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Well, this is depressing


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http://realtynewsreport.com/2019/07/23/texas-tech-cbre-report-says-houston-trails-austin-and-dallas-in-tech-workforce/

 

I guess we're doing the smartest thing we can with the Ion development. I think the deeper issue is our old image/quality of life problem. We're doing most of the right things we need to do, but it will take time for impressions to change. I also think the tech industry is due for a bubble bursting; the hype has been unreal in recent years as evidenced by insane predictions that by 2020, half of us would be riding around in cars piloted by computers (. But even if there is another correction like the dot-com bust of 2001, the tech industry could still very well be where the industrial revolution was around 1895, well into its adolescence but still with about another 80 years of expansion to go. If that is the case, Houston has its work cut out.

 

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Houston just doesn't have the sort of businesses that need a lot of public-facing webapps.  I'm in this sector and had to move to Dallas (dfw-based firms with need for large tech workforces: Southwest, Pizzahut, 7/11, Citi, Fidelity, ATT, American Airlines, etc.) to find a job, i managed to find a weird job to bring me back to Houston, but i've now been applying for 8 months to other jobs in Houston, and unless its b2b/internal facing O&G dataviz, it just doesn't really exist here, i think Discover/Pulse is the only large non-OG company with a webdev department here.    

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19 minutes ago, crock said:

Houston just doesn't have the sort of businesses that need a lot of public-facing webapps.  I'm in this sector and had to move to Dallas (dfw-based firms with need for large tech workforces: Southwest, Pizzahut, 7/11, Citi, Fidelity, ATT, American Airlines, etc.) to find a job, i managed to find a weird job to bring me back to Houston, but i've now been applying for 8 months to other jobs in Houston, and unless its b2b/internal facing O&G dataviz, it just doesn't really exist here, i think Discover/Pulse is the only large non-OG company with a webdev department here.    

 

Thanks. So you are saying this is largely driven by other industries and their needs. Sounds like it partially may relate to the old Dallas does retail/Houston does wholesale dichotomy.

 

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44 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

Thanks. So you are saying this is largely driven by other industries and their needs. Sounds like it partially may relate to the old Dallas does retail/Houston does wholesale dichotomy.

 

 

This is pretty correct. While Dallas is a powerhouse when it comes to things like services, we own the logistics industry. I think our startups / tech are just going to be different. It seems to be happening naturally too. Most are tied to logistics, aerospace, medical, and energy which are the biggest industries in our city. The people that say we lag behind are simply comparing apples to oranges. Yeah we certainly don't have the breath of tech like the West Coast or Dallas and Austin, but its growing and in its own way that is unique to Houston. Its why I like the idea of the Ion so much. Its very Houston, and of its own mold. We've also had discussions between yourself and I about the possible upcoming breakups of the large mega corporations in tech and that will have a significant affect on the landscape. Once they get broken up they won't be able to all centralize in one location (or be able to afford it for that matter), and will look cities like Houston like they are looking to Denver, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, etc... to be new homes where the costs are significantly lower. I would be surprised if we see a completely different tech landscape post-bubble in just 5-10 years time.

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10 minutes ago, Luminare said:

 

This is pretty correct. While Dallas is a powerhouse when it comes to things like services, we own the logistics industry. I think our startups / tech are just going to be different. It seems to be happening naturally too. Most are tied to logistics, aerospace, medical, and energy which are the biggest industries in our city. The people that say we lag behind are simply comparing apples to oranges. Yeah we certainly don't have the breath of tech like the West Coast or Dallas and Austin, but its growing and in its own way that is unique to Houston. Its why I like the idea of the Ion so much. Its very Houston, and of its own mold. We've also had discussions between yourself and I about the possible upcoming breakups of the large mega corporations in tech and that will have a significant affect on the landscape. Once they get broken up they won't be able to all centralize in one location (or be able to afford it for that matter), and will look cities like Houston like they are looking to Denver, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, etc... to be new homes where the costs are significantly lower. I would be surprised if we see a completely different tech landscape post-bubble in just 5-10 years time.

 

Not sure what you mean by "logistics"; Dallas certainly has more industrial distribution logistics than we do. They also have more aerospace. To your future predictions, we'll see; we don't seem to be on tech's radar.

