Ask HN: Geographic job market poll (May 17, 2013) | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Geographic job market poll (May 17, 2013)

6 pointsmichaelochurch1 comment

I'm trying to gather some data, which I think would be useful for a lot of people to have in the open, on trends in top-tier technology. Please, if you will, state:

1. Your city or location (e.g. New York, Bay Area, Austin, London, etc.)

2. Whether you perceive salaries as increasing, steady, or decreasing over the past 12 months.

3. Observed trends in job quality (i.e. is there more interesting work now than before) over the past 12 months.

4. Perceived trends in job availability over the past 12 months. Is it getting harder or easier to find good jobs?

5. Perceived 12-month trends in ability to raise investment.

6. Anything else you find interesting in your geographic location that you'd like other HN readers to know about.

7. How your region compares to other places in which you've lived (if applicable).

(If you have real data, that's obviously better than perception; but aggregate perception already has a lot of value.)

It wouldn't be fair if I didn't do this.

1. Your city or location (e.g. New York, Bay Area, Austin, London, etc.)

New York, NY.

2. Whether you perceive salaries as increasing, steady, or decreasing over the past 12 months.

Seems steady, possibly a slow downward curve but that's largely with the upper end coming down (finance quants dropping from "trader bucks" to software engineer +50%). Software engineer compensation seems to be holding flat.

3. Observed trends in job quality (i.e. is there more interesting work now than before) over the past 12 months.

Dismal but steady. There's a lot of talk about "data science" but few actual ML jobs even now.

4. Perceived trends in job availability over the past 12 months. Is it getting harder or easier to find and get jobs?

Seems to be getting slightly harder, but firms are still hiring. It doesn't feel like 2008, so that's good.

Some NYC companies are moving toward the prima donna stuff (3 phone screens + NDAs + full-day code tests before you even get on-site) and that's mildly annoying.

5. Perceived 12-month trends in ability to raise investment.

Seems harder ("series A crunch") but I'm not personally on that front of the war.

6. Anything else you find interesting in your geographic location that you'd like other HN readers to know about.

N/A. Still expensive. Great place to live except rent kills your savings. Nothing you haven't heard a million times before about this place.

7. How your region compares to other places in which you've lived (if applicable).

I spent a year in Madison, which I liked a lot, but I doubt anyone could raise money out there. That's my only comparable.

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