Do cities with better weather attract better tech workers?

Some social scientists feel that cities with better weather that are more comfortable to live in attract better tech workers. This might be true.

Let’s take America for instance.
Silicon Valley is the largest technical hub in the United States. They have great weather, mild winters, a fun lifestyle, and a multi-cultural population with amazing restaurants. No wonder people are willing to move there from other parts of the country if they can afford the sky-high prices for real estate. Boulder, CO is an innovation hub with lots of innovators. They offer a great social environment, mild weather, and lots of fun nature activities like skiing, hiking, and more. Boston, MA also has a great tech hub (or spokes) on the outskirts of the metro near route 128. But, people move to Boston because of the schools or jobs, and not for the lifestyle or the horrible weather.

India seems to follow a similar pattern.
India’s Silicon Valley lies in the Eastern outskirts of metro Bangalore. The weather is much more mild than the rest of India although in the last 15 years with all the pollution, the temperature did go up about ten degrees on average. Pune’s weather is not bad either and they have a decent tech hub as well. Hyderabad is hot in the summer, but dry in general and livable if you can stand the traffic. But, if you notice, the cities in India with lousy weather like Calcutta and Delhi do not have as much tech activity. The exception to the rule is Chennai which is the fourth largest tech area in India. Chennai has a thriving tech scene not because it is a fun place to live (BTW it’s awful,) but because the locals have a culture that forces middle class boys to have a tech job if they want to be able to get married to a decent girl. Two decades ago, they had a similar rule, but you had to have a government job. No wonder the government in India is going downhill as the smart people are culturally forbidden from working in the government as they must get technical jobs.

Following the herd
If you are creating a hi-tech company, or growing one, it might be advantageous if you try to locate yourself where other similar companies have thrived. Think of it like a forest. If there are a lot of redwoods in a particular area, perhaps that is because the conditions are ideal for redwoods to thrive in such an area. Perhaps the feng-shui or other conditions are better for tech companies in Bangalore. Feng-shui or not, you’ll have a larger pool of workers for your tech business if you are located in the Bangalore area, and that is reason enough!

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