Sean K Reynolds on working at Paizo (and other companies)

[BookTenTiger]

Same reason so many tech companies are in the Bay Area despite the ferocious costs - personal networking and amenities. It's a lot easier to job-hop if you live/work among corporations looking for similar skill sets and have colleagues at multiple companies. And living in Nowheresville, Great Plains/Rustbelt, even if you were allowed to work remotely, is attractive to whom now? Sure, the cost of living is a lot cheaper but you get what you pay for. The bigger urban centers of the coasts are a lot more attractive for a lot of people because there's more to do that's interesting and stimulating, more diversity in places to go and restaurants to eat at, more interesting things happen, and generally less frigid winters. And, in part because they're so attractive, they tend to cost more.

It's interesting, though, how many of my friends in tech are now moving out of the Bay Area or even the state since now they can work remotely. Idaho, Colorado, and Texas are getting a good amount of Bay Area techies.

(EDIT: To clarify, they're moving mostly because of housing costs. They're also all now in their late 30's / early 40's, so I think priorities have changed since they started in tech.)

Even my wife and I are planning on moving to Georgia, mostly so she can work at the CDC, but also because we can just afford more there.

I wouldn't be surprised if the future of RPG companies requires decentralization. Or even the present! I can't imagine Morrus was renting an office to produce Level Up in person!

 

[Nikosandros]

I wouldn't be surprised if the future of RPG companies requires decentralization. Or even the present! I can't imagine Morrus was renting an office to produce Level Up in person!

Aw, so you are telling me that there is actually no Morrus Tower from where the EN Helicarrier takes off?

 

[ReshiIRE]

Probably. I'm in IT, and have been remote for a long time, but I acknowledge that it's not for everyone.

Having done two years of it, it's an interesting way to be. I don't hate it, but I would prefer to be in an office and meeting people at-least some of the time.

People absolutely must have the option however. I definitely want IT professionals to fight against any return to just the old system.

It's not just better for individuals, but in general, for the environment, for economic reasons, etc. etc.

 

[Scribe]

Having done two years of it, it's an interesting way to be. I don't hate it, but I would prefer to be in an office and meeting people at-least some of the time.

People absolutely must have the option however. I definitely want IT professionals to fight against any return to just the old system.

It's not just better for individuals, but in general, for the environment, for economic reasons, etc. etc.

Yeah I'll never go back to an office personally. There isnt a single thing I havent been able to do remote.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I wanted to jump in to point out how many small to medium companies are in places they are in general because of historical accidents rather than any formal reason (though in some industries its self-reinforcing--Show business gravitates to Los Angeles and New York because that's where they started, and its self-maintaining to some degree, even if filming is farmed out to cheaper places).

 

[GreyLord]

Maybe the potential employees are already in Seattle and there is nobody to hire with the skillset they need in Nowhere, Nebraska?

I understand your point and ultimately workers would be better off financially operating somewhere else but... the same reasoning apply to any field and yet... the film industry is strong in Hollywood and they don't seem to all relocate to Nowhere either (even if they can pay better it would also for them be less expansive to move)?

Keeping on Scribe's idea of remote working... maybe it's a field the pandemic-imposed shift to teleworking will help. No more vacuuming problem and salary problem if you can do 100% remote work (presumably in the same timezone). I don't know if it would be practical for rpg editing and designing.

They did go to nowhere though, at least in part. They went to Atlanta, and to New Zealand, and even Texas and Utah for filming. Though Hollywood is still central, or at least known as the hub of it, many film companies have found cheaper horizons to film and base in.

With tech, it's been moving out of California as well. They have little silicon valleys in several other states now, normally places that initially (though the prices are now going up to where California is slowly but surely) had lower prices for building costs and where their employees could afford housing and the cost of living.

It's easier today than ever before. Why recruit locally when you can recruit world-wide via the internet. You have a much broader scale of employees which offer a far greater availability of talent. Paizo already recruits out of state from what I can tell, and the only reasons to stay in Washington is because the owners already have residences there and they can try to leech talent from WotC. WotC isn't as much in bed with them anymore (so not as strong a need to try to get talent from there, plus, there's a whole world out there), and though residences are there, they could sell those places and buy 20 houses of equal or bigger size in a much less expensive area.

The big one though is to draw more talent I'd imagine, which is one reason tech has moved out of California in many areas. No one wants to live out of their car in the Google parking lot (even if you can shower and do all you need at the Google offices). Being able to draw talent from everywhere and have cheap building and location costs is a pretty big thing. In addition, having employees that are happy because they can afford to own a house or apartment is actually very beneficial to workplace productivity. Making it so that this could be done via telework (also an option) or affordability because of the local area would seem to work better for businesses in the long run.