Our jobs are near-shoring! (Texas)

[momopi]

Since someone started a thread on moving to TX, I thought I'd do a write-up here. Disclaimer: I have very limited knowledge of San Antonio based mostly on visits and work relocation tours/seminars. I've lived in Texas briefly in my youth but am NOT a native of Texas.

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Often you hear Americans complain about companies off-shoring jobs abroad, but there are many jobs shifting around within the country too. I live in a coastal state (California) and have seen many jobs relocated to a cheaper state, such as Nevada, Texas, etc. The industry term for this is near-shoring.

The company that I work for has relocated many jobs from California to a new office in San Antonio, TX. I was offered a relocation package but declined. I do still visit San Antonio several times every year to attend meetings for work, might be there again in Oct or Nov.

The cost difference in office space lease and labor costs between California and Texas can be as much as 50%. An IT professional making $100k/year in northern CA might only get $50k-$70k in Texas for the same position. However, unlike California, Texas has no state income tax, and the real estate is much cheaper.

In San Antonio TX, you could buy a brand new 3 bed 2 bath detached single family house, with 2-car garage and drive way for under $150,000. You cannot even buy 1 bedroom condo in most parts of California for the same money. The downside is that you pay higher property taxes in TX, and properties there don't appreciate in value much.

If you're moving to TX and looking for a job, consider visiting San Antonio. Go west from the city to Sea World, then drive north from there. You'll see many large company offices around the area, many relocated from other, more expensive states. Don't forget to eat at Rudy's BBQ there.

San Antonio's tourist trap area is the "River walk". The water there looks a bit... weird, but at least the place looks semi decent and packed with restaurants. The water didn't look like it can support fish larger than guppies, I did see a snake swimming around though.

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Now, some reasons why you might not want to live there. The suburban crawl has gutted some parts of its downtown area, so there are "slums" in the city. Ethnic and cultural diversity is lacking beyond white or Hispanic. Some claim that 60% of the residents are Hispanic. So, no lage selection of dim sum, pho, or sushi restaurants, though they do have a good Mongolian BBQ place. I've had a few coworkers who relocated there but moved back to California. One Indian coworker complained the lack of ethnic stores, restaurants, and religious institutions/temples. There wasn't an Indian community specific to his background for social-religious interaction.

I think if you're white or Hispanic, the city might work for you. But probably not as well for Asians. Also, if you find the city too boring, I heard Austin (short drive north from San Antonio) is a pretty cool place, home of UT. I've never visited there but am interested to hear if anyone has experiences there. Austin's city merchant's slogan is "Keep Austin Weird":
http://www.keepaustinweird.com/

If they pride themselves in being eclectic, probably can't be too uptight!


p.s. beware of rattlesnakes in TX, we have a few roaming around our office gardens.

[gmm567]

Yeah Austin is the best place in Texas to live. Very little crime. Low housing prices. San antonio is considered kind of backward compared to other major cities.

Houston and Dallas are just too big, and there is too much crime for me, but they are near. Austin is the place.

There are 20 million people who live within the Triangle between San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. That's enough people to support virtually any and all business and endeavor. There's lots there--of everything imaginable! And the houses aren't skyhigh.

[The_Adventurer]

I think if you're white or Hispanic, the city might work for you. But probably not as well for Asians. Also, if you find the city too boring, I heard Austin (short drive north from San Antonio) is a pretty cool place, home of UT.

Unreal Tournament was done in Austin?

Actually, I absolutely loved it in Austin, though the last time I was there I got stuck in the haunted wing of the grand old hotel.

[momopi]

I think if you're white or Hispanic, the city might work for you. But probably not as well for Asians. Also, if you find the city too boring, I heard Austin (short drive north from San Antonio) is a pretty cool place, home of UT.

Unreal Tournament was done in Austin?

Actually, I absolutely loved it in Austin, though the last time I was there I got stuck in the haunted wing of the grand old hotel.

