You think it's bad being from Minneapolis-St. Paul, try telling them you're originally from Detroit!
It's getting better but the amount of ignorance about Detroit is amazing! I tried once talking an evangelist into adding Detroit to the road show around twenty years ago. There had just been an article in Time magazine and it said something like the city had the lowest number of college graduates per capita of any major city and there were less than 670,000 people. The guy immediately hit me with that fact. He said we couldn't possibly go to a place that small and if we did there wouldn't be that many developers.
I said that may be true for the city of Detroit but the Detroit metro has over four million people and I assure you there are a lot of developers. So they decided to add Detroit as a tour stop and he later told me that it was one of the largest and most enthusiastic audiences on the entire tour.
Even today Detroit gets left off most tech tours and when one does add them they're pleasantly surprised by the turn out. That's despite the fact that Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Twitter have offices there.
There's something particularly exciting about Detroit that's hard to put my finger on, especially the last few years of development in the Midtown area. Something about all of the lovely art deco architecture slowly being re-occupied and revitalized by tech/retail/restaurants makes it an incredibly interesting time and place to be around.
Even during the worst of times there's a spirit about Detroit. A friend of mine said in the early days she would be on a call and people would ask out loud why Detroit is even on the call. Nowadays they don't want to start the call until Detroit is online.
It's still quite the secret but Detroit's startup community is strong and growing. The skeptics will say when you're that far down it's easy to grow. But it's been ten years and slows no sign of slowing down.
Instead of being jealous of Detroit suddenly getting the attention Ann Arbor leaders are now beginning to find ways to work together. Sadly I wish the rest of the state could get some of their joint mojo.
I don't have the gumption to move there, but I completely agree. There's a lot of desire to move to the "next big" city (recent example being Austin), but I think there's a lot more pride in revitalizing a city with an existing identity. I think there's also a future where we're just creating more pockets of urban (and suburban) decay by hopping to whichever trendy city. American population isn't expanding like it was decades ago. imo, some metros (recent growing ones like Austin, Dallas, Phoenix, Atlanta) are expanding at a rate that will not be sustainable in 30-40 years. Parts of those areas will be in an even worse situation than places like Detroit.
I live in the Twin Cities, but moved there from Detroit over twenty years ago when a Minnesota-based company bought the company where I was a contract developer and offered me a permanent position if I relocated (which they completely expensed). The company also agreed to fly me out for a weekend to visit the Twin Cities. I visited the downtown and Uptown and knew I would love living there. And I still love it here almost 25 years later. (I did live in the SF Bay Area from early 2016 to late 2018 then moved back to the T.C.)
I just wish I could get some decent coney dogs or Buddy's Pizza out here. (No I haven't been to Uncle Frankie's yet)
Going back to mason's point though the size of Greater Detroit metropolitan area is hugely underestimated. And not tapping into that area for market or talent opportunities (or delicious Coney dogs) is an unfortunate mistake.
Course if you prefer Lafayette Coney Island you're out of luck ;<).
Buddy's Pizza is finally starting to expand all over Michigan. Got one going in just down the street next Spring. Eventually they will make it out your way. Until then there's always GoldBelly:
It's getting better but the amount of ignorance about Detroit is amazing! I tried once talking an evangelist into adding Detroit to the road show around twenty years ago. There had just been an article in Time magazine and it said something like the city had the lowest number of college graduates per capita of any major city and there were less than 670,000 people. The guy immediately hit me with that fact. He said we couldn't possibly go to a place that small and if we did there wouldn't be that many developers.
I said that may be true for the city of Detroit but the Detroit metro has over four million people and I assure you there are a lot of developers. So they decided to add Detroit as a tour stop and he later told me that it was one of the largest and most enthusiastic audiences on the entire tour.
Even today Detroit gets left off most tech tours and when one does add them they're pleasantly surprised by the turn out. That's despite the fact that Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Twitter have offices there.