Oracle Trying To Lure Workers To Nashville For New 'Global' HQ (bloomberg.com) 56
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Oracle is trying -- and sometimes struggling -- to attract workers to Nashville, where it is developing a massive riverfront headquarters.
The company is hiring for more roles in Nashville than any other US city, with a special focus on jobs in its crucial cloud infrastructure unit. Oracle cloud workers based elsewhere say they've been offered tens of thousands of dollars in incentives to move. Chairman Larry Ellison made a splash in April 2024 when he said Oracle would make Nashville its "world headquarters" just a few years after moving the software company from Redwood City, California, to Austin. His proclamation followed a 2021 tax incentive deal in which Oracle pledged to create 8,500 jobs in Nashville by 2031, paying an average salary above six figures.
"We're creating a world leading cloud and AI hub in Nashville that is attracting top talent locally, regionally, and from across the country," Oracle Senior Vice President Scott Twaddle said in a statement. "We've seen great success recruiting engineering and technical positions locally and will continue to hire aggressively for the next several years." Still, Oracle has a long way to go in its hiring goals. Today, it has about 800 workers assigned to offices in Nashville, according to documents seen by Bloomberg. That trails far behind the number of company employees in locations including Redwood City, Austin and Kansas City, the center of health records company Cerner, which Oracle acquired in 2022.
A lack of state income tax and the city's thriving music scene are touted by Oracle's promotional materials to attract talent to Nashville. Some new hires note they moved because in a tough tech job market, the Tennessee city was the only place with an Oracle position offered. To fit all of these workers, Oracle is planning a massive campus along the Cumberland River. It will feature over 2 million square feet of office space, a new cross-river bridge and a branch of the ultra high-end sushi chain Nobu, which has locations on many properties connected to Ellison, including the Hawaiian island of Lanai. [...] Oracle has been running recruitment events for the new hub. But a common concern for employees weighing a move is that Nashville is classified by Oracle in a lower geographic pay band than California or Seattle, meaning that future salary growth is likely limited, according to multiple workers who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
A weaker local tech job market also gives pause to some considering relocation. In addition, many of the roles in Nashville require five days a week in the office, which is a shift for Oracle, where a significant number of roles are remote. For a global company like Oracle, the exact meaning of "headquarters" can be a bit unclear. Austin remains the address included on company SEC filings and its executives are scattered across the country. The city where Oracle is hiring for the most positions globally is Bengaluru, the southern Indian tech hub. Still, Oracle is positioning Nashville to be at the center of its future. "We're developing our Nashville location to stand alongside Austin, Redwood Shores, and Seattle as a major innovation hub," Oracle writes on its recruitment site. "This is your chance to be part of it."
"We're creating a world leading cloud and AI hub in Nashville that is attracting top talent locally, regionally, and from across the country," Oracle Senior Vice President Scott Twaddle said in a statement. "We've seen great success recruiting engineering and technical positions locally and will continue to hire aggressively for the next several years." Still, Oracle has a long way to go in its hiring goals. Today, it has about 800 workers assigned to offices in Nashville, according to documents seen by Bloomberg. That trails far behind the number of company employees in locations including Redwood City, Austin and Kansas City, the center of health records company Cerner, which Oracle acquired in 2022.
A lack of state income tax and the city's thriving music scene are touted by Oracle's promotional materials to attract talent to Nashville. Some new hires note they moved because in a tough tech job market, the Tennessee city was the only place with an Oracle position offered. To fit all of these workers, Oracle is planning a massive campus along the Cumberland River. It will feature over 2 million square feet of office space, a new cross-river bridge and a branch of the ultra high-end sushi chain Nobu, which has locations on many properties connected to Ellison, including the Hawaiian island of Lanai. [...] Oracle has been running recruitment events for the new hub. But a common concern for employees weighing a move is that Nashville is classified by Oracle in a lower geographic pay band than California or Seattle, meaning that future salary growth is likely limited, according to multiple workers who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
A weaker local tech job market also gives pause to some considering relocation. In addition, many of the roles in Nashville require five days a week in the office, which is a shift for Oracle, where a significant number of roles are remote. For a global company like Oracle, the exact meaning of "headquarters" can be a bit unclear. Austin remains the address included on company SEC filings and its executives are scattered across the country. The city where Oracle is hiring for the most positions globally is Bengaluru, the southern Indian tech hub. Still, Oracle is positioning Nashville to be at the center of its future. "We're developing our Nashville location to stand alongside Austin, Redwood Shores, and Seattle as a major innovation hub," Oracle writes on its recruitment site. "This is your chance to be part of it."