You play Unreal Tournament?!??!?!?!!?

OMG that's like one of my all time favourite FPS.

But no, I mean University of Texas at Austin. ;p Since you guys have more experience there, how about giving us a report on the city! I might be going to San Antonio in 1-2 months and would love to drive up to Austin for a weekend!


p.s. Are you by chance an ex-Amiga user?

[The_Adventurer]

p.s. Are you by chance an ex-Amiga user?

Yeah! What ever led you to that conclusion?

There's a couple of ex-Amiga software companies in San Antonio right now. Newtek, famous for the original Video Toaster is there. Bauhaus Software which sells a program formerly known as TV Paint on the Amiga, is also there.

I am trying ot hook up with agent in Austin to expand my animation possibilities. There's also a lot of game development in Austin. A good friend of mine works in film at Troublemaker Studios in Austin. Plenty going on in the entertainment world. It's just so much cheaper to do (and no union rules) compared to LA. Like mentioned earlier, literally 50% cost of living. Except where buying a house in concerned, then it's more like 25%.

The night life is really cool. In the bar and club area you can walk everywhere, and you just might step into a joint and see a big name band, that you've actually heard of there. People are friendly too and open and sociable. You don't have to "approach" girls as they may happily approach you.

[momopi]

p.s. Are you by chance an ex-Amiga user?

Yeah! What ever led you to that conclusion?

I went to your web site and thought you're a LightWave user.

I wasn't a video toaster user, but used genlock hardware heavily. Started with A1000 + A1300, then went through several A2k's, an a500 & A600 (for portability). Had many Digital Creations genlock products (SuperGen SX, 2000S) and a G-Lock. I did video subtitle work through 1990s, mostly fansubs. We were quite horrified at early Arctic (AA) subs so had to do our own. I also wrote the dummy's guide to JACOsub.

[Frankly006]

Since someone started a thread on moving to TX, I thought I'd do a write-up here. Disclaimer: I have very limited knowledge of San Antonio based mostly on visits and work relocation tours/seminars. I've lived in Texas briefly in my youth but am NOT a native of Texas.

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Often you hear Americans complain about companies off-shoring jobs abroad, but there are many jobs shifting around within the country too. I live in a coastal state (California) and have seen many jobs relocated to a cheaper state, such as Nevada, Texas, etc. The industry term for this is near-shoring.

The company that I work for has relocated many jobs from California to a new office in San Antonio, TX. I was offered a relocation package but declined. I do still visit San Antonio several times every year to attend meetings for work, might be there again in Oct or Nov.

The cost difference in office space lease and labor costs between California and Texas can be as much as 50%. An IT professional making $100k/year in northern CA might only get $50k-$70k in Texas for the same position. However, unlike California, Texas has no state income tax, and the real estate is much cheaper.

In San Antonio TX, you could buy a brand new 3 bed 2 bath detached single family house, with 2-car garage and drive way for under $150,000. You cannot even buy 1 bedroom condo in most parts of California for the same money. The downside is that you pay higher property taxes in TX, and properties there don't appreciate in value much.

If you're moving to TX and looking for a job, consider visiting San Antonio. Go west from the city to Sea World, then drive north from there. You'll see many large company offices around the area, many relocated from other, more expensive states. Don't forget to eat at Rudy's BBQ there.

San Antonio's tourist trap area is the "River walk". The water there looks a bit... weird, but at least the place looks semi decent and packed with restaurants. The water didn't look like it can support fish larger than guppies, I did see a snake swimming around though.

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One brief scrutiny of the US current account or currency trend will show you the possibility of US citizens being used as 'cheap labor' by other industrialized nations is very much becoming a reality. India is becoming too expensive to outsource to. With US having the lowest valued currency in the G7 aside from the yen, nations sweeping up large amounts of shares of US multinationals and European citizens buying residential real estate in the US as vacation homes, we may see other nations running here for emerging markets. I hope you enjoy making shoes.




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