Tech Exodus

Good article in John Cook's VC Notebook column today on the migration of high-tech workers from Boston and the Bay Area to Seattle. He focuses heavily on the executive angle in the article, but I think the more serious and telling story is what's going on in the lower ranks.

Right now there is a crisis rapidly emerging in the Bay Area. Largely driven by the most expensive housing market in the nation, many established technology rank-and-filers are finding California simply too difficult to bear, despite its many virtues. Insane housing prices, high taxes, overall high cost of living, and terrible public schools are pushing many in our industry to look for good alternatives, and Seattle is at the top of their list.

If innovation and start-ups are the essence of Silicon Valley, then these workers are quite arguably the Valley's most precious resource. Start-ups in particular thrive on the energy and experience of people who have been around block enough times to know where the pitfalls lie and how to avoid them. These workers' wisdom allows companies, at a very real and day-to-day level, to rapidly get ideas to market by tempering just enough the youthful idealism and exuberance at the core of every start-up with the prudence of the possible. As much as VCs and executives get the press, seasoned workers are the lifeblood of the tech economy.

I am among those who have, heartbrokenly, left the Valley upon realizing that they cannot afford a regular life there. Reactions to my departure were mixed: some -- the wealthy, who had made their fortunes from start-ups -- seemed perplexed; others -- the believers -- suggested I suck it up, make it work, hold on for the payout. But many more understood where I was coming from, and where I was going to.

I found I was hardly alone in my decision. While I was finalizing my decision, I learned that three other colleagues at Danger had independently made the decision to move to Seattle as well, all within months of each other. (Three of us work remotely; the fourth moved on.) My wife and I were simply following friends who had moved a here a year before us. Now, in a small circle of friends, two more couples will be moving up within months.

California's loss will be Seattle's gain as much of the muscle of innovation migrates north. Capital, which is fluid, will follow the creative workers, who are not. No doubt the recruited executives will follow, too, as Seattle's start-up community grows in stature and as more money flows in (Washington already ranks third in the nation in terms of the number of deals; fifth in terms of dollars). And, ready to help out, a fresh crop of prime raw talent is produced yearly from the CS department of UW. The breeding ground of innovation is more fertile than ever here.

If trends continue, where will California be a decade? It's hard to say. The money will always be there, as will the young and eager. But by then, the majority of those with critical knowledge may have moved away. Perhaps the continued rise of remoting, coupled with the relatively short distance between Seattle and the Bay Area, will make this less of a concern. Regardless I anticipate more green in the Emerald City's future.

Comments

[LB]

Seattle RULES!