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Growth in Boston tech jobs slows

Xconomy reports Boston (and New York) saw its weakest quarterly increase in tech jobs in five years in the last quarter of 2016.

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The high tech workers are all getting ready for the forthcoming wave of manufacturing jobs we've been promised. Who wouldn't want to work in a factory?

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Regular hours instead of being on-call 24/7? It does have its appeal.

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We're waiting for those coal jobs that we were promised that are coming back. #cleancoal

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Think of all the jobs in the medical field that are created by treating little kids who have asthma because of coal plants! It sucks for the little kids, but in Trump's America we only pretend to care about you when you are a fetus.

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GA, NC, SC & NH are all seeing substantial growth in this sector. You know, where all those uneducated hick Trump supporters live.

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You know who won that state, right?

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Not gonna forget the Confederate flag waving truck drivers who drove down into Boston from NH during the campaign

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And no, I don't believe the "busloads of MA residents" nonsense, but suffice to say it leans a bit to the right of Massachusetts.

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Feel free to show cites for recent quarter growth in those regions, anon. A year ago hiring was going like gangbusters pretty much everywhere, including Bos and NY - the study mentioned above looked at very recent trends.

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I'd like to see some stats to back that up, please.

And, assuming you're right, I'll bet you a Galway chicken dinner that 90%+ of those jobs being added are in the Research Triangle, Atlanta, or southern New Hampshire. You know, the islands of blue in the oasis of red.

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Working in the tech industry, the places that get the most attention are SF and Silicon Valley, Seattle, Boston, and NYC. If anything, it seems like companies are moving into the urban core, since that's where young tech workers want to live. The big Seattle tech company of the 80s and 90s, Microsoft, located itself in Redmond, outside Seattle. The big Seattle tech company of the 2000s and 2010s, Amazon, is located right in the middle of the city.

The only companies I've hear of moving tech jobs from Boston to NH are older non-tech companies, that see software as a cost center.

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If anything, it seems like companies are moving into the urban core, since that's where young tech workers want to live.

There's also a practical reason if you're talking about Boston, and that's the commute. Forget "young tech workers", most of my company's staff (of whatever age) lives outside Boston proper -- north, south and west. Where could we move to that wouldn't make the commute really REALLY suck for some of our staff?

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People in South Carolina are uneducated compared to people in MA. Studies and test scores will tell you that every year. And Georgia's unemployment rate is about double that of MA.

The fact is that red states are uneducated shit holes. The republican politicians like to keep people uneducated because it means they are too dumb to realize that the states run by republicans are failures when it comes to income, life expectancy, test scores, obesity, literacy etc.

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You couldn't pay me enough to move south of the Mason-Dixon line. Never. Never ever ever. Not ever.

I lived in a "liberal" university town and it was horrible. Don't buy the hype about the "New South." It's a lie.

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And they appeared to have successful lives.

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Read the syntax on the comment you are replying to.

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I know its anecdotal comment but I disagree. At least not from where I am standing... I've had lots and lots of interest lately.

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Specifically, cherry-picking.

Like Senator Inhofe claiming that global warming is a hoax because it snowed in DC during the winter of 2015, individual reports can be misleading when considered by themselves, and should be evaluated as a single element of a much larger, rigorously collected body of data.

****

To be fair, the Xconomy article (especially its title) is guilty of some misprepresentation itself. The study it quotes does not look at all tech sectors, but collects data primarily from retail-oriented software companies. So, yeah, a significant segment, but still a discrete and minority one here in New England, which boasts a pretty broadly-based tech economy. Things might be completely different in biotech, automation, materials science, etc.

So a more accurate title might have been "Boston, NY Software Job Growth Hits 5-Year Low, as Amazon and Some Larger Firms Continue to Expand".

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I swear you just come here to reply to my messages to try discredit me

I know its anecdotal comment but I disagree. At least not from where I am standing...

Did you miss this? I never said it was false, just that I disagree from my viewpoint as a job seeker. Am I not allowed to have my own personal opinion and post it here? Apparently not ...

We're also talking about one article that cites one source for data, then quotes 2 other articles that loosely related, one of which is a re-link back to it's own website. (which btw, I never heard of this website until today)

Unlike your Global Warming example which I can pull up hundreds , if not thousands of articles from very reputable sources that would debunk any anti-global warming argument with in a few clicks. This article, not so much. In this day of "fake news".. multiple "citations please" are very important now.

But that's beside the point.

FWIW, I have an in person interview every day this week, 2 next week (so far, and its only Tuesday), and about 5 phone screens this week, and 3 so far next week.I have a phone screen in about an hour actually.

See why I disagree? But that is my own take on the job market from my own viewpoint. I never tried to pass this off as fact, just my opinion from a job seekers viewpoint.

But whatever, you just want to argue.

PS - One of the in person interviews next week is Amazon.com!

