'Where ambition goes to die': These tech workers flocked to Austin during the pandemic. Now they're desperate to get out.
(www.businessinsider.com)
from L4s@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world on 01 Sep 2023 02:00
https://lemmy.world/post/4230823
from L4s@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world on 01 Sep 2023 02:00
https://lemmy.world/post/4230823
‘Where ambition goes to die’: These tech workers flocked to Austin during the pandemic. Now they’re desperate to get out.::Drawn by the promise of an emerging tech hub, some tech workers who flocked to Austin found a middling tech scene, subpar culture, and scorching heat.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
During the pandemic, Austin became a hot spot for remote workers and coastal tech employees who were in search of more space, favorable tax laws, and a lower cost of living.
Once you peel back the boldface names who moved to the city and the corporate announcements about flashy new headquarters, the reality of day-to-day living and working in Austin’s tech scene leaves a lot to be desired, according to those Insider spoke with.
“If I was a 22-year-old founder starting something I’d go to Silicon Valley because it’s going to increase your odds of success,” Gurley said, adding that it is easy for people to get distracted in Austin because they might be having too much fun and not focusing on building their businesses.
He listed off a few of his displeasures with Austin, including a bad public-transportation system that led to awful traffic, subpar museums, and general overcrowding that makes it hard for any spontaneous activities — they must be booked far in advance, he said.
Sheharyar Bokhari, a senior economist with Redfin, previously told Insider that Austin is experiencing whiplash after several years of robust buyer demand and price growth.
Stuck in Austin until interest rates or coastal housing prices fall, Chang has spent the summer scrolling through Instagram, envying the friends he left behind in California.
The original article contains 1,672 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 87%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Doesn’t like Austin because it’s too fun? Sorry but poor excuse to not like a cool city. Very few activities need a reservation or to plan ahead.
Does being in Silicon Valley actually increase a startup founders chance for success? Start a fully remote company.
A friend of mine in that area gets a ton of networking done in person, visiting mixers held by Google and Meta, etc. It hasn’t worked for her mostly because she’s… kinda bad at good ideas, but damn she’s good at getting free tech interns and knowing a guy who knows a guy with endless wealth who will at least hear your pitch deck.
I’d say that would tip the scales for a tech startup over a remote one, although location alone isn’t going to earn you those tech innovation bucks.
Silicon Valley is where all the VCs are. They make a lot of their funding decisions based on whether they like hanging around with a founder or not. You’re more likely to get money out of them if you’re fun to drink beers with than if you have a great business plan.
From the article:
No fun allowed.
Actual headline: “One guy regrets moving to Austin.”
It is like a desperate journalist who sees one comment on Twitter and reports “People say ____”
This is just ridiculous. One guy doesn’t like Austin, so it’s a terrible place? As someone who has lived in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, and Texas, I can tell you I’ve liked Texas the best, and I much prefer Austin and Dallas to pretty much any other city I’ve been to.
Pay walled article.
Nothing for me. Maybe region-specific?
None for me either. They might be one of the sites that let you see a certain amount of articles before nagging you. Usually private browsing gets around that.
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I turned off my ad blocker and the paywall shows, turning it back on gives me the whole article so I guess blocking something on the page gets rid of the paywall.
Try this: archive.ph/Mxx54
I moved to Austin in 2000 and I’ve been a tech CEO in Austin since 2006 and VC since 2012. I’ve worked or done business in just about every tech hub in the US, so I have a fairly good perspective on Austin and how it compares to the rest of the nation. All I can say to that guy and many others that decided to come to Austin without any contacts, no idea of what they were doing, where to go, where to live, who to talk to, and with a huge superiority complex is – “Bye Felicia”.
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“Where ambition goes to die” has been an unofficial motto here in Austin for decades. We’re too busy enjoying our lives to be bothered overworking ourselves. Guys like this dude have been trying hard to ruin the vibe recently, and he’s welcome to return from whence he came so we can keep chiling
Lived there for a decade. Moved to NC this past July. Getting out of the state was the best thing I could have done.
Cool
It is, comparably. But still pretty hot.
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The majority of my friends leaving Austin have done so because of state politics. It’s hard to feel safe when you’re queer in Texas.
That’s exactly what those politics are there to do. Texas is not as deeply red as its reputation. Might suggest, and it has been experiencing an influx of people. They are afraid of losing the balance of power in the voters. They are actively trying to get blue voters to leave / not come. And they think gay voters will be liberals, plus hating gays makes their base feel good. This is the what and why of what’s happening. As a somewhat older LGBT person, I know what it’s like not to feel safe because that used to be virtually everywhere.
In terms of political strategy it’s remarkably short sighted. By preserving their supermajority in Texas and Florida, Republicans assure that they will win both states in the electoral college… Which is the base case. There’s no net improvement.
But to accomplish that, they’ve pissed off people who now have strong incentive to vote against Republicans and driven them away to other states – including swing states. Diehard Republicans from other states are increasingly moving to Texas and Florida however, which further reduces their voter base in swing states. A voter base that is getting smaller by the day due to aging vs their opponent’s base that’s getting larger by the day, and a base that had preventable deaths from COVID had they not believed in conspiracy theories.
They’re just shooting themselves in the foot to own tech workers and turn them against Republicans. This is one reason why I think Republicans couldn’t win in 2022, and only managed to barely take the House and lose a Senate seat. The factors are piling up against them, to the point that they have a mixed election result, when the economy was rough and inflation was high and Democrats had a trifecta.
Fingers crossed, I think the crows are finally coming home to roost.
it’s also really stupid considering the liberal cites are literally what MAKES Texas. There’s mass amounts of population in rural areas that just flat don’t vote. If everyone voted in TX it’s be blue as fuck.
Either way when the cities themselves lose all the workers that high paying jobs need the cities start to fall and the revenue for the state will follow.
Literal idiots that just think the oilfield will go on forever and nothing else will matter
Yeah I was in Houston for a couple of years, it isn’t a red state, it’s a non voting state. Republicans have convinced some people that Democrats are as bad as them so it isn’t worth voting.
Plus, gerrymandering. I was in Crenshaw’s district and dear God it was a creative shape.
No, actually the people in charge are rich enough that they don’t need those tech workers, or really anyone.
They’re pretty close to grabbing the brass ring, which is full government control through political violence. That will be the practical end of the democratic republic.
Liberals just don’t understand the end game here and they need to wake the fuck up.
People need to be aware of how close we are to the edge, I agree. I’m hopeful and hoping that the ballot box will be enough. It will weaken the Democratic Republic even further if a solution is taken outside of its framework.
That doesn’t mean of course that if it fails we shrug and say oh well. Weakened democracy is undesirable, but that’s still vastly preferable to letting fascism win.
Again, agreed overall though.
The governor and other state level politicians in Texas (in private) could not give a half fuck about federal election consequences. All they care about is state elections that keep them in power and milk those sweet benefits.
Yup. I know three separate people who basically got the fuck out the moment the abortion bill was passed.
I will never understand why anyone trusted Texas, how blind can you be
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