

In Microsoft's Shadow, Seattle's Tech Scene Surges - frankus
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/10/us-technology-seattle-idUSTRE7A96HF20111110

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tzs
When considering Seattle, also consider heading across Puget Sound. Here are
some nice points for putting a company in Kitsap County.

1\. Commuting from Seattle is easy, so employees who prefer to live in the
city can. (I lived in Seattle for several years while working in Poulsbo, and
the ferry ride was a wonderful time each day to catch up on my technical
reading--or my science fiction reading. Or go up and get breakfast at the
ferry's dining area and eat it and read the newspaper).

2\. Low traffic, much more affordable housing, less noise, so employees who
prefer those qualities for where they live can get them by living in Kitsap.
And Seattle is just a ferry ride away for when you want the things the city
offers.

Of course it is possible to live in Kitsap and commute to Seattle, but that
commute sucks because a _lot_ of people do it. If you want to travel anywhere
near morning or evening peak commute hours you can have long waits to get a
ferry, and deal with lots of traffic.

When you are going the other way, living in Seattle and commuting to Kitsap,
it is a breeze even if you are working 8 to 5. I used to arrive at the
terminal minutes before the boat was scheduled to leave and have no trouble
getting on.

~~~
MartinCron
One of the problems with the new emergent tech scene in South Lake Union is
that it's not really workable for on-foot ferry commuters the same way the
financial district is.

Yes, it's possible to walk from the ferry terminal to SLU, I know someone who
does, but it's quite the hike.

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lawnchair_larry
Who is in South Lake Union besides Amazon?

Edit: Ah, missed that in the article. Salesforce and Facebook offices now.

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sgk284
There are a couple dozen startups in the Founders Co-op space at Boren and
Republican (my startup included). The office is literally surrounded by
Amazon's new campus.

It's an awesome space if you're looking for high energy and brilliant people.
It also makes it easy to jump ship from Amazon if you want to join a startup
:)

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nod
This article only has a few of the biggest names. The real tech scene is
somewhat larger: <http://www.seattle20.com/startups.aspx>

And Fremont is one more unmentioned tech neighborhood: Tableau Software,
Ubermind, and Groundspeak wave hi from nextdoor to Impinj, Adobe, Google, and
others...

~~~
philco
We're in Fremont as well! Let's put a happy hour together next week at 9mm or
Revel

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philco
We just moved Meeteor.com to Seattle, and it's been an amazing community to be
a part of. Strong mix of design + developer talent, and the cost of living
(and cost of hiring) is about half of the Bay Area's....

Seed Round Heaven.

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cparedes
Seattle is crazy awesome for startups, but man, SLU has changed a lot since I
last worked there a couple of years ago at a research lab (and I think it
changed for the worse - way more expensive food, not much variety.)

Pioneer Square is very low key, has cheap eats, and has lots of startups.

~~~
steveis99
Zynga is coming to Pioneer Square as well...

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cparedes
Maybe they'll come in, then leave as soon as they're all settled in.

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pnathan
One thing that I wonder about is the tech scene in Seattle: is it very
Microsofty, or is open to things like Ruby, Linux, or Lisp?

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andywood
I've been here 6 years, and my observation has been that the startup culture
as a whole leans away from MS, if anything. Startups founded by ex-Microsoft
employees do seem to be more likely to use Microsoft tech, but certainly not
always. But remember that the wider tech scene here is much more than just
Microsoft. Amazon is a big force, and Google has a respectable presence too.
Also, mobile development is huge here now, and almost all of it is for iPhone
or Android.

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jamesbritt
There are some crazy smart Ruby people there. Makes me a bit envious.

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splicer
In the past 2 months, 3 of my friends have left Ontario to go work for large
tech companies in Seattle.

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epynonymous
my previous company was based in seattle, so i've taken several trips there,
in general it's a decent area, but i definitely prefer the bay area.

though i can understand for companies and employees of the state, the lack of
income tax and talent pool to be quite amazing.

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bokchoi
Shh, don't let the word get out. The traffic is already bad enough around
here.

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barista
This is bound to happen. Microsoft is an aging giant though it still has some
of the best minds in the industry.

One concern I always have hiring from such old guard companies is that the
people who have worked there for long, have skills too specific to the company
they come from. They need some time adjusting to different technologies and
development practices.

~~~
MartinCron
I've seen a handful of companies with employees who couldn't get the idea that
practices that are appropriate for Microsoft aren't appropriate for small
startups.

That said, I would take an ex-Microsoft over ex-Boeing or ex-Washington Mutual
anyday.

~~~
keithnoizu
I'm not entirely sold that the practices that are appropriate for microsoft
are even appropriate for microsoft.

Some orgs are pretty solid patterns and practices wise and some divisons are
like stepping back into the early 90s.

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earl
There's a quantcast alumnus building a mobile analytics company there --
<http://www.sewichi.com> . It looks fascinating, and if any of you are looking
for a cool young startup, it's probably worth a look. The founder, David, is a
stand up guy who really understands the analytics space.

