Nice effort, I guess? But really this is just seems like a bad gimmick to me. As someone who lives nearby, Eastern TN as a whole strikes me as a horrible place for hackers or startups. The majority of local talent seems generally disinterested in moving to any languages or tools beyond those of the average enterprise (java, .net), or anything built/polished in the last 5 years. Generally your choices are making a decent salary working in healthcare with .NET/Java, or making <30k salaries with open source, which generally doesn't go much further than CMS modifications, or working for a CTO that thinks php frameworks are fadish and don't really work in most situations (so he rolled his own).
I don't think I need to add a disclaimer that this is non-objective and entirely related to my personal experiences in Chattanooga. It's bad enough that after job hunting in the area, I decided to go entirely freelance. And even there, I won't even talk to local companies. I've already wasted enough time hunting local clients only to realize nary a one of them expects to pay > $20/hr.
"moving to where you can get faster Internet service"... "GigCity"...
This is clearly bait. Pretending this gigabit internet service is available or practical for a startup, much less personal use, is either dishonest or ignorant of the actual situation in Chattanooga.
"This is clearly bait. Pretending this gigabit internet service is available or practical for a startup, much less personal use, is either dishonest or ignorant of the actual situation in Chattanooga."
What are you talking about? I do believe you are the one ignorant of the actual situation in Chattanooga. Gigabit internet service IS available to startups. Hell, its available to residential customers.
I've got the 30Mbps package at home, and it is a true 30meg up and down. They laid fiber all over the city, and it is 100x better than any other internet services I've ever had(I don't think my internet has been down one time since I moved to Chattanooga).
"Generally your choices are making a decent salary working in healthcare with .NET/Java, or making <30k salaries with open source, which generally doesn't go much further than CMS modifications, or working for a CTO that thinks php frameworks are fadish and don't really work in most situations (so he rolled his own)."
I'm making ~50k working for a startup, using ruby, nodejs, mongo, redis...all kinds of open source. And we're hiring.
"And even there, I won't even talk to local companies. I've already wasted enough time hunting local clients only to realize nary a one of them expects to pay > $20/hr."
Not gonna argue with this one :)
I think you are a bit behind the times as to whats going on in Chattanooga.
349.99/mo for residential gigabit service.
As for businesses, I couldn't get listings for that, but per my original information, that is also cost prohibitive.
Their "30" plan (I'm guessing that means 30mbps) is just as expensive as my much faster cable offerings from comcast.
I stand by my original statement.
I won't argue with you that your salary in any way disputes the average open source salaries in that area and their general absurdity.
Curious, do you get the actual speeds that comcast tells you you're buying? EPB Chattanooga was the first ISP I had that actually gives me what I pay for..
Comcast's plans aren't synchronous though. Their 30Mbps package ("Blast!") runs $72.95/mo, but that's using "PowerBoost" which means it's not 30Mbps and only has an upload rate of ~4Mbps.
The 30Mpbs up and down package in Nashville costs $57.99. It's a deal. All their packages are, 100Mbps up and down for $139.99 is great. FiOS's fastest package is 150/35 and runs $199.99/month.
Update: You also save with packages. It's actually cheaper to get the phone service (1Gbps drops from $349.99 to $317.99) and the TV isn't much more.
> As someone who lives nearby, Eastern TN as a whole strikes me as a horrible place for hackers or startups. The majority of local talent seems generally disinterested in moving to any languages or tools beyond those of the average enterprise (java, .net), or anything built/polished in the last 5 years.
Presumably these people are trying to change that. If Eastern TN sucks for hackers, and I have no reason to doubt you -- then it seems gratitude is called for rather than derision.
My coworker from Chattanooga assures me that nobody would want to live in those neighborhoods, and that he is sending the list to friends and family to laugh about.
I got curious and looked at a Google Map of the place. It seemed that the neighborhoods mentioned covered a majority of the older urban neighborhoods close to downtown.
