Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'genuine crisis'

Re:Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'g... by prodigal_erik on Friday September 28, 2012 @01:44PM (#4586802)

Aren't there still a lot of devs in flyover country who complain about finding few positions? Or is the fact they chose not to relocate being weighed against them?

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Re:Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'g... by WiseWeasel on Friday September 28, 2012 @01:55PM (#4586878)

They can hardly be blamed for not wanting to go live in rainy Seattle, work under someone as uninspiring as Steve Ballmer, and put up with awful stack ranking BS.

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Re:Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'g... by pnathan on Friday September 28, 2012 @02:01PM (#4586913)

Seattle seems like a great place to live to me. I would jump at the chance to move there!

But MS might be a tougher sell. ;)

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Re:Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'g... by RyJones on Friday September 28, 2012 @02:11PM (#4586955)

Have Microsoft relocate you, wait a year for your relo payback contract to expire, quit.

Or you could find a position at the many Seattle-area employers willing to relocate you: Google, Adobe, Boeing, Valve, a whole grip of game companies. The world, as it were, is your oyster.

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Re:Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'g... by MartinCron on Friday September 28, 2012 @02:41PM (#4587118)

A few of my friends here in Seattle call Amazon the "travel agent for developers" because so many people relocate to Seattle to work for Amazon and leave immediately after they no longer have to pay back their moving expenses.

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Re:Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'g... by MartinCron on Friday September 28, 2012 @02:40PM (#4587112)

The stack ranking BS is (allegedly) a thing of the past, and the rain in Seattle is overblown. There are plenty of US cities that get more rain than Seattle.

I won't challenge your opinion about Steve Ballmer, though.

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Re:Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'g... by WiseWeasel on Friday September 28, 2012 @03:06PM (#4587242)

You made me curious, so here's a list of US cities with more average rainy/snowy days per year than Seattle[1]:

  223: Juneau, Alaska
  209: Mt. Washington, N.H.
  169: Buffalo, N.Y.
  163: Olympia, Wash.
  161: Caribou, Maine
  155 (tied, interestingly): Cleveland, Ohio
  155: Seattle-Tacoma, Wash.

At 37 inches of rain per year, it's not a particularly high volume of rain; it's just spread out over a lot of days. San Francisco is down at 63 rainy days and 20 inches per year, for comparison.

[1] http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762183.html

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Re:Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'g... by vonmoltke on Friday September 28, 2012 @03:32PM (#4587377)

155 (tied, interestingly): Cleveland, Ohio

Lake effect snow

Anyway, compare this to where I'm from (South Florida)[1]: Average rainy days - 135 Average rainfall - 62" - 64"

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami,_fl#Climate

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Re:Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'g... by WiseWeasel on Friday September 28, 2012 @03:46PM (#4587447)

Well, Microsoft would have to pay me a LOT to move to South Florida as well. : P

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Re:Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'g... by MartinCron on Friday September 28, 2012 @04:42PM (#4587694)

I don't consider that a fair assessment, as a snowy day is a very different thing from a rainy day. Seattle gets maybe a handful of snowy days a year, and never gets punishingly hot/humid like some cities do.

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Re:Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'g... by codeonfire on Friday September 28, 2012 @02:47PM (#4587153)

They don't have the money to move 2000 miles to a coast where they know no one and everything is 100% more expensive. Either that or they are not willing to live in a 500 sq ft apartment with no parking.

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Re:Microsoft: Shortage of tech workers in the US becoming 'g... by Torgo on Friday September 28, 2012 @02:39PM (#4587109)

Maybe Microsoft should open some offices in the Midwest.

I moved out of the Midwest because, while there was work, it was sparse, and frankly, not interesting. There are decent paying jobs but I found the ceiling was low compared to other places. I would have preferred to stay. I saw many excellent friends that have languished there because it's culturally unpleasant for many Midwesterners to move away from their families.

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