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But you were arguing with the article's thesis, even if you claim otherwise (and later edited(!) your first post to make it appear you acknowledged its subjectiveness from the beginning.)

I don't think pointing out an example of confirmation bias is unreasonable - certainly isn't the sort of nasty ad hominem we sometimes see here. And respectfully, if you think I have particular inclination to poke at your posts, I'd suggest that's an additional example of such bias on your part - I'm definitely an equal opportunity nitpicker.

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Don't complain at someone who is still enjoying this JOB GROWTH even if it is less than it has been.

Cybah's experience is not incompatible with JOB GROWTH, even if that growth is slowing.

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In the age of Amazon.com, when the likes of Macy's, Nordstrom, Target, T.J. Maxx etc. take a public, anti-Trump stance against the majority of voters in 34 states and 62,979,879 nationwide, all aspects of retail, not just software, are doomed. That's not even factoring the Trump supporting customers who stayed home because they believed the fake polls.

Perhaps, those affected by the retail software slump can apply at Amazon, where even CNN admits, Ivanka's products have soared to best selling status.

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$: java The_Fish_Bot

ASSERTION FAILURE: 62985106 > 65853625 evaluates to FALSE
Abandoning module 'electoral_mandate'...

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Fish is old school.

10 IF NAME$ = "Clinton" THEN 20
20 PRINT "Benghazi"
30 IF NAME$ = 'Obama' THEN 40
40 PRINT "Hates America"

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50 GOTO 10

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50 If NAME$ "Trump" THEN GOTO "Russian Puppet"

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10 IF NAME$ = "Clinton" THEN 20 ' unnecessary IF/THEN statement
20 PRINT "Benghazi"
25 PRINT "U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens"
26 PRINT "U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith"
27 PRINT "CIA contractor Tyrone S. Woods"
28 PRINT "CIA contractor Glen Doherty"
29 PRINT "Do not forget the names of the men who were murdered on Secretary Clinton's watch."
30 GOTO 20

If you want to go really old school, then print it on paper.

10 IF NAME$ = "Clinton" THEN 20 ' unnecessary IF/THEN statement
20 LPRINT "Benghazi"
25 LPRINT "U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens"
26 LPRINT "U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith"
27 LPRINT "CIA contractor Tyrone S. Woods"
28 LPRINT "CIA contractor Glen Doherty"
29 LPRINT "Do not forget the names of the men who were murdered on Secretary Clinton's watch."
30 GOTO 20

"unnecessary IF/THEN statement" If NAME$ does not equal "Clinton" it will go to line 20 anyway and PRINT "Benghazi".

Then the meteorite hit and killed all the dinosaurs...

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Ahahahah dude do you even try anymore

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The big growth at Amazon seems to be mostly from their expansion of doing their own deliveries at same-day etc. mini distribution centers.

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My friends at other firms report a lot of nervousness with the recent executive orders. It's not so much that they hire foreigners (they do) but no one's sure where regulations are headed and how it will affect their business.

I know a ton of people in the Boston area working on biotech related projects that will see their business change dramatically if federal research funding is cut, or if foreign demand drops, or if massive changes in healthcare occur. These things seem increasingly likely.

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The housing market is reportedly "slow" in many areas because demand and prices are robust - but there's little/nothing for sale.

Is this the case in tech? Is hiring slow because the companies aren't hiring or because there are few people left to hire? (I know 20-somethings making 6 figures a couple years out of college if they can code)

By the looks of the numbers - in a few years we'll all be working for Amazon or Facebook anyway - unless a robot has taken our job.

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I think this is the case. There are few people left to hire... MA's unemployment rate is lower than the national average right now. Which is pretty damn low already.

Again, from my viewpoint in talking with staffing firms, they tell me the candidate base has shrunk and the market is a job seekers market. But again.. just one viewpoint with not much to back it up.

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My company is hiring, and it's a godawful slog to find anyone qualified. A year ago, we'd have 50 applications for an open position, and at least ten of them would warrant a phone screen. Now we get 10, and all but one or two are unqualified. We've had a couple of offers declined because the applicant got a godfather offer from someone else. Now when someone leaves, it takes 3-6 months to replace them. Yet, based purely on "jobs added" as a metric, you could use those numbers to prove that we've cooled on hiring.

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I have my own business - so not going anywhere. But hear that a lot of people are struggling to find financial advisors - and in fact it's one of the toughest jobs in the country to fill. Lots of retiring baby boomers - and very few younger advisors (was hard to grow a biz as a younger advisor following the dot.com crash and the financial crisis.

Hard to get a client to trust you with their money if you have gel in your hair and no grays earned in the last two market busts.

Great time to turn off the immigration spigots (snark, snark, snark).

