Almost exactly three years ago I moved from the private sector of web site building to the academic side of the world. That move was not exclusive… but likely in the 80% range.
[ Indicator one ] About a month ago I had a chance to judge some low bandwidth web projects as part of an internal agency project. I was stunned. Granted this is one of the top three agencies in the Midwest with a large concentration in interactive, but the technical prowess, the agile-ness of development and the creative innovation was very impressive.
[ Indicator two ] A huge (by Midwest standards) breakaway agency here in the Midwest has transformed itself. When founded in the mid 90’s, it positioned itself as an interaction advertising and marketing expert… but was focused on the usual small national and large regional corporate and consumer accounts. 10 years later, having been absorbed by a very large international advertising cartel, it has become the go to source for interactive, for web development, and for innovation consulting for many, many large corporations.
[ Indicator three ] Given that I am soon to eject myself from academia and go find employment, I have been doing some earnings to cost-of-living analysis across geographic boundaries. Northern California and the great Northwest are extremely expensive places to live (duh!)
[ Conclusion ] Instead of sending programming and other tech services to India (quite unpopular here in the US) or wherever… send it to the Midwest. The Midwest is where many reasonable people with high acumen and great creativity come to raise their families… or buy an estate with their accrued home equity. By the work ethic… it is just as you would expect in an agrarian culture – very high.
