Thursday, October 29, 2015

Silicon Geography and History

We have Silicon Valley, we have Silicon Alley and now we have Silicon Beach.

What started as a nickname has now become a metonym for a place where hi-tech startups grow.

Silicon Valley is a name used for the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region where a large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers were located. Among the first was Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in 1956. This area is now home  to many of the world's largest high-tech corporations, as well as thousands of tech startup companies.

After Silicon Valley came Silicon Alley. This term was invented by a recruiter, Jason Denmark, who had posted several job ads in 1995 with the “Silicon Alley” label for companies in the technical hub of downtown Manhattan. Since then, the term has evolved to encompass all of the New York City metropolitan region and more fields within information technology, such as new media, telecommunications, biotechnology, game design and financial technology.

Now, we are witnessing the emergence of “Silicon Beach” - the west side region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area - as a new hi-tech hub with over 500 startups.
It reached the point where Google’s Los Angeles jobs page asks the question: “Who needs Silicon Valley when you can have Silicon Beach?” and entices with, “Prefer the sand and surf over a mountain view? Want 300 days of sun a year? Forget the Valley – pack your bags for Google L.A.”
So what is it, besides “sand, surf and 300 days of sun a year”, about this area that attracts hi-tech companies?  
In the article “Silicon Beach: Los Angeles emerges as contender for tech crownShawn Langlois explains, “El Segundo and Playa Vista ... are key to Silicon Beach’s next phase of growth. The area just south of Venice has it all. It is more affordable than Santa Monica and the Bay Area, has space to grow and is right next to the airport. Throw in its traffic-skirting proximity to some of the more attractive areas to live, like Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach, and it is not hard to foresee a continued boom.”

What is next for Silicon geography?

According to the article in Forbes, those cities - Austin, Dallas, Seattle, Chicago and Miami are poised to become the next hi-tech hub.
Huffington Post has a different opinion - it lists 8 cities, with some overlap: Miami; Boston; Detroit; New Orleans; Chattanooga; Cincinnati; Houston; Washington, DC.  

Does it mean that an aspiring software engineer should pick up and move to one of those areas?

You can read our article on advantages and disadvantages of Silicon Valley living: http://eltisolutions.blogspot.com/2014/10/bay-area-living.html

Also - we have jobs with the really cool Series B startup in Silicon Beach, check them out:

Newport Beach, CA,



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