Dallas guy here, also a very senior SW engineer. My last two hires were about 5 months or so ago, but high availability? hah! I can't necessarily speak for the demand, other than it must be high, because it is hard to find available devs. Also from working with recruiters in the past couple of years, good candidates are snatched up very fast. If you have good experience (and are not a contractor that jumps companies every 3 months), you should find a position within two weeks in Dallas.

As far as Austin, no. Only reason people go to Austin is more a lifestyle choice. More people come from Austin to Dallas simply because the number of available jobs. Last time I checked, Dallas has around twice as many developers as Austin as well.

Right now, people in Texas cities other than Austin are staying away too. Austin's infrastructure has not kept up with the growth and it is nuts. Dallas and Houston have done a much better job when planning ahead for the growth of the entire job market, whereas Austin took somewhat of a Boulder, Co stance and decided they really don't need to work on infrastructure to aid growing the population. That's a whole other story though.

> Austin's infrastructure has not kept up with the growth and it is nuts. Dallas and Houston have done a much better job when planning ahead for the growth of the entire job market, whereas Austin took somewhat of a Boulder, Co stance and decided they really don't need to work on infrastructure to aid growing the population. That's a whole other story though.

That's sadly very true but its not from a lack of trying. The city tried a couple of years ago to float a light rail proposal that was put up to a vote but shot down by citizens. Most of the infrastructure is still very road-focused. Although I'm hoping that the many downtown approach will easy the traffic somewhat (Domain, Mueller etc.)

Thought traffic on I-35 was pretty bad in the 90's when I lived in Austin and as bad as the worst parts of Houston, imagine it's much worse now.

Yeah its basically a parking lot at daytime during most of the week. Mopac is a lot better, I'm guessing because it has less truck traffic. I consider myself very lucky though since with a developer salary I can choose to live wherever I want and have flexible hours to avoid the worst parts.

Upvoted but want to thank you specifically for such great insider info. Much appreciated.

> Does the Dallas story (low demand for devs, high availability of devs) line up with the experience of those here familiar with the market? Based on just looking at job postings, it didn't seem like there was a lack of demand for devs in that area, but I know that postings don't necessarily equate to high demand.

That was my experience when I ejected 18 months ago. Yes, there are a lot of postings. There are also a lot of shitty or picky companies.

> Also if that's true, do alot of the Dallas devs in need of work go to Austin? Or is that not done for some reason?

Not sure. I tried, but I could hardly get interviews down there, either.

Speaking purely from anecdotal evidence: Dallas certainly does have a lot of good jobs, but its not a liberal enclave like Austin. In some ways its more representative of Texas than Austin, which is definitely more like SF (except maybe the rents, which are definitely far more reasonable).

But Dallas has its own charms for sure. You can get really huge houses close to work for pretty cheap, the school systems are pretty great. The big Software firms (Google, Apple, Facebook etc.) are all moving to Austin though.

Dallas as a whole is for sure not a liberal enclave like Austin, however, the downtown/uptown/deep ellum bubbles of Dallas most certainly are. If you are coming from SF/CA, Colorado, Austin even, and you are in that part of Dallas, you will feel at home. The "Texas" stereotypes you have for sure heard about are pretty absent here.

For affordable housing, you can definitely get it, but if you want something close to downtown/uptown, it's a good step up. Also, the housing market here is ridiculous, one of the fastest growing markets in the nation. You will be paying above ask in a bidding war for anything you find. And you better be ready to put your money down, no contingency, sometimes before you get to even walk in the front door to see the house. It's that insane.

Which city sounds better for raising a family ?

I’ve lived in Texas my entire life. Austin is better for raising a family than Dallas.

If you considered the suburbs of Dallas though, I'd say they are about the same. Frisco, Plano, McKinney, etc.

Interested in hearing the answer to this since I've had several companies from Dallas reaching out to me (I'm in Houston). I'm considering the relo but I'd prefer to not be moving again in a few years