I recently read Paul Graham’s essay on Cities and Ambition. It was a timely read, as I’ve been party to so many discussions regarding where Austin’s tech community is, and where folks want it to be. People come to me at GeekAustin events saying “If we’d all get together, we could compete with Silicon Valley,” or “Austin could be really great if only we’d…..” All of these folks seem to believe that the Austin tech community needs to be sending some message, or whatever message we should be sending …. doesn’t seem to be getting through. I wonder if the message the Austin tech community sends too often is one of envy.
According to Graham, Boston/Cambridge sends the message that you should be smarter. Silicon Valley sends the message that you should be more powerful. Then Graham makes the distinction that: “Power matters in New York too of course, but New York is pretty impressed by a billion dollars even if you merely inherited it. In Silicon Valley no one would care except a few real estate agents. What matters in Silicon Valley is how much effect you have on the world. ” Of Berkeley, the city which Austin is most often compared to, Paul says that the message Berkeley sends is: “you should live better. Life in Berkeley is very civilized. It’s probably the place in America where someone from Northern Europe would feel most at home. But it’s not humming with ambition.“. I’m not sure about the civilized part, but not humming with ambition certainly sounds like 78704.
Hardly a week goes by that I don’t hear a friend say: “Should I stay in Austin? or move to the Valley.” For these friends, the question is simply “Do I go where things are already happening? Or do I try to make things happen here?” Graham believes that cities are, primarily, collections of people; and people who do great things tend to gather in groups in a few places where great things are already happening. For some, the answer is easy, follow the message and move. For those who don’t want to leave, you only need to look at what Cody Marx Bailey has done in Bryan/College Station for a compelling counterexample.
As many people as there are in the tech community saying that we need to band together and communicate with one voice, that together we can make Austin the Emerald City, there is a larger number who seem to believe Austin already approaches the Emerald City; and you only need to look at their bumper stickers to see what message they are trying to communicate: Keep Austin Weird.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Hmmmm,
I lived 14 years in San Francisco, then 2 in Seattle(which is the Emerald City btw) before coming to Austin. Which I’m very glad I did. Austin seems much more like Portland than Seattle to me.
I think the message that doesn’t get out enough is that Austin is not Texas. TX’s message is not appealing esp to (cultural) liberals and it overshadows Austin’s message. It took several people who had lived in Austin telling me it’s not Texas before I was persuaded to give it a try.
For me Austin’s message is less hype, less (fake) glitz, more community, more people sharing ideas as opposed to trying to sell you ideas.
Not that it appeals to me at all, Austin is also family friendly in ways that overpriced and overcrowded Bay Area and Seattle can never be.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
interesting thoughts! it makes me ponder a little about portland. watch my rss feed for a response.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Great piece and some key observations in here. Agreed that there seems to be two camps of thought here. I participated in the Emerald City conversation during InnovationCamp and, although it was very engaging and interesting, it also seemed that we were going in circles.
We did however all agree - to some extent - that “Keep Austin Weird” would be ideal; there is most certainly a struggle between continued/projected growth versus the want to remain niche and weird. How can you have a small city vibe with a big city population?
Also on board with your envy comment, but think that flows outside of the tech community as well. The UT system is notorious for its want to be just like the CA system.
There’s a great read on - URBAN DENSITY, CREATIVITY, AND INNOVATION - found at http://tinyurl.com/5dsanj
July 9th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
I moved to Austin two years ago. Here are the biggest draws for me. It may not be the Valley but the tech/startup scene is not bad - especially for a warm weather location. It’s very family friendly but still has a youthful vibe. It’s also a very healthy city - witness Nike choosing it for one of the few Human Race locations in the US. The music scene is cool, although I don’t participate in that much these days. The hippy/environmentalist/green factor adds character or weirdness or whatever you want to call it. It may not be the absolute top city in any of those categories, but it’s got a great combination that I think appeals to a lot of tech people.
July 13th, 2008 at 9:53 am
As someone who is currently feeling out the job market and making the career transition from Air Force grunt to full-time programmer, Austin appeals to me very much.
It has the small town feel to it that the bay area is sorely lacking but the people are just as smart. I can only see the tech scene in Austin improving as it is so much easier to meet, collaborate, and simply hang out with like-minded people in a laid back, big town with small town feel.
July 15th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Puckishly I might suggest that Austin’s answer to “You should ___________.” is “have another beer”.
I miss how easy it is to live in Austin. Comparatively, life is just less of a hassle there. No state and local income taxes, easy to commute from pretty much anywhere, enough retailers in any given market (e.g. Fry’s) that getting an item isn’t an “order and wait a week for delivery” experience, the tech scene is just big enough that finding a job in whatever niche isn’t too hard, and so on.
The only downside really is that salaries aren’t as competitive in Austin as they could be. I’m not sure why this is (a number of theories but nothing concrete, for example: “if there were more large technology employers, more activity in the startup sector, perhaps this would turn around; if all a private sector employer for skillset X has to do to attract talent is pay better than UT or the other state government organs, that’s a pretty low bar”), but I’d expect to make 10-15% less for the same job there as I’d be getting in Dallas or Houston. Further, those cities have cheaper rental environments, so net you’re probably talking a 15-20% cut.
Would I move back to Austin from NYC? In a heartbeat. This really is a town, as Graham said, that respects only wealth. Some billionaire real estate cipher might be getting to slap his name in the stone of the iconic public library branch, and what does Albert Einstein get? A medical college in the ass end of the Bronx.