I like Nashville (Score:3, Informative)
...but I don't want to work for Oracle.
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Re:I like Nashville (Score:5, Insightful)
Tennessee also has rather poor worker protection laws. Likely why Oracle is moving there.
Given the way things are going right now, worker protections seem to be an benefit now rather than picking up a job in a state that won't do a thing other than side with the company.
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Tennessee also has rather poor worker protection laws. Likely why Oracle is moving there.
Given the way things are going right now, worker protections seem to be an benefit now rather than picking up a job in a state that won't do a thing other than side with the company.
That and they've probably been given decades and decades of not paying any taxes.
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No kidding. I'm in Columbia, basically commuting distance to Nashville. And while I love this area, I would NOT drive to where they've put that place. It's a traffic nightmare, they're on the wrong side of the river, making traffic worse. And, oh yeah, it's oracle. I'm already at a Mega corp, but it's not a super competitive one. Count my out of anything like Oracle, MS, Google, Apple, Amazon...
Does the Apple Spaceship fly? (Score:2)
Asking for a friend.
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Twaddle? (Score:2)
How can you look at yourself in the mirror with a name like Twaddle, let alone expect anyone to take you seriously...
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I'd say the guy's last name is completely appropriate.
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How can you look at yourself in the mirror with a name like Twaddle, let alone expect anyone to take you seriously...
Indeed. "Everyone spoke at the meeting, but it was mostly Twaddle".
Aptronym [wikipedia.org] - a personal name aptly or peculiarly suited to its owner (e.g. Jules Angst, Swiss professor of psychiatry). Or inaptronyms, like Rob Banks, British police officer.
Nominative determinism [wikipedia.org] - the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate toward areas of work or interest that fit their names
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It's French, pronounced "twa-DELL"
From Blue to Red states? (Score:3, Interesting)
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I'd strongly suggest that Nashville's city leaders should demand any payments be made on delivery.
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I'm sure all the cost savings will trickle down into wages...
People want remote jobs (Score:2)
Stop telling them otherwise
Re:People want remote jobs (Score:4, Interesting)
they are telling us that AI is going to replace us all, the future is 'agentic' and there's no stopping progress
also corporate: we want you back in the office 100%.
they are psychopaths.
Be so for real (Score:2)
"We're creating a world leading cloud and AI hub in Nashville that is attracting top talent locally, regionally, and from across the country,"
Just saying it out loud makes me giggle.
Second thought is they didn't specify which "country"...
If you get laid off from oracle (Score:5, Insightful)
How are you going to find another blue chip tech job in nashville? If oracle is the only big tech employer in the area, when they tell you to jump you ask how high. The tech job market in the bay area is not amazing right now but if I got laid off tomorrow, I could walk across the street and be making 80% of what I am right now before my 2 weeks severance ran out.
If Oracle lays you off it's an emergency; you have to sell your house and move back to california or some other tech hub, likely 1000+ miles away.
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How are you going to find another blue chip tech job in nashville? If oracle is the only big tech employer in the area, when they tell you to jump you ask how high. The tech job market in the bay area is not amazing right now but if I got laid off tomorrow, I could walk across the street and be making 80% of what I am right now before my 2 weeks severance ran out.
If Oracle lays you off it's an emergency; you have to sell your house and move back to california or some other tech hub, likely 1000+ miles away.
Perhaps it'll be a popular option for all those guitar playing programmers...
Re:If you get laid off from oracle (Score:4, Insightful)
How are you going to find another blue chip tech job in nashville? If oracle is the only big tech employer in the area, when they tell you to jump you ask how high. The tech job market in the bay area is not amazing right now but if I got laid off tomorrow, I could walk across the street and be making 80% of what I am right now before my 2 weeks severance ran out.
If Oracle lays you off it's an emergency; you have to sell your house and move back to california or some other tech hub, likely 1000+ miles away.
This is a big deal. It used to be that working for a large employer for one's entire career was a thing, but that's no longer the case. So, thinking ahead to the next job is unfortunately a necessary reality.