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Always wondered why Houston is not considered more of a tech city. I believe Houston is one, it's just not a "sexy" one. Energy, international trade/logistics, health services, aerospace and even construction need and are hiring tech workers. It's just not Amazon or Google doing it. If Houston is going to be a true tech city though, then it is going to have to investment much more in its infrastructure and most importantly in higher education. Cities like Austin, Dallas, Boston, and the Bay Area have high levels of research and development coming from their colleges and universities. DFW has a pretty high concentration of research and top trier universities that Houston does not currently have. Outside of the health sciences, Houston needs to improve its higher education offerings.

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8 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

Not sure what you mean by "logistics"; Dallas certainly has more industrial distribution logistics than we do. They also have more aerospace. To your future predictions, we'll see; we don't seem to be on tech's radar.

It has to do more with B2B. Even the Maritime industry is looking at tech (all of our interns are), and the logistics we do might not be amazon on scale, our oil major customers are.

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  • 1 month later...

no matter, DFW is absolutely smoking Houston in terms of corporate relocations and national appeal. austin as well. there have been next to zero major corporate relocations to the houston area the last several years and it's even scarcer if you exclude o&g. 

 

Houston has a lot going for it, but it competes non-stop w DFW and Austin and we lose out nearly 100% of the time. most times, Houston doesn't even get a seat at the table, it's just DFW and Austin. The corporate landscape is changing and Houston is getting left in the dust. This is a huge problem moving forward - o&g is shrinking and will continue to do so as more attrition occurs in the industry and related companies do more w less people. our only saving grace, potentially, is TMC. the city needs to be investing significant time and money into attracting healthcare, medical and related companies, bc we will never compete w the tech/creative scene in austin and the consumer, professional services, tech etc. etc. of DFW.

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6 hours ago, swtsig said:

no matter, DFW is absolutely smoking Houston in terms of corporate relocations and national appeal. austin as well. there have been next to zero major corporate relocations to the houston area the last several years and it's even scarcer if you exclude o&g. 

 

Houston has a lot going for it, but it competes non-stop w DFW and Austin and we lose out nearly 100% of the time. most times, Houston doesn't even get a seat at the table, it's just DFW and Austin. The corporate landscape is changing and Houston is getting left in the dust. This is a huge problem moving forward - o&g is shrinking and will continue to do so as more attrition occurs in the industry and related companies do more w less people. our only saving grace, potentially, is TMC. the city needs to be investing significant time and money into attracting healthcare, medical and related companies, bc we will never compete w the tech/creative scene in austin and the consumer, professional services, tech etc. etc. of DFW.

 

Seems to me we have to cut through the marketing glitz of some of these corporate relocations to DFW.   The McLaren move announced today is bringing all of 24 jobs.  The Uber decision to put 3,000 jobs in Dallas sounds like a big tech play but if the jobs are back office finance jobs (and inside sales) is it really “tech?”  With Uber’s current financial difficulties some question whether those jobs will ever materialize.  The only relo to DFW that annoyed me was McKesson because with the TMC I wondered if Houston wouldn’t have been a better fit.

 

True to form Houston will thrive on innovation.  Other than O&G companies I can’t think of any major corporate relocations to Houston, and yet the Houston economy does quite well.  I tend to agree that Biomedical seems to be an opportunity.

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On 9/12/2019 at 4:57 PM, swtsig said:

no matter, DFW is absolutely smoking Houston in terms of corporate relocations and national appeal. austin as well. there have been next to zero major corporate relocations to the houston area the last several years and it's even scarcer if you exclude o&g. 

 

Houston has a lot going for it, but it competes non-stop w DFW and Austin and we lose out nearly 100% of the time. most times, Houston doesn't even get a seat at the table, it's just DFW and Austin. The corporate landscape is changing and Houston is getting left in the dust. This is a huge problem moving forward - o&g is shrinking and will continue to do so as more attrition occurs in the industry and related companies do more w less people. our only saving grace, potentially, is TMC. the city needs to be investing significant time and money into attracting healthcare, medical and related companies, bc we will never compete w the tech/creative scene in austin and the consumer, professional services, tech etc. etc. of DFW.

 

I think we need to take meaningful, visible steps on flood control before we can expect companies to consider us. Like a new reservoir or something. Aside from that, I think our best hope longterm is to outdensify and outbuild Austin and Dallas, and bill ourselves as the only truly urban city in Texas. Dallas has used its zoning to its advantage with its clean-cut look; this is how we use our lack of zoning to our advantage.

 

And we have to hope that tastes will change. There are already a lot of people who prefer our grittiness to their slick contrived look. We just need these people to tip the scales. 

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