Really wondering who's going to fill all those manufacturing jobs when you go on a Ghandi-esque self reliance binge (yeah - that worked real well for India for the 50 years after WW II). Maybe all the retail workers after they put all the retailers out of biz with the border adjustment tax.

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Yes... but before Jeff F gets all huffy, this is my own opinion and viewpoint, and purely anecdotal.

I've heard this too. This is also why I get so many damn emails every single day. I have broad experience and can do many tech-related things. (I've been doing this for 25 years now) So recruiters look at my resume and think "wow I can send this guy just about any mid-to-senior level experience job and he can do it". Of course, I'm not interested in a single-role position. (i.e. single function like an Exchange Administrator or System Engineer)

I've had agencies, who would not give me the time of years ago, now are clamoring to staff me. Desperate? Maybe. I just don't think there's enough qualified candidates out there.

Maybe this is the opposite of "long term unemployed" whereas its the reverse... lots of positions that have been open for a while, but just no one to fill them.

On a different note, about a month ago I had... not one, not two.. not three.. but 7 different staffing agencies all call me about the same position. They all thought I was a 'perfect fit', but I declined each and every time as the pay was way below what I was looking for. (Because it was a triple dip position.. work via a staffing agency, via a MSP, for a company so everyone had to take 'their cut' of my pay. No thanks.)... a month later, that position is still open.

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My current company is trying to hire about 50-100 senior engineers this year. There is no way we can ever meet that though. We had the same push last year and were lucky to get about 20 hires qualified hires, which is a lot. Having built teams/engineering offices find qualified senior candidates is rough.

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A lot of it depends on what you consider senior. Do you mean 5 - 7 years experience or 20?

I've found that young kids (under 30) want to work in whizzy environments like Athena Healthcare and old people like me tend to work at bigger companies like Partners

Anecdotal source: Old people like me and the younger tech workers they mentor.

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Generally 10+ years of experience. Below that is junior/mid level people. We have been thinking about maybe going for younger devs at some point though.

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Another anecdotally: I recently had a job search (mid-level programmer) and had a way way easier time than my previous job searches. I actually felt overwhelmed by how much response I got, when originally I was very worried to be searching near the holidays. I've also heard both my previous employer and my new one lament the lack of competent applicants vs their need for them. I'm not sure that the population in Boston keeps up w/ the need in the industry, especially for mid/senior level positions.

Again, that could just be confirmation bias on my part. There are a lot of things that could account for this that don't necessarily mean that job growth isn't slowing-- poor applicant base, me being more experienced in general this job search, & it no longer being a recession (thanks obama).

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GROWTH is SLOWING - meaning that Boston is STILL ADDING JOBS.

And, yes, Mr. "I can't actually make jobs so I'll screw over those working areas of the economy" isn't helping.

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We have a report that you computer has a birus and I need to repair it...

there areaways tech jobs available.

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Hiring at software tech firms has slowed down but hiring is up in many non-tech industries that rely heavily on technical workers.

Anecdotal evidence: People I personally know who work as data analysts/data scientists/database architects in finance and healthcare.

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Of tech industry. The data collection methodology is also suspect which the article cites.

The fact is that a slow down in tech hiring for the Boston - NYC areas was not at all unexpected. Double digit job growth does not continue indefinitely in one or two particular areas.

A whole variety of factors influence the job growth trend: management practices (not to concentrate increased headcount in a single geographical area - reasons for this is an entirely separate discussion), the nature of the tech employers business activity in a certain location, the cost-of-living for a locality which drives salary differentials, the quality of the skill sets of labor (both short & long term), off- shoring of jobs, automation of functionalities...the list goes on and on.

I won't comment on Fish's assertions - he is just too nuts to take serious.

I also caution folks not to read too much into an annual analysis of labor trends. Remember at the height of the Recession, prognosticators were saying jobs would never return - as many or more jobs have been add as lost. The demand for labor is changing dramatically - we are in an information & service economy now. This was already happening before the big turndown in the economy and changes to labor demand with continue.

Manufacturing in the sense that the last generation of workers understood it, is not coming back. This is not just because of off shoring - automation is replacing workers. Example: when auto mfg was at its height in the US, a typical production shift was 1000 workers assembling 1600 cars - in Japan, auto mfg were completing the same number of vehicles using less than 100 workers - robotics is the change.

In the tech industrial - computers and artificial intelligence have made whole job categories of tech workers obsolete. Examples: mfg engineers were once the employees that configured the pre-mfg model of a new product to be introduced. Today, the design eng using SW has a printer produce the same model. Drafters became obsolete with all the new CAD/CAM technology. TEST engineers and technician jobs are no long in demand because new products are built with self-contained diagnostics that not only identify defects but also fix the problems. Assembly is rapidly disappearing because automated lines out produce workers at an exponential rate with little or no defects.

It is what it is...but employment changes are not particularly reliable indicators of an area's long term economic viability.

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