[ad_1]
An industrial warehouse, right, sits on the Anable Basin in Queens, N.Y. (Mark Lennihan / AP)
Two expansions in New York City – moves that experts say highlight the area's ancestry as a major technology hub and the depth of the city's massive talent pool.
Amazon.com may be closing in on a second-to-date headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, according to New York Times, and Google is planning to amplify its presence in Manhattan, according to the Wall Street Journal. Entrepreneurs and policy experts say tech companies are drawn to the city's rich diversity and skilled workforce, transforming it into the past decade into a vibrant tech stronghold and expanding the industry's footprint beyond its West Coast origins.
[Amazon reportedly in advanced talks about putting HQ2 in Crystal City, Va.]
"Education, expertise, access to capital, access to customers, a place where people want to live. What you see is a thriving ecosystem, "said Julie Samuels, executive director of Tech: NYC, a group that represents New York-based tech firms. Tech companies and their employees are attracted to the city's essential features: neighborhoods connected by public transit, restaurants, coffee shops, and bars, Samuels said.
The city's tech industry already employs 320,000 people, according to Karen Bhatia, the vice president of initiatives at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). And officials have invested in young people to join these ranks. The city's more than 120 colleges and universities produce 4,500 science majors every year, Bhatia said. "We have the talent infrastructure here in New York."
[In its first print toy catalogue, Amazon bets on the classics]
Both Amazon and Google would be expanding their existing workforces in the area. Amazon has more than 2,000 employees in New York out of a total head count that over 613,000. The online retail giant could definitely bring 25,000 highly paid workers to the area if it decides to build a piece of its second headquarters there.
Google counts roughly 7,000 people in New York out of a total of more than 94,000 employees. According to the Journal report, Google is planning to add 12,000 new employees.
Google and Amazon declined to comment. (Amazon founder Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
[After walkouts, Google agrees to step up its transparency, harassment policies]
They said it would be high-paying jobs. It's likely that many of the positions are slotted for skilled engineers, who can earn six-figure salaries. Experts say the best demand for technologists can be higher, with top tech companies competing for the best employees, blunting the costs of living in New York.
Internet entrepreneur and investor Kevin Ryan, who has set up several tech companies in New York, said that the city is a success because it has not been broken up by the company. More, the city's tech sector is obscured by some other world-class industries to the area, such as finance and advertising. But investments in the New York tech scene have grown at a dramatic pace. Last year, start-ups raised $ 12 billion in venture capital, up 40 percent from 2016, according to the NYCEDC.
"New York dominates the East Coast and will continue to dominate and continue to grow, because we have the human talent," said Ryan, co-founder and chairman of AlleyCorp, a network of start-ups. "Tech companies are just people, and the people are so important that it's not about cost."
While New York is known for its high cost of living and its subway system, it is one of the world's largest and most important cities.
"What really makes New York stand apart is that the most important thing in New York – behind music and publishing and fashion and finance," said Dennis Crowley, co-founder and executive chairman of Foursquare. "You can do great things in tech, and still will not know you at the cocktail party. And that is the beauty of it – that is the antithesis of Silicon Valley. "
[ad_2]
Source link
