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Ask HN: Tech Down South?

7 points| floppydisk | 13 years ago | reply

I'm strongly considering making a lifestyle move by vacating the greater DC metropolitan region and moving back South. That said, I'd like to move to a city with a vibrant / growing tech community with lots of small and growing companies; this is where I'm running into a hiccup. Besides Austin, TX what other cities in the deep south (Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas) possess decent tech communities and where would be a good place to get some info about what's happening there (even for Austin)?

Scanning the last couple of Who's Hiring threads, I didn't see much outside of Austin and doing some cursory scans on job boards didn't turn up anything promising outside some megacorp positions here and there so I thought I'd tap the HN hive mind for leads. I'm not looking for a specific position yet, but would like to get a feeler for which metropolitan areas to start taking a closer look at.

16 comments

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[+] srehnborg|13 years ago|reply
What kind of work are you looking for?

You mentioned that you were looking for a Vibrant / growing tech community. I think you need to check out both Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina.

Both are really great areas to live, work, and play. They offer great communities with lots of small and growing companies. Both places are up and coming as well, so you have the ability to shape it's future in a bigger way than somewhere already established.

Links to take a closer look.

http://triangletechtalk.com/

http://www.exitevent.com/

http://www.americanunderground.com

http://www.hubraleigh.com/

http://www.rtp.org/

Feel free to email me at my username @ gmail.com if you'd like to talk further.

[+] brudgers|13 years ago|reply
Huntsville has one of the highest rates of Phd's per capita in the U.S. Originally, this was due to the space program - and to a lesser extent TVA.

These days, much of the technology sector is defense oriented. That may or may not make it attractive.

What it lacks is a first class university. On the other hand, there's the Rocket City Rednecks.

[+] thejteam|13 years ago|reply
I've done a fair amount of travel to Huntsville for work and it seems like a really pleasant and livable city.

The summer heat is tough, not significantly worse than DC, but constant.

[+] thisisdallas|13 years ago|reply
I haven't specifically looked into this but I have seen Atlanta pop up several times when discussing tech scenes in the south. As far as Texas is concerned, Austin is going to be your best bet if you are looking for a startup job. For the most part, it looks like the majority of jobs in the bigger cities are for larger businesses running a .net stack or php.
[+] joeschindel|13 years ago|reply
I am from the DC area originally and after the past 4 years of college in Illinois I am ready to move south. I have found several opportunities in the Charlotte metro area. It has southern charm but is a growing city.
[+] codewright|13 years ago|reply
Atlanta, Florida, Triangle.

Tech won't positively invade your life like it does here in the Bay Area but you'll be able to find people in the industry.

[+] gregcohn|13 years ago|reply
I found some interesting stuff happening in Atlanta last time I had occasion to visit -- Startup Riot, Startup Weekend, etc.
[+] thejteam|13 years ago|reply
I'll echo a few others and say definitely look at the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina.
[+] amorphid|13 years ago|reply
I've noticed several startup and consulting companies in Florida, especially Orlando.
[+] abr0414|13 years ago|reply
RTP in the Raleigh/Durham area.
[+] warmwaffles|13 years ago|reply
Small start up community is here in San Antonio
[+] 6thSigma|13 years ago|reply
+1. Check out geekdom.com I've heard good things but haven't had a chance to check it out.