Perhaps they are indeed all hellholes. If so, I'm very glad I don't live anywhere in Chattanooga. I have never been there, and perhaps it would be idiotic for anyone to take them up on their offer.
But I admire them for trying. I'd like to see more American cities succeed in reviving their urban cores. In so many places in America you have to be a half-hour commute from downtown to live in a safe neighborhood with good schools... and that's just sad.
Okay, counter-anecdote. I grew up in Chattanooga. Those neighborhoods range between fine and quite nice.
Most people in Chattanooga live in the burbs, so I feel like there may be skewed perspectives as to what counts as a nice place to live. Downtown can be quite nice by urban standards.
While it might not be the best place for technology in the universe, it's a very nice place to live, and I'm glad that they are incentivizing tech and making the most of their internet infrastructure. It does seem a bit gimmicky overall but the incentives might tilt it to being the best option for some talented people. Who knows.
TN could probably be a reasonable startup hub with some work (like this). I don't know as much about Chattanooga vs. eastern TN in general.
No state income tax is kind of a draw -- not a huge factor for the startup employees themselves, but it would be a reasonable place for retired people with some income who could be investors, or for consultants or other people with high current incomes (who might work on startups on the side). I really don't understand why people who travel 80+% of the time don't base themselves in a low-tax state.
I happen to really like the environment, outdoor activities, gun laws, etc. in the state. It's not going to appeal to everyone, and especially not to a lot of startup people, but all they need to do is be really attractive to a specific niche. If 1% of startup people love it, it might be better than 10-20% of startup people just finding it ok. (Conversely, I'd never live in Chicago, but a lot of other people seem to like it).
FedEx having a hub in-state is great, although crime in Memphis is bad enough that I'd caution against living there. Maybe it depends a lot on the neighborhood. Chattanooga is pretty far away, though.
It's close enough to the East Coast to be a reasonable outsourcing/back office location. Proximity to Huntsville, AL is a huge plus -- great educated workforce, etc.
I find the particulars of this program offensive and insulting.
"Tag a geek", "geek hunt", "geek move". Geeks are circus performers that bite the heads off chickens. Obviously it doesn't mean talented engineers.
No relocation paid is a sad joke that no one competent would accept. But $1250 relocation expenses is just plain insulting. That won't even pay for gas and a U-Haul in most cases, never mind proper moving. Forgiving $10k of a mortgage but only if you stay 5 years and move to a neighborhood they specify? Absurd.
I'm sure they will attract plenty of naive college graduates that weren't able to get proper job offers in desirable locations.
I know about Chattanooga. It's very fundamentalist and people there are not very bright. It's not a desirable place for an engineer to live.
As a Chattanooga resident and developer (I work for Rackspace), this has irritated me since I've heard of it.
I couldn't imagine someone doing a yuppie hunt or a gay hunt... Very embarrassing for our beautiful city for a few unqualified companies and people to represent us this way.
Apologies to all my fellow developers... Don't move here for a job or the internet, neither offerings are as great as advertised.
18 comments
[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 48.6 ms ] threadI don't think I need to add a disclaimer that this is non-objective and entirely related to my personal experiences in Chattanooga. It's bad enough that after job hunting in the area, I decided to go entirely freelance. And even there, I won't even talk to local companies. I've already wasted enough time hunting local clients only to realize nary a one of them expects to pay > $20/hr.
"moving to where you can get faster Internet service"... "GigCity"...
This is clearly bait. Pretending this gigabit internet service is available or practical for a startup, much less personal use, is either dishonest or ignorant of the actual situation in Chattanooga.
What are you talking about? I do believe you are the one ignorant of the actual situation in Chattanooga. Gigabit internet service IS available to startups. Hell, its available to residential customers.
https://epbfi.com/enroll/packages/#/fi-speed-internet-1000
I've got the 30Mbps package at home, and it is a true 30meg up and down. They laid fiber all over the city, and it is 100x better than any other internet services I've ever had(I don't think my internet has been down one time since I moved to Chattanooga).
