Quote: (07-16-2016 05:03 PM)Space Cowboy Wrote:
If Ukraine is an option, then SF doesn't need to be your only option in the US. Seattle, Washington DC, Austin, Dallas, Denver, Atlanta all have plenty of tech jobs.
THIS is very true. But why? EXAMPLES?
The DC area (mostly Northern VA), because of the huge growth of federal government and the companies sucking off Big Government's money.
The rest of those mentioned? Often because coastal California has such high cost of living - This is driving an already mobile industry, high tech world, to lower cost of living areas like Denver.
For example, Denver became a Russian immigration magnet during the Gorbachev years, leading to the founding of Interfax News Agency, providing an independent voice in 1989, from outside of Russia. Thus, when tanks rolled up to the White House in Moscow (Parliament building), the best news about the coup came through Denver.
Today, while Interfax is a much more international news operation, they still have an office in Aurora (immediately East of Denver).
While Denver is definitely leftist, the county to the South, Douglas County, is home to the wealthy, large, conservative, and family friendly Highlands Ranch community. (It's some 25 years old, 100,000 in population, and close to the Denver Tech Center,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_Tec...cal_Center)
A Russian immigrant web site explains that the expat population in Denver is very recent, very much Jewish, and concentrated in or near Glendale - a small but very libertarian outpost of a community, surrounded by the City of Denver, South by Southeast of downtown:
Quote:Quote:
[The] Majority of the former "Russians" here are Jewish, with disproportionately many of the earlier arrivals hailing from Bobruisk, Belarus, while many of the latecomers are Bukharian Jews.
The densest distribution of Russian-speakers in the Denver area, is probably still in Glendale and South East Denver, wedged between the Cherry Creek Mall, the Jewish Community Center, the newer and remodeled Russian Library and Club Valencia condominiums (popularly known as the Round House.) Squarely in the middle of it all is Oneida Square off Leetsdale, now commonly known as "The Russian Plaza", with most businesses owned and operated "by the Russians - for the Russians."
The early strongholds of the "Denver Russians" of the late 1970s and early 1980s in small Glendale apartment buildings on Fairfax St. and in the Jewish neighborhood on the West Side of town along Colfax Avenue, have since lost most of their Russian flavor, as many of their former inhabitants bought houses and moved to the newer, more luxurious and sometimes less expensive neighborhoods outside Denver city limits. In the process nearby Aurora and Littleton experienced large gains in the numbers of Jewish Russian Americans, while Arvada gained a large Seventh Day Adventist and Baptist Russian-speaking communities.
Most Russian-speakers that made this area their new home, did so for family reasons. And Denver is the perfect place to raise a family, while enjoying a more relaxed lifestyle than is possible in bigger cities along the US coasts.
Not surprisingly, most stay here because they truly enjoy the quality of life Denver area affords. With readily accessible mountains, lakes, rivers and open areas just minutes away, outdoors opportunities abound. For more information on the Greater Denver - Boulder area outdoor opportunities, points of interest and events, please take a look at this Official Site for Colorado Travel and Tourism.
To learn more about the local Russian-speaking community, please visit our forums, come back to visit us often, here in Russian Denver at http://www.russiandenver.com and then come visit us in person in the greater Denver / Boulder front range area.
Glendale is an interesting locality for its plucky independent-mindedness. For example, Chuck Bonniwell - the publisher of the Cherry Creek Chronicle (SEE
http://glendalecherrycreek.com/) - is a conservative lawyer with a weekly talk radio show.
Here is a talk from 2014 by the libertarian Mayor of Glendale, Mike Dunafon, seeking state office.
He starts off his talk by mentioning that he's been labeled the "Strip Club candidate" by the bigger media - something he doesn't mind, despite the fact that it is his girl friend of 20 years who owns the strip clubs in Glendale.
Like I say, Glendale is colorful - and different.
But back to the point - there are a variety of reasons to look past Silicon Valley. In 1992, Quark founder in Denver Tim Gill sold his take for a half-billion. Railroad billionaire Phil Anshutz moved here, going into telecoms (and supporting conservative political causes), and spawned Level 3 Communications. Sun Microsystems founder Scott Neely moved here, too. And Liberty Media's billionaire John Malone, a big funder of prominent Washington, DC, libertarian think tanks like CEI and Cato Institute, should not go unmentioned.
The result was a growing base of large and visible hi-tech firms in Colorado, with a gaggle of *spin-offs, much like how Silicon Valley and Redmond WA got going as tech hubs. For example, a buddy of mine applied to a tech-writing startup firm in SF, only to discover that they were moving their base to Denver because of the lower cost of living. (SEE list of smaller companies here
https://www.quora.com/What-companies-in-...ing-talent)
Add to this, the fact that Denver's airport is the newest in the nation, not far from the center of the continent - and thus makes all three coasts reachable in 2 to 3 hours), and offers among the lowest costs of air-travel in the US.
Consequently, only a few years later, the three hottest markets for housing price increases today is (1) Seattle, (2) Portland, (3) Denver. And only a few years ago, the state of Colorado was fourth fastest growing in population - now it is number two, according to the US Census Bureau.
So, outdoor recreation (the nearby mountains are 30 to 60 minutes away), ease of distance travel, with lower cost living - and despite a few weeks of snow in winter, Denver is more sunny than Miami of SanDiego - and you have ingredients for a youthful, thriving, friendly and successful place!
At any rate,
donn, perhaps my outline of Colorado hi-tech opportunities and growth and ethnic appeal will give you a template with which to compare other regions in the US, in drawing up your list of places to relocate and ground your career's future.
One final consideration. Personally, I don't find the local female talent to be feminine enough - but Colorado always makes number 1 or two in thinnest or most physically active in the US (after Hawaii or Utah, for example). Women are quite fit and athletic here!
-Orson
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*But the hi-tech roots of today's Colorado are really decades older: IBM built a big plant in Boulder in the 1960s, and HP still has substantial and growing presence in Colorado Springs an hour South of Denver, and 90 minutes North in Fort Collins.
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