University of Washington Names New Computer Science Building After Bill & Melinda Gates

GeekWire | Taylor Soper | October 12

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/univ-washington-names-new-computer-science-building-bill-melinda-gates/

“The UW Board of Regents on Thursday afternoon approved the naming of the UW’s second computer science building as the “Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering.” The decision to name the new building, which is currently under construction, was made by Microsoft and a group of local leaders who are longtime friends of Bill and Melinda Gates. Today they announced a $30 million donation toward the $110 million building; the $30 million includes previously-announced contributions from Microsoft ($10 million) and Charles and Lisa Simonyi ($5 million). Microsoft added another follow-up donation of $10 million, while the “Friends of Bill & Melinda” group helped complete the full $30 million contribution.”

Report: Seattle Tops Nation in Wage Growth

Seattle PI | Daniel DeMay | October 11

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Report-Seattle-had-highest-wage-growth-in-last-12270703.php

“The Seattle metro region had the highest wage growth in the nation in the last year, a figure that tied with two other cities, according to a new report from PayScale. Seattle, San Francisco and St. Louis all saw 4.1 percent year-over-year wage growth from the third quarter of 2016 through the third quarter of 2017, the report found. For Seattle, the latest figures mark a 20.1 percent increase since 2006, a figure more than 2 percentage points higher than San Francisco. Much of that wage growth can be attributed to the boom of the tech industry, where starting salaries in Seattle average more than $100,000 for software engineers.”

Tech Workers in Seattle Have Plenty of Extra Cash

Seattle PI | Daniel DeMay | October 10

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Tech-workers-in-Seattle-have-plenty-of-extra-cash-12264362.php

“Seattle is frequently named one of the best — if not THE best — value city for tech workers. The pay is high enough (starting pay for software engineers was $108,000 earlier this year) to offset the growing cost of living in the Emerald City, even if the median home price is $725,000. That is perhaps exactly why Seattle tech workers have the most money left over after paying their bills, a number often referred to as discretionary or disposable income. Software applications developers have, on average, $57,779 left over after paying for housing and other essential costs of living, according to data from Trove, a tech-oriented storage company.”

Rebuilt Yesler Way Bridge to Reopen Tuesday After 16-Month Face-Lift

Seattle TImes | Mike Lindblom | October 10

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/rebuilt-yesler-way-bridge-to-reopen-tuesday-after-16-month-face-lift/

“The historic Yesler Way bridge in downtown Seattle is ready to reopen Tuesday, following a 16-month rebuild that preserved its steel décor. The bridge’s support columns at street level were removed, so a single span of concrete resting upon steel girders crosses the entire distance above Fourth and Fifth avenues. But the artistic iron guardrails and girders running along either side of the bridge were restored. The $20 million project provides wider sidewalks to shorten the crossing distances. One general lane and one bicycle lane go uphill, while downhill there’s one traffic lane to be shared by cars and cyclists.”

More Than 100 Out-Of-Town Tech Companies Set Up Shop in Seattle Region, Doubling in Less Than 3 Years

GeekWire | Nat Levy | October 9

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/100-town-tech-companies-set-shop-seattle-region-doubling-less-3-years/

“Less than three years ago, GeekWire started a database to track the staggering number of out-of-town tech companies setting up engineering centers in Seattle, and since that time, the list has doubled in size…All that talent has helped propel Seattle to become the second best tech market in the nation, behind only San Francisco, according to a July report from real estate company CBRE…The engineering outpost trend really got rolling more than a dozen years ago when Google identified the region as a hotbed of talent, primarily pulling engineers out of Microsoft…Several other big tech companies have followed Google’s lead in establishing outposts and growing to become major players in the local ecosystem.”