zlacker

I also grew up in metro Atlanta and studied at Georgia Tech and was about to post essentially the same comment. All of my friends interested in tech at GT went to the Bay Area as soon as they could once they graduated. The school itself attracts a lot of talent from all around the world, but very few people seem to stay in Atlanta once they graduate.

The city recently made a big push to attract talent in the entertainment and film industries, which appears to have worked pretty well. It would be nice to see them do something similar for tech. It's kind of sad that the state subsidized my education (and many others) but does not have the incentives in place to keep people once they graduate.

Also, the local salaries are a big part of the reason people leave. The low cost of living does not make a difference when you can save more per year in the Bay Area than an entirely yearly salary in Atlanta.

>>Xceler+(OP)
Between this and Microsoft's recent announcement of opening an Atlanta office, I think tech is the next sector the city wants to attract.

And as someone living in ATL and working at one of the few companies to offer competitive salaries for their tech positions, this is only upside in my eyes.

>>Xceler+(OP)
I've sometimes wondered about why GA Tech was an early adopter of online education (at least for comp sci, I don't know if it extended/extends to other programs).

I'm not saying there are any reasons they should not have been an early adopter... but Atlanta definitely has its charms, and allowing people to get a masters from a top-ten program while scarcely ever setting foot on campus seems like it could be a disservice to the state.

>>Xceler+(OP)
I was very surprised Amazon didn’t end up in Atlanta for their 2nd HQ.

>>bright+su1
Yeah same here. I think their DC location was smarter lobbiest wise and just shows Amazon is digging in for the long haul and saying politics are more important than tech workers.

>>bright+su1
The state politicians basically torpedoed that by making a big fuss about being anti-gay around that time. Hard to justify moving knowledge workers to Atlanta given a political climate openly hostile to X% of employees.