Also, the big knock on California is the high cost of living. This is no joke. Home prices in Silicon Valley are high. $2 million is a small, old home likely not in the top school areas. However, the compensation is higher. Even with the higher cost of living for not just housing but everything, the net income is still significantly higher than elsewhere. This definitely causes stress, but if one is willing to endure the stress of Silicon Valley, one will end up with more money at retirement time compared to moving to a cheaper area.
Moving to Nashville because one likes Nashville is a good thing. Moving there expecting to end up with more money is a bad decision.
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How are you going to find another blue chip tech job in nashville? If oracle is the only big tech employer in the area, when they tell you to jump you ask how high. The tech job market in the bay area is not amazing right now but if I got laid off tomorrow, I could walk across the street and be making 80% of what I am right now before my 2 weeks severance ran out.
If Oracle lays you off it's an emergency; you have to sell your house and move back to california or some other tech hub, likely 1000+ miles away.
This is a big deal. It used to be that working for a large employer for one's entire career was a thing, but that's no longer the case. So, thinking ahead to the next job is unfortunately a necessary reality.
Also, the big knock on California is the high cost of living. This is no joke. Home prices in Silicon Valley are high. $2 million is a small, old home likely not in the top school areas. However, the compensation is higher. Even with the higher cost of living for not just housing but everything, the net income is still significantly higher than elsewhere. This definitely causes stress, but if one is willing to endure the stress of Silicon Valley, one will end up with more money at retirement time compared to moving to a cheaper area.
Moving to Nashville because one likes Nashville is a good thing. Moving there expecting to end up with more money is a bad decision.
The problem you've got with Tennessee is that the good schools are still worse than the bad schools in California.
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Isn't there a national lab with super computers near Nashville? Maybe they'd be hiring?
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Are you talking about the Oak Ridge labs? Or the ones in nearby huntsville? Or the datacenters going in Memphis? There's a LOT going on here now.
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It's run by the guy with the beard.
Re: If you get laid off from oracle (Score:1)
A lot of heavy industry in and around Nashville. Toyota and Nissan and their supplies come to mind first. Lots of aerospace stuff between there and Huntsville. A talented techie can probably make himself useful in any of those places.
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Nashville is a major hub for healthcare headquarters. HCA Healthcare, LifePoint, and Community Health Systems are examples. HCA is one of the largest healthcare systems in the world.
Nashville has issues (Score:5, Interesting)
Setting aside the lack of remote work problem, which is internal to Oracle itself, Nashville has issues which IMO could make it unattractive to move to:
- It's already a tourist magnet, so any of the music or other "entertainment venues" are often swarmed with clueless out-of-town tourists and the inevitable roving gangs of drunken Woo-Girls.
- Housing prices in the city itself are outrageous, and not getting better. Recent reappraisals are going to end up driving people out of their now super-expensive homes.
- The schools in the city vary from "pretty good" through "just OK" to "yeah, no." A lot of it depends on where you live, which is unfortunate.
- The mass transit infrastructure consists of buses, but primarily only in the Nashville proper, and a single rail line that runs only to the east. There are a LOT of surrounding counties where folks who work in Nashville live, most of which don't have access to those.
- (We're not even going to discuss the 'Tesla Tunnel' nonsense.)
- Housing prices in those same surrounding counties can also be outrageous, sometimes even higher than Nashville itself.
- The schools in some surrounding counties are genuinely and consistently good...but you can map that directly to the housing prices. You get what you pay for.
- The road infrastructure leading to those surrounding counties is about to get worse with the introduction of the euphemistically named "Choice Lanes" (toll roads), because, you know, outsourcing lane availability to private corporations and reducing the number available to us plebs makes everything better, right?
- The rollback of even the most basic emissions testing will probably degrade air quality in the coming years. It used to be worse, it got better, probably headed back the wrong way now I suspect.
The TL;DR of all the above is: It's a genuine "It city" now, with all the problems that implies.
(Full disclosure, I've lived in the Nashville area for over 3 decades now, and I was even here for a bit before that while they were still blasting I-440.)
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- Which is why I'm in Columbia. I don't go downtown to save my life.
- again, many areas outside of town are still affordable (Murfreesboro is too damn busy now)
- yup, but believe it or not, there are still affordable areas in williamson County (I was in nolensville before columbia)
- Mass transit, yeah I can see your point of view is living IN Nashville. I'll try to quit harping on living outside of town.
- That tunnel will only be for people who want to stay drunk between t
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The problem is oracle made that pretty hard with where they put it. Don't put it right smack downtown where it's hard to get to. Not sure if that side of the river is any easier or not. But it's further away from most of the population. The growth is all East and South of nashville. They put it somewhere that would be great for the opposite.
