Google now to NC too

[Hollywood]

Originally Posted by silverwing

I suppose they can recruit from Catawba College in Hickory

Catawba College isn't in hickory

[RaleighRob]

You know, now that I think of it, I think I've read many tech companies are now looking for small towns in rural areas, now that the popularity of offshoring to India has probably peaked. They call it "farmshoring".

The advantage: the people in those places speak better English (or at least you hope they do)....they'll work for salaries almost as low as the Indians will....and they don't get the frequent blackouts/brownouts on the electric grid that most Indian cities get. (My other half was sent to India for work last year....talked about the endless blackouts at their data center & how it caused major havoc all the time.)

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by Hollywood

Catawba College isn't in hickory

<shakes head/makes "bbbb" finger to lips sound> YEAH. It's in Salisbury! What was I thinking ? And a very handsome campus it has: stately old brick buildings under spreading oaks. Very Ivy looking.

Catawba Valley CC is in Hickory.

That's what you get for being a night shifter: brain clouds

[a1m1700]

Originally Posted by Weis02

Prospect of cheap power puts Caldwell County on company's short list
Internet giant Google is considering North Carolina as one of two or three finalists for an $800 million to $1 billion computer center that would employ 200 workers,

Those geeks just came to Phoenix recently too. They get around.

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by RaleighRob

You know, now that I think of it, I think I've read many tech companies are now looking for small towns in rural areas, now that the popularity of offshoring to India has probably peaked. They call it "farmshoring".

That's interesting. Thanks for pointing it out. I googled and found articles on it:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/index.php?p=735

If you haven't heard already, there is a new term that is adding more confusion and consternation in the offshore outsourcing debate. "Farmshoring," or outsourcing work to domestic rural locations, is gaining visibility among companies who want to keep US jobs from shipping overseas. While the cost of living and labor wages in rural areas can more effectively compete with the labor savings touted by offshore providers, it's the avoidance of offshore troubles such as cross-cultural confusion, transnational legal woes, and time-zone differences that is at the heart of its appeal

Comments to bloggers and on other sites indicate a debate on its effectiveness and staying power. Some ***clowns have to put in their own snide remarks about workers leaving the shotguns they normally hook on racks across the back of their pickup windows and their hound dawgs, at home

Still, it's only a small dent. Companies relocate several hundred, maybe a thousand jobs to East Jesus, USA? We've lost 10s of thousands to the likes of Bangalore. I commend the companies for doing this but I still don't think it's going to change my co-workers (long time ITers) advice to their kids: "DON'T go into the IT field."

[enbboy]

Yeah, as a member of Caldwell County, I find this form very disterbing. We are not stupid, poor, hicks. We don't work for cheap labor like other countries. We aren't fully in the mountains. Are are mostly located in the Foothills. Lenoir is a grand place, the people are smart, and nice. Our community college is top rated in Tech. ... So don't think that we are stupid moron's. Thats not even close to the truth.

[a1m1700]

Originally Posted by Grass Is Greener

I can commute to RTP with no problem. I'll write a letter to Google asking them to reconsider

You can come to AZ and work for Google if you want

[DivaLicious]

I got a PM telling me I may want to consider Lenoir and surrounding areas because of this Google thing. Has anyone heard anything more about it? I was interested in this area, I am just wondering about the cost of living and jobs and what they pay? We are in East TN right now where it's hard to get a job starting over $10 an hour but the at least in some areas it is cheap to live.

[AbeP]

Lenoir, NC is at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains -- beautiful scenery, nice people, slow pace. Don't come if you are used to bakeries, bookstores, or a variety of restaurants, you will be disappointed. What you would find in a mid-sized city you'll have to drive 30 miles to find. Property taxes are fairly low for now, but there are new housing developments coming in that are going to change that -- developers are recruiting people from more expensive areas of the country, so in a few years it will be just as expensive as anywhere else. And there are very few good jobs, most of the people were employed in manufacturing until a few years ago when the furniture industry relocated to China.