Question as to available talent in architecture and engineering in Bozeman

[RobertaFromMT]

Originally Posted by moritz391

So it seems that there are a fair number of people on the board complaining about the job market in Bozeman. Does this mean that it's relatively easy to hire? My father runs an engineering company in Billings and has been able to recruit pretty good talent, but in the geotech field.

I have a post-revenue design/development group I'm looking to move from the east coast and would like to come home. Taxes in Montana are really obnoxious (11% state income tax?!), but there is of course the quality-of-life benefits of living in montana and some desire to reverse the flight of talent away from the state. At the moment, I have a series sustainable, modern work-force housing (affordable, mid-priced housing based on average income rather than average sales prices) projects under development throughout the east coast. I'm hoping to expand into CA and the northwest in the coming years.

I have restructured and plan to start a new design group. Last year, I was paying entry-level (but extremely talented) new hires $60k with very good benefits. Our group director was making $120k. Based on everything I've read and what I know from family members, that would put me at the very top of the hiring food chain in the city. But can the get real quality?

I know there are a lot of smart people in Bozeman, but is it hard to find people with more national experience? So much of the vernacular architecture practiced in Bozeman is only relavent within the immediate region. And designing log homes has little to do with my practice.

So, for those in the know-- Is the 'bozeman brand' strong enough to entice good talent from a broad national pool with an uncommonly strong pay and benefits structure--say in line with NYC? Or do most people coming to bozeman just want to find something to pay the bills and check out. And what is the local talent pool like? Are there good modern-schooled architects already floating around Bozeman to hire?

My husband has experience building in the range you specified. Are you seeking to build a list of Montana contractors toward the future of your work there by any chance?

[Radek]

Moritz,

I'm in a different field (PC Networking mostly), but my experience of Montana is just as those architects have described: If we could stay in Montana, we would. But, because we can't, we don't.

I did a short stint of tech work at Callison Architecture in Seattle. There were quite a few people there who were MSU Arch grads.

The MSU Arch department also likes to boast that they had the first 5-years master plan, and are ranked top 10 somewhere. (I don't have the info to back it up, but thats what they tell us to say at orientation) Again, research is a short-list, and doesn't deal with the quality of the general work that comes out of the program.

I do know that my friends who are in architorture, are really good at what they do, really driven and you really should just drop by Cheever hall and talk to some folks and get a feel for how good they are.

In regards to MSU's research, Reziac I think said it best with, "its one man doing his thing" but more particularly, that one man shop, is probably working on his developments for a company that's doing the funding, because MSU can't afford to fund all the research for the sake of research. So, a lot of things that MSU researchers find, are not directly attributed to the university itself, because there's an economic stake in it. I do know we have a brand new chem-research building, our engineering buildings are newer, and they're building a new agri/bioscience building.

Oh, and in regards to "research universities"
Search Results (http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/classifications/index.asp?key=63&search_flag=true&ref=783&start=78 3&BASIC2005=15 - broken link) <-- There we are, ranked as a Research University with very High research activity, right next to MIT, Harvard, Princeton, UC, etc..

As a matter of fact, only MSU-Bozeman and UC-Santa Cruz have both a Very High Undergraduate listing, along with a Very High Research listing. Aka, we are 1 of 2 universities (classified by the Carnegie foundation) that have a very high percentage 90%+ of undergrads to graduates... and are also an extremely powerful research institution.

So, going back to your link:
Columbia University 31 Princeton University 19 Cooper Union 16 Harvard University 16 University of Pennsylvania 11 University of California, Berkeley 10

Columbia: Majority Graduate
Princeton: Majority Undergrad
Cooper: (Not listed as high-research) and is: Very High Undergrad [I attribute this to the fact that Cooper appears to be purely arts & science]
Harvard: Majority Graduate
UPenn: Majority Undergrad
UC Berkeley: Majority Undergrad

And, of that list.. Only UC Berkeley is another public school.

So, is MSU-Bozeman the best research university? No, its not.
Is it the best research university that is over 90% undergraduate? It most definitely is. (According to the Carnegie Foundation)