Data Showed More Tech Workers Are Leaving Silicon Valley

Many tech workers are leaving Silicon Valley to go to cities where tech startups are growing. Cities such as Austin, Texas, and Seattle, are their target.

According to data from Indeed.com, a job-search site as quoted by Quartz, many tech workers are leaving Silicon Valley and San Fransisco Bay Area. As of February 1, 35% of tech job searches on Indeed.com from the Silicon Valley were looking for jobs elsewhere. The data is based on 30-day averages and adjusted for seasonal factors, was up about 30% year-over-year.

The data suggested people who live in Bay Area and searching for tech jobs outside the area tend to find better opportunities elsewhere. Considering Bay Area is area with the most expensive rents in the U.S. and people ages 31 to 40 were among the highest percentage who search for tech job. This also indicates they want to settle down in more affordable areas where they can improve their quality of life.

Senior Vice President at Indeed.com Paul D'Arcy, told Quartz, "In the Bay Area, there's been such enormous growth and opportunity that it's created some challenges for happiness." He further explained the trend, "Job searchers are always balancing opportunity and happiness. As people think about what the right fit for them is, housing, traffic, and quality of life are really important factors."

Although the number is significant, but D'Arcy said the trend does not diminish Silicon Valley as tech hub. Majority of tech job searches, 66% were still looking for work within Bay Area. Also people from other parts of the country migrated to the Silicon Valley on a daily basis. San Fransisco Bay Area still become the hub and center of growth of technology opportunities in the US.

Meanwhile, Silicon Valley-based tech company is facing a hard time in the beginning of this year. Fidelity Investment, the second world-largest mutual fund and financial services wrote down many of its privately-held Silicon Valley-based portfolio companies. Fortune reported that 19 companies were written down on January 2016 from its last month's value, including Dropbox who was down 10.34%, Nutanix was decreased 16.92% and the largest devaluation was Cloudflare which was down 30.55%.

Vanity Fair also quoted First Round's investors Fred Wilson who put pressure on heavily valued startup like Uber to go public. As last month, for the very first time since September 2011, there were no IPO of the tech companies.

As many tech workers are leaving Silicon Valley, tech startups are growing in other areas like Austin, Texas, and Seattle. Meanwhile, some tech companies in San Fransisco Bay Area is facing difficult time with over-valuation.