Walmart Global Tech (what Labs was called) got gutted in the layoff-palooza last year. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/walmart-tech-layoff-corporate. Heavy outsourcing, too, so I've heard. I also believe that Walmart is trying to consolidate everyone into their Bentonville HQ; gl trying to get engineers in SFBA to move out to Arkansas!
They don’t want SFBA engineers for the most part now, they want so called “dark matter” developers, meaning they’re primarily recruiting from the Midwest, upper South, and rust belt states where opportunities are more scarce
Bentonville Arkansas is basically like a cheaper Denver Colorado.
They have one of the best coffee roasters/shops out there, tons of bike and hiking trails, you're in the Ozarks, a major university is next door in Fayetteville. You're not that far away from doing a float trip on the buffalo river either (1.5 hours). They have tons of concerts there too in Walmart's ampitheater. Also, there is some industry for sure and decent schools (for the south anyway).
It is very trendy. Northwest Arkansas is nothing like south Arkansas. Not geographically or politically. I wouldn't expect it to be THAT difficult to convince folks to relocate to somewhere like that. Walmart does pump a lot of money into the area.
With how hostile state politics have become though, there's no amount of pay that could get me to move out to Arkansas. Learned my lesson after living in Austin for a few years.
Living in Denver and having gone to Bentonville, I definitely see the similarities - but they're very much in 2 different leagues. Coors holds the economy up here a lot though; and everything in the hometown of Coors (Golden) is only owned by like 3 families - Coors, Foss and Rooney.
Even if it was a liberal bastion, I am absolutely not moving out of state for a tech company in this period of rampant layoffs. I don't want to be out of a job and in a new, unfamiliar city.
Bentonville is quite nice, and the opportunities on that team are incredible. Tech problems you’d never think Walmart would be solving. Great facilities. And not a small number of veterans that used to do exquisite things for their country.
