Talent catches Apple’s eye, drawing big move
Jan 07, 2019 -
We’ve mentioned before that Apple has its sights set on a San Diego office, bringing about 1,000 new engineering jobs with it. Read the San Diego Business Journal article below to learn a little more about the reasons behind the big move:
Google, Amazon, and now, Apple Inc. are lining up to be the latest companies to join San Diego’s growing tech hub. While San Diego has plenty of behind-the-scenes tech talent, between companies Qualcomm, Viasat and Illumina, it has few household names in consumer products.
Now, it’s about to get one of the world’s most valuable brands, with Apple Inc. planning to add more than 1,000 employees in the area in the next three years, the company said in December. The new site should heat up the competition for local engineering talent, and in the long term, may attract new tech firms to the area.
Apple’s announcement was part of a larger planned expansion, with the electronics company adding new offices in Culver City, Seattle, Washington, and Austin, Texas, where it is building a 133-acre campus for 5,000 people.
Details were sparse: Apple didn’t reveal a location for the planned offices, or which of its business segments would operate from America’s Finest City. However, the company appears to be poised to capture a slice of San Diego’s engineering talent, local business leaders said.
‘A Place Worth Expanding To’
Mark Cafferty, CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., said Apple was looking at current or upcoming talent hubs when his team helped the company in its latest expansion.
“Any time a big consumer-facing company comes because of the talent, it’s something we should try to articulate,” he said. “Large, established companies are willing to look at our region as a place worth expanding to. It’s an important trait of economic success we’re continuing to promote and foster.”
According to a September 2018 report by Cushman & Wakefield, tech was a key driver of growth in San Diego, accounting for about 8.4 percent of its total employment. The metro had 121,941 tech employees, and venture capital funding increased by $1.2 billion from 2011 to 2018.
Cafferty said Apple picked University City for the new site, where Amazon.com Inc. opened a 500-person office. The triangle between Interstate 5 and the 805 has become its own tech hub, hosting multiple startup incubators and software companies.
Replenishing Talent
Another draw, Cafferty said, is that it’s easier to retain tech talent in San Diego than more recognized tech hubs, such as the Bay Area or Seattle.
“People talk about how hard it is to retain talent in San Francisco or Silicon Valley these days,” he said. “There’s always some of that. But I think that the great thing with San Diego is we’ve always seen that talent replenish over time.”
Article from San Diego Business Journal.
Photo by Jamie Scott Lytle, SDBJ