Christensen: Multiply Pittsburgh by Google, get prosperity

As early as next spring, this steel-built city will replace its old foundations with silicon as… As early as next spring, this steel-built city will replace its old foundations with silicon as Google expands into a 40,000-square-foot office in Pittsburgh’s Bakery Square development, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The company officially opened it’s Pittsburgh office at Carnegie Mellon in 2006 with two employees. It now employs more than 100 people and is growing. The expansion of the multinational corporation faces us with the question: How is Pittsburgh’s economy going to change?

Google came to Pittsburgh because we are home to some of the best computer scientists and engineers in the United States. In the US News & World Report list of best universities for engineering and IT, CMU ranked 12th in the world this year. The Google office’s close proximity to CMU offers the opportunity for close collaboration with experts in the fields of Machine Learning, Computer Systems and Robotics.

The corporation’s local expansion means that we can expect more of those university graduates to remain in the city after graduation, instead of moving to technical hubs like the Silicon Valley. Although Forbes Magazine ranked Pittsburgh a top-10 city in terms of 2009 job growth, many IT graduates still choose to leave. A 2009 survey of CMU electrical and computer-engineering graduates found that a whopping 24 percent moved to California, Hawaii or Nevada to find work after graduation. Forty-nine percent remained in the mid-Atlantic region.

For the most part, it can be assumed that graduates are not leaving by choice. The city has one of the largest student populations in the country. The cost of living is fairly affordable and the city offers a wealth of museums, concert halls, parks, bars and restaurants — prime components to intrigue a young professional population. Students leave because the majority of Pittsburgh’s economy is based on medical research and pharmaceuticals. For those not going to medical school, job opportunities are more restricted.

Google could change this exodus of electrical- and computer-engineering graduates and provide the kick-start needed for the city to embrace its youthful population. The web company’s expansion provides the promise of forging stronger ties between the city and the talents emerging from its universities. Job openings are already posted for positions in software engineering and engineering operations at the Bakery Square office. According to the Tribune-Review, about half of Google’s current Pittsburgh employees are graduates of local universities. The company says it plans to maintain its current ratio with the expansion. It is also widening its applicant pool to include applicants specializing in biology, business and artificial intelligence. If the students stay, Pittsburgh could become one of America’s great cities.

But merely tapping into existing talent is not enough — in order for Google to be successful in Pittsburgh, it must also tap into the city’s existing personality. The common conception is that people love Pittsburgh for Primanti Bros. sandwiches, the Penguins and the Steelers, but it’s more than that. Pittsburgh is unique for its quirky neighborhoods, the Saturday-morning Strip District and its underground music scene and concert halls.

The company seemed to do just that — tap into local culture — in Boston, where it recently expanded intoa satellite office. Although Google brought parts of Silicon Valley’s aesthetics when it arrived in the city, it didn’t attempt to make Boston an exact reproduction. The Cambridge office uses facilities that include a house band, Tiki-jungle-decorated workshops and mini-kitchens within 150 feet of every employee. But the office also had local touches, such as murals of Fenway Park, the Boston skyline and local beers. It also showed movies filmed in Massachusetts.

The CMU office imitates Google’s corporate offices in California with bean bag chairs, a pool table and a real-time screen displaying Google searches around the world. Perhaps the Bakery Square office will work harder to incorporate Pittsburgh aesthetics into the company’s Silicon model.

So a city founded on steel mills and industry has a new tenant anchoring a transient population. If Pittsburgh’s best computer researchers and engineers stay in the city, the change promises to start a chain reaction, attracting more researchers, more jobs and more opportunity. When choosing where they want to work, professors are attracted by the quality of their co-workers and faculty members. All job markets operate in much the same way. Google will help provide potential for the city to bloom and grow, in a continuation of the economic revamping we’ve seen with the medical and pharmaceutical firms. If more IT companies follow Google here, the next few years are going to be exciting ones for our city.

Write Caitlyn at cac141@pitt.edu