"Generally your choices are making a decent salary working in healthcare with .NET/Java, or making <30k salaries with open source, which generally doesn't go much further than CMS modifications, or working for a CTO that thinks php frameworks are fadish and don't really work in most situations (so he rolled his own)."
I'm making ~50k working for a startup, using ruby, nodejs, mongo, redis...all kinds of open source. And we're hiring.
"And even there, I won't even talk to local companies. I've already wasted enough time hunting local clients only to realize nary a one of them expects to pay > $20/hr."
Not gonna argue with this one :)
I think you are a bit behind the times as to whats going on in Chattanooga.
Their "30" plan (I'm guessing that means 30mbps) is just as expensive as my much faster cable offerings from comcast.
I stand by my original statement.
I won't argue with you that your salary in any way disputes the average open source salaries in that area and their general absurdity.
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/14520 http://www.dslreports.com/faq/15643
The 30Mpbs up and down package in Nashville costs $57.99. It's a deal. All their packages are, 100Mbps up and down for $139.99 is great. FiOS's fastest package is 150/35 and runs $199.99/month.
Update: You also save with packages. It's actually cheaper to get the phone service (1Gbps drops from $349.99 to $317.99) and the TV isn't much more.
Presumably these people are trying to change that. If Eastern TN sucks for hackers, and I have no reason to doubt you -- then it seems gratitude is called for rather than derision.
Perhaps they are indeed all hellholes. If so, I'm very glad I don't live anywhere in Chattanooga. I have never been there, and perhaps it would be idiotic for anyone to take them up on their offer.
But I admire them for trying. I'd like to see more American cities succeed in reviving their urban cores. In so many places in America you have to be a half-hour commute from downtown to live in a safe neighborhood with good schools... and that's just sad.
Most people in Chattanooga live in the burbs, so I feel like there may be skewed perspectives as to what counts as a nice place to live. Downtown can be quite nice by urban standards.
While it might not be the best place for technology in the universe, it's a very nice place to live, and I'm glad that they are incentivizing tech and making the most of their internet infrastructure. It does seem a bit gimmicky overall but the incentives might tilt it to being the best option for some talented people. Who knows.
No state income tax is kind of a draw -- not a huge factor for the startup employees themselves, but it would be a reasonable place for retired people with some income who could be investors, or for consultants or other people with high current incomes (who might work on startups on the side). I really don't understand why people who travel 80+% of the time don't base themselves in a low-tax state.
I happen to really like the environment, outdoor activities, gun laws, etc. in the state. It's not going to appeal to everyone, and especially not to a lot of startup people, but all they need to do is be really attractive to a specific niche. If 1% of startup people love it, it might be better than 10-20% of startup people just finding it ok. (Conversely, I'd never live in Chicago, but a lot of other people seem to like it).
FedEx having a hub in-state is great, although crime in Memphis is bad enough that I'd caution against living there. Maybe it depends a lot on the neighborhood. Chattanooga is pretty far away, though.
It's close enough to the East Coast to be a reasonable outsourcing/back office location. Proximity to Huntsville, AL is a huge plus -- great educated workforce, etc.
"Tag a geek", "geek hunt", "geek move". Geeks are circus performers that bite the heads off chickens. Obviously it doesn't mean talented engineers.
No relocation paid is a sad joke that no one competent would accept. But $1250 relocation expenses is just plain insulting. That won't even pay for gas and a U-Haul in most cases, never mind proper moving. Forgiving $10k of a mortgage but only if you stay 5 years and move to a neighborhood they specify? Absurd.
I'm sure they will attract plenty of naive college graduates that weren't able to get proper job offers in desirable locations.
I know about Chattanooga. It's very fundamentalist and people there are not very bright. It's not a desirable place for an engineer to live.
Someday.
I couldn't imagine someone doing a yuppie hunt or a gay hunt... Very embarrassing for our beautiful city for a few unqualified companies and people to represent us this way.
Apologies to all my fellow developers... Don't move here for a job or the internet, neither offerings are as great as advertised.