Do you think that these are qualities unique to Saint Louis or the midwest?
Do you think that NYC or SF don't have their hanger-ons, dilettantes and blowhards?
What frustrates me so mightily about the overly-dour pessimism about the midwest is the total neglect for all of the things that do happen here, and a lack of recognition of all the awesome midwesterners who leave the midwest just to do awesome stuff elsewhere.
I grew up and went to college in Columbus, Ohio thinking that the tech scene was elsewhere. It wasn't until I had already graduated and made plans to leave that I learned that, actually, Columbus has a world class Ruby community I'd simply not yet heard about.
I am still trying to figure St Louis out, having moved to Columbia Mo, 6 mos. ago, but I am skeptical that the community that puts on Strange Loop every year, has had companies like Slicehost come up out of it is really the barren wasteland you make it out to be.
Let me put it this way. A few years ago I posted a job ad on Craigslist trying to find a technical co-founder for a few ideas I had. I posted it in Orlando's craigslist, in Tampa's, in Cocoa Beach's, then in St. Louis, and just for the hell of it, I paid the $75 fee and posted it in the Bay Area Craigslist section even though I don't live there.
I got 2 replies from people in Central Florida that never materialized, 1 reply in St. Louis but the guy moved away to D.C. for a job. and I got FORTY FIVE ->45<- emails with resumes and portfolios attached from the Bay Area. Silicon Valley replies didn't even joke around, they didn't ask for equity or salary or anything, they just wanted to make something together. Those people where ready to go. And you just can't find passion or drive like that from "worker bees" out here.
I will admit, I stopped looking and just gave up. Deep inside I'm planning to move out west. I have to.
There's a reason why Google, Apple, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, Adobe, Cisco, Sandisk, Nvidea, Netflix, Symantec, Mcafee, Paypal, eBay, etc... all call the bay area home. If Microsoft were here, Windows probably wouldn't be so stagnant and stuck in the past.
Do you think that NYC or SF don't have their hanger-ons, dilettantes and blowhards?
What frustrates me so mightily about the overly-dour pessimism about the midwest is the total neglect for all of the things that do happen here, and a lack of recognition of all the awesome midwesterners who leave the midwest just to do awesome stuff elsewhere.
I grew up and went to college in Columbus, Ohio thinking that the tech scene was elsewhere. It wasn't until I had already graduated and made plans to leave that I learned that, actually, Columbus has a world class Ruby community I'd simply not yet heard about.
I am still trying to figure St Louis out, having moved to Columbia Mo, 6 mos. ago, but I am skeptical that the community that puts on Strange Loop every year, has had companies like Slicehost come up out of it is really the barren wasteland you make it out to be.