17 Nov, 2008
Talent Availability Part 2 – San Francisco, New York, Seattle and other US cities
Posted by Bhavin Turakhia
I have been spending a ton of my time in researching talent acquisition for Directi. As a follow-up to my previous post on a comparison of Availability of Developers in various cities in India (Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi etc) – I have spent the last several weeks in performing comparative analysis of various tech hubs in the United States with respect to available talent. I have conducted empirical study on various jobsites, read several reports, and spoken to many individuals who kindly volunteered their time to answer my tirade of questions 
Miscellaneous conclusions from my conversations
- Based on conversations with various individuals that I connected with, I can conclude that there is no better place than the Valley for recruiting tech talent
- New York’s tech talent largely comprises of developers in the financial sector. Most of the Web 2.0 development is taking place in the Bay Area
- This is a really good time to be thinking of starting up in the US, given the economic crisis talent availability is at an all time high
- Cost-wise the Bay Area and NYC are similar in terms of salaries. Housing costs in the Bay Area have reduced more than that in NYC in the current environment, which may further drive down compensation costs in the Bay Area
- New York compensation models are at times different from those in the Bay Area, since the financial sector compensation packages typically comprise of hefty bonuses, while the tech sector doles out equity.
- Seattle is 20-30% cheaper than the Bay Area in terms of salaries. Seattle is a good bet for recruiting for Microsoft technologies, given their dominant presence there.
- Median salary figures for developers range between 75-85 for freshers, 90-120 for experienced developers and 120-160 for leads. This is trending downwards to a certain extent in the current environment
- Chief sources of recruiting talent are Craig’s List, LinkedIn, other job boards, recruiters and networking / referrals
- Bay Area Tech community is significantly more vibrant in terms of events, activities etc in comparison to any other destination in the US
- Obviously it goes without saying that the competition for talent in the Bay Area is significantly higher than other cities
- Other tier-2 cities that happen to be tech hubs are Dallas, Austin, Chicago
- .. and yea … more people seem to think that New York is more fun than the Bay Area
Empirical Data from Jobsites
| City (10 mile radius from zip) | Java (3m) | C# (3m) | C++ (3m) |
| San Francisco (94110) | 223 | 72 | 176 |
| SFO Bay Area (94041) | 795 | 181 | 678 |
| Dallas (75205) | 240 | 83 | 191 |
| Chicago (60612) | 368 | 121 | 331 |
| Los Angeles (90210) | 274 | 93 | 209 |
| Austin (78701) | 137 | 42 | 119 |
| Boston (02114) | 353 | 103 | 286 |
| New York (10028) (5 miles) | 448 | 154 | 346 |
| New York (10028) | 1000 | 521 | 1000 |
The above data was gathered from US websites using the methodology described in my previous post on a comparison of Availability of Developers in various cities in India. The above data shows the following -
- SFO Bay Area has 3x the talent availability pool of San Francisco proper
- In New York I had to modify the search parameters to a 5 mile radius as opposed to a 10 mile radius due to the concentration of businesses in Manhattan
- By sheer numbers the New York area (using a 10 mile radius from Central Manhattan) has more software developers looking out for a job, than San Francisco
- The Bay Area has almost twice the talent pool in terms of availability as compared to other cities
Notes:
- The above data was gathered by searching job boards for number of candidates who were out there looking for a job in the last 3 months
- This methodology can provide a fair indication of general talent availability, but is not conclusive. For instance, it is possible that job-seekers are simply more active in the Bay Area than in other cities resulting in a larger number despite similar talent availability. While these type of error conditions may average out – the above data should be used in an indicative manner only.
Other Resources
- AeA publishes very detailed reports on distribution of tech talent in the United States, by state and cities. You can obtain them at the below links. They cost $250 each, and provide some interesting perspectives -
AeA CyberStates Report 2008
AeA Cybercities Report 2008 - For instance an interesting factoid I figured from the above reports was that 1 out of every 4 persons employed in the Bay Area is employed in the tech industry
- Another helpful website is http://topuniversities.com – which provides a rating and ranking of universities worldwide. As expected United States features on the top of the list. I will be providing a separate analysis on my findings with respect to a comparison of universities worldwide.
will there be a part 3 Europe?
“Not in the near term
…”
Hi Bhavin
I came across your blog and am inspired by your success story as an web entrepreneur in India and the kind of effort you have taken to hire the right talent. I am an MBA from IIM Lucknow and currently work at rediff.I am just wondering that would there be opportunities at directi for someone like me
Interesting research!
The median salary figures seem to be rather high (assuming it’s in $k per year), e.g. compare to this http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/print.php/3666651
cheers, Michael