On the other hand, I don't want any of you people moving here. Stay away. Don't add to my traffic and housing prices. This place sucks!
I was somewhat oversimplifying the situation here for the civilians out there who haven't lived in MidTN forever. For those of us who've watched all this unfold there's a lot more nuance, obviously, but I'm not here to publish the Comprehensive History of Becoming an It-Town, so to speak.
So your answer about their HQ location is...quantum: It both SHOULD be south or east of town, closer to population growth and easier for folks there to get to, yet also SHOULD NOT be anywhere south (or east) but instead s
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Good Response, nice to meet you neighbor!
And being oracle, I don't think I'd want to work there if they put it right in columbia. But I WOULD be thankful that it would drive up competition and increase IT salaries along with it. And drive up my house value as well. I'm not an oracle hater, but I'm not interested in working in a highly competitive environment any longer. I hear horror stories about amazon and google dumping their bottom 10% each year. No thank you! I do good work, but I don't want to li
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and Tennessee's evangelical targeting of LGBTQ+
Red State (Score:5, Insightful)
It could also be that tech workers don't really want to relocate to a red state. Maybe women want reproductive freedom [techcrunch.com]. Maybe LGBT workers don't want to be hassled. Maybe most tech workers aren't aligned with red-state politics [fortune.com].
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It could also be that tech workers don't really want to relocate to a red state. Maybe women want reproductive freedom [techcrunch.com]. Maybe LGBT workers don't want to be hassled. Maybe most tech workers aren't aligned with red-state politics [fortune.com].
Yes, going to a red state is a showstopper for many California tech workers. The ones that are okay with a red state have already left or thought about leaving California.
One other big thing. A lot of the California Oracle workers are Asian. Asians for the most part don't want to leave California, and if they do, they're going to Seattle or Austin. Most Asians won't consider moving to the South due to lack of Asian stores/restaurants, lack of other Asians, and red-state attitudes toward Asians (e.g., yo
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One other big thing. A lot of the California Oracle workers are Asian. Asians for the most part don't want to leave California, and if they do, they're going to Seattle or Austin. Most Asians won't consider moving to the South due to lack of Asian stores/restaurants, lack of other Asians, and red-state attitudes toward Asians (e.g., you'll be fine as long as you act like you're white).
You might have hit on a topic that would make a good comedy film. There have been lots of comedies about the more obvious cases of one American culture bumping up against the caricature of another ("We got both kinds, we got country and western!"), but I can't think of a film portraying Asian Americans navigating the deep south.
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Seems like any suggestion that the kum-ba-ya feel-good diversity of high-tech is suspect touches a nerve. This seems to be the general sentiment in red states, but it is latent in blue states and high-tech.
Go ahead and click on the moderation score for the parent post to see the backlash. That backlash is at the core of the reason many Asians are afraid to live outside of coastal California.
Moderation yo-yo (was Re:Red State) (Score:2)
Somewhat OT... I have enjoyed watching the moderation on my comment go from "0, Troll" to "5, Insightful". As soon as the work day on the West Coast of the USA ended, the score started to increase. :)
Nobu (Score:2)
[...] and a branch of the ultra high-end sushi chain Nobu [...]
I once hosted some visiting Americans in Tokyo, and they expressed amazement that there was a Nobu restaurant at the bottom of the Tokyo office building in which we were working - and even more surprise that we would be able to secure a table there for lunch without a reservation.
The fact is that in Tokyo at least, nobody I know holds Nobu up as a place to go to experience high quality sushi. It has the reputation in the US as being an exclusive restaurant in which high status folk can dine without being bo
Re: Nobu (Score:1)
When the first McDonald's opened in Moscow in 1991, it was a high end sit down place by Soviet standards.
From an American standard Japan is a foreign country, they do things differently there, and crom the Japanese perspective, America is a foreign country and they do things differently there.
Who'd have thunk it (Score:4, Funny)
As a long time Nashvillian... (Score:1)
Missing Out On Some Good Food (Score:2)
There's a truckstop about halfway between Nashville and Chatanooga (off I-24) that does a great western omelette with hashbrowns on top, smothered with sausage gravy.
At least there was back in '93.
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The Coronary Cafe?
california (Score:2)
People are california chauvinists. They will not readily leave silicon valley. Pretty much anyone else will be game.