Massive tech companies and startups alike are moving to Arizona, the sixth largest state in the U.S., with roadrunner-like speed. Within the last five years, companies like Groupon, InfusionSoft, ZocDoc and PayPal have all opened offices in or relocated to Arizona.
In 2014, CNN named Arizona the #1 most entrepreneurial state with a startup rate of 520 per 100,000. It’s no secret as to why; with incredible year-round weather, affordable cost of living, impressive universities and alumni, and an influx of tech talent, Arizona is quickly becoming the Silicon Desert.
The Weather
Few places can brag about their weather year-round the way Arizona can. With blue, sunny skies nearly 300 days a year and winter temperatures in the 50’s-70’s, Arizona offers a unique, sunny disposition for new and existing businesses. For new companies choosing to open in AZ or those thinking about relocating, the Phoenix weather offers major instant appeal to job seekers. Those that love adventuring outdoors and those that love patio adventures, all gravitate towards Phoenix.
“There are a few reasons why Arizona is exploding as a tech hub, and it all begins with our nice weather. This plays a huge role, especially when comparing Arizona to other states like California, which is super expensive, or New York City and Chicago, both of which are cold,” Brad Westfall, Lead CSS Day Organizer.
Cost of Living
When looking at cost of living across the U.S, Arizona offers the best perks in return for an affordable cost of living. Cost of living in Arizona is 28% lower than in New York City and only 2.5% above the national average. With an added bonus of being a few hours to the beach and a few hours to snow, plus affordable housing and job growth on the rise at 2.3%, the appeal of Arizona as a tech hub is easily understandable. Due to low business and property taxes, companies here can build large, high tech buildings in the desert at an affordable cost, complete with luxe amenities and competitive compensation. What does this mean for job seekers? Incredible working environments, easy commutes, and compensation that equates to a higher standard of living.
Bob Tunis, Economic Development Manager for the City of Scottsdale emphasizes, “You may be surprised at just how many major national and international tech companies have operations in Scottsdale like PayPal, SAP, GoDaddy, CA Technologies, IO, jda, Yelp, Weebly, ZocDoc, Orion Health and of course Jobing.com. Even more impressive is the number of companies that have large engineering and development centers. Orion Health’s national software center of excellence is in Scottsdale, PayPal has 350 people in its Scottsdale engineering center, GoDaddy’s has its international headquarters and engineering center, and SAP runs one of its five international product lines, SAP Retail, out of its downtown Scottsdale office. What does this all mean: The tech jobs are in Scottsdale!”
Solid Universities
Arizona is home to Arizona State University, University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University, which all rank in the top 200 of universities in the United States. These universities are cranking out tech-minded job seekers, making the playing field in Arizona competitive but vast. Add in the reputable commuter and online universities like Grand Canyon University and University of Phoenix, and it is easy to see Phoenix as the sprawling tech metropolis that it is.
Greater Phoenix also boasts the Skysong Innovation Center in South Scottsdale, which is home to many great tech companies as well as ASU’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation center. ASU offers a range of programs and resources to help their students develop and launch their ideas, including the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative–which offers $20k in seed funding–and the Startup School, which provides a series of facilitated workshops to help students in developed ventures.
University of Arizona also has programs preparing students for a life in tech by mentoring them and providing educational opportunities. InnovateUA, a program directly through U of A, fosters a student-led culture of innovation and entrepreneurship by granting opportunities to students.
Influx of Tech Talent
The evolution of Arizona into a tech hub began with Intel migrating to the desert in 2012, which has parlayed into the massive amount of technology and innovation happening in the state today.
“It is not only the giant businesses that make Arizona into a tech hub, because wherever the bigger, large entities go, smaller tech companies follow. Arizona is one of the small business capitals of the United States, meaning that there are so many small businesses here that it enables other small businesses to flourish. If you are a one-man web design firm and you want to stand out, it is easier to do so in Arizona rather than California where you are competing with huge agencies. Arizona fosters small businesses,” Brad Westfall, Lead CSS Day Organizer.
To support this influx of tech talent, technology-focused events and groups continue to spring up throughout the Valley. CSS day, an all-day event of intermediate to advanced CSS topics for web developers, began as a result of seeing large businesses increasingly move to Phoenix with the demand for hundreds of senior-level developers. Hack AZ, occurring on January 22nd, is focused on bringing together the most talented students to represent the burgeoning tech ecosystem. In only its second year, Hack AZ is anticipating 800 hackers from across the country to come together in one place. They will build software and hardware projects from start to finish in under 36 hours amongst their peers, mentors and company sponsors in Tucson.
With professional and networking groups for everything tech, from 3D Printing Techies to Digital Marketing & Developers, the Valley boasts an engaged and growing community of tech professionals and an ever-growing number of great companies ready to hire them.