When Jesse Dougherty graduated from the University of British Columbia, his career in the tech industry took him far from his home on the Sunshine Coast.
Dougherty, who grew up in Roberts Creek and went to Elphinstone Secondary School in Gibsons, worked in a global industry that has no physical boundaries. The Internet was his world as he rose through the ranks of companies such as Sophos, Microsoft and Amazon.
All along, however, he wanted to be able to return home and contribute to the place he loved.
On Nov. 3, Dougherty was at the podium as Amazon announced it was adding 1,000 new jobs to its Vancouver workforce.
Dougherty is site leader of Amazon’s Vancouver office, which employs 1,000 people, most of whom are software development engineers.
While he wanted to talk about Amazon’s second downtown Vancouver office, which will open in 2020, the media wanted his insight into whether Vancouver would be chosen for Amazon’s second North American headquarters, commonly referred to as HQ2. Vancouver is one of 238 cities vying for Amazon’s $5 billion investment and the 50,000 new jobs.
“I have absolutely no idea about HQ2 but I’m as excited as everyone to find out,” Dougherty said.
Amazon spokesperson Allison Reader says plans for the second office have been in the works for “quite some time” and are independent of the city’s bid.
“Amazon goes where the tech talent goes. Vancouver is one of those places,” she said, citing “fabulous” education resources and tech workers. “It’s about wanting to go where the talent is rather than make the tech talent come to us.”
“What drives us is the availability of awesome talent,” said Dougherty.
The second office, which is slated for 2020, will take over 150,000 sq.ft. at 402 Dunsmuir. The majority of new hires, Dougherty said, will be software engineers.
Dougherty’s not concerned about Amazon’s ability to attract new talent. “We’ve found that we’ve had a lot of opportunities by offering exciting jobs.”
Mayor Gregor Robertson said that regardless of whether Vancouver gets the thousands of jobs associated with the second headquarters that Amazon wants to build in North America, the decision to open the second office shows that “Amazon is serious about Vancouver.”
He concedes that HQ2 would put a lot of pressure on the city. “The growth would be a challenge to absorb,” he said, adding that the build-out for HQ2 would take place over several years, not all at once, and require support from across the entire metro region.
“We need to show the world we mean business,” the mayor said, and that includes improving housing opportunities and public transit.
Carla Quantrough, the federal minister of public service and procurement, referenced Canada’s goal to raise the annual intake of immigrants by 13 per cent by 2020.
“Canada welcomes the world’s brightest minds, no matter where they’re from,” she said during the formal half of the press conference.
Noting that two-thirds of Canadians have post-secondary education, she also highlighted the federal government’s $2 billion, multi-year investment in research infrastructure in colleges and universities.
