your proclamations with a large grain of salt.

[seattlenextyear]

I thought Steve Jobs went to Reed? I wouldn't mind being as successful as he was.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by seattlenextyear

I thought Steve Jobs went to Reed? I wouldn't mind being as successful as he was.

He did. He was an interesting case because he said his studies on calligraphy were his greatest design influence.

[coldbliss]

Funny to see you post here.

Because you defend Washington, DC from criticism in many posts in the DC Forum. I know because I am usually the attacker. You are curious about The Emerald City. Huh. I guess DC is not your utopia after all.

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

I feel an affinity for places with the name "Washington" in them.

I wonder why. Hmm...

[coldbliss]

The difference between DC and Seattle:

1. Conversation starters. In Washington, DC they ask you what you do for a living and a follow up question--where you went to college. In Seattle, they ask you what you do for fun.

2. Icebreakers. After the introductory part of the conversation, we get to the icebreaker part. In DC, you will make a new friend if you happen to know someone who is powerful (i.e. a Congressman, top policy aide to a US Senator, a big-shot law partner, a federal agency director, an editor at The Washington Post or Huffington Post, a policy wonk boss at a think tank). In Seattle, if you talk about your passion for outdoor activities like mountain hiking, kayaking, camping or fishing, you will make friends real quickly. Seattle people are not very extroverted but they open up about weekend outdoors hobbies. It helps to complain about the lousy Mariners and Seahawks too.

3. How to Impress People. In DC, you impress people with how many important people you know. In Seattle, it's what you know. Whether it is web programming languages, mechanical engineering concepts, bio-tech human genome projects or whatever. The B.S. Meter is more strict in Seattle because there are many STEM trained and educated people in the region. In DC, people who have law degrees think they are experts on everything from nuclear science to basket weaving. These people are considered are the "best and the brightest" and they are running the United States of America. How's that working out so far?

Yeah, I like the Seattle environment better too. Too bad those Type A personality, power-hungry yuppy A*Holes in Washington, DC still have their reach across the entire country.

Originally Posted by The_Fairfaxian

I know the feeling. I'm from DC and want to move to Seattle, but that's so I can get away from the bull.... of DC - and for that matter - the East Coast. And if human nature runs its course, all the transplants will do is bring their "DC ways" with them. And if that's the case, especially if they're trying to make Seattle more like DC, then I'll pass. I've lived with the DMV's snobbishness, rudeness, misandry, preppishness, yuppiness, bourgieness, covert racism, and passive aggressivenes for long enough. Don't take that crap to a truly progressive part of the country and screw Seattle up (just like you East Coast and Midwest transplants screwed up SF and LA). And for God sakes Seattle residents, don't ever become like DC in any fashion.

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by coldbliss

Funny to see you post here.

Because you defend Washington, DC from criticism in many posts in the DC Forum. I know because I am usually the attacker. You are curious about The Emerald City. Huh. I guess DC is not your utopia after all.

DC is a great city and a fascinating place to live. I really like the pace of the east coast.

Seattle to me just has that air of mystery of a place you often see in pictures, have tons of online friends in, but can't get a grasp of until you've actually been there. That's why it's intriguing.