Austin, Texas was named the Best City for Business and Career!!!!! Dallas, Texas was the 9th best!!! Cities in California and Houston were no where to be found! Don't mess with Texas! http://www.forbes.com/2003/05/07/bestland.html
Jobs in Austin right now?? I got lucky, REAL LUCKY to get back here via transfer, but I dont think many companies are thriving anywhere right now in this economy.
I think one of the reasons Austin was recognized was not b/c they have a growing number of new jobs, it is a result of not as many companies in Austin cutting jobs. Houston will not make that list for YEARS if ever again. The energy and tech jobs that were/are lost pushed Houston WAY down.
I don't know anybody that's been able to work in Austin, but I know about 15 people that just graduated and are working in Houston. While Austin is a great city, its just not big enough for real business to ever really grow like it can in Houston. Sure, you'll get a few companies make HQ's there and hire a ton of people, but you are very limited in the type of businesses you can have in Austin. It is too small, it is not a rail hub, it's landlocked, no port, not a big enough airport...it just can't support business on the scale that Houston or even Dallas can.
too bad i cant stand getting around anywhere in this place! I go UT so at least i dont have to drive as much, its a pain in the ass
For the record, Houston was listed 15th on the list. It just didn't make the Top Ten (nor did Fort Worth, which came in at 16, which seems weird to me because I can't imagine that much difference between Dallas and Fort Worth, but I guess there is, at least in Forbes' eyes).
Ask the majority of Austin residents and they'll tell you that they would be happy to never see Austin become the concrete and glass wastelands that are Houston and Dallas.
Um, when I left in 97, it was turning into a concrete wasteland in the north, west and south, compared to 85. Large tracts of open space were covered with malls, WalMarts/home depots, and criss crossed with freeways.
Thats why we like to "Keep Austin Weird". Local businesses are the cornerstone of making our city the way it is: unique.
Austin is a very corporate town. Believe me, I work for a company that likes to deal with small businesses in Texas and we wouldn't dare venture into Austin. Austin may like to keep it weird, but the cities growth has coincided with the Tech Boom, which is no coicidence. Motorola IBM Dell AMD Applied Materials
Motorola, IBM, AMAT, and AMD cut back and have increased or built new facilities in new places rather than expand in Austin. Dell moved most of their facilities to Round Rock about ten years ago IIRC. AMD has gone through three layoff cycles since I worked for them in college.
