Amazon has been on the hunt for a second headquarters. And cities across the country, including Boston, are desperately trying to lure the giant tech company to their own neighborhood. Part of Amazon's appeal is the promise to bring up to 50,000 "high-paying" jobs.

But in Boston, tech CEOs and venture capitalists said there's already a massive labor shortage.

"Hiring is the No. 1 problem for every portfolio company we have. And we have over 200," said Sarah Downey, who works at Accomplice, a Cambridge venture capital firm that invests in early-stage tech companies. "Everyone's trying to hire engineers. Everyone's trying to retain engineers."

Sarah Downey says she fears Amazon could steal a lot of the area's tech talent, but she does support the push to bring the tech behemoth to Boston. (Asma Khalid/WBUR)

There are roughly 17 job openings for every one computer science college grad, according to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.

So, logically, you might think an influx of 50,000 additional tech workers would further constrain the local labor market. But in multiple interviews across the industry, tech leaders and venture capitalists said an Amazon HQ2 might actually help alleviate the labor shortage.

And even if it did make their own hiring more difficult in the short run, they all insisted it was worth it, saying an Amazon headquarters would be a huge boost for the city's tech ecosystem. (Note: The Boston-based e-commerce company Wayfair, which might be in more direct competition with Amazon for jobs, declined to comment for this story.)

Downey said Amazon is a net positive even though she has a slight fear — a sort of dystopian vision — that Amazon might come to Boston and crush its competition. She explained her "worst-case scenario" this way.

"I worry, and I think a lot of us have been worrying, there will be a brain drain, that Amazon's just gonna come in here and steal all of the engineers," she said. "And all of the other companies that have been here before are gonna be in even more trouble with hiring than they already are."

But, even as she described those fears, she admitted that scenario is unlikely.

"If you're the kind of person who wants to go be an engineer at Amazon, at least at that stage in your life, you're probably not the same person who wants to work for a small startup," Downey explained.

Plus, she said, Amazon could actually boost the startup ecosystem. After all, look at Silicon Valley. Plenty of people spend a few years at Google or Facebook and then go on to launch their own companies.

JD Sherman is president of Hubspot. He said Amazon could draw greater numbers of talented people to the Boston area's tech sector. (Asma Khalid/WBUR)

Amazon Could Be 'Healthy' For Boston's Tech Environment

In general, the logic is that talent begets talent.

"I think having a big name like Amazon will help draw more talent to the area," said JD Sherman, president and chief operating officer at HubSpot. "I think it would be healthy for the tech environment here."

For Sherman, one of the major benefits of a large, well-known tech company planting roots in the city is the potential to increase the talent pool.

Colin Angle, CEO of iRobot, said he agrees.

"I don’t view it as a zero-sum game competing for the same talent pool," said Angle. "I view it as a big enough statement that the entire ecosystem is raised."

Angle described Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as a "mentor" to him in the early 2000s before iRobot went public. He said knowing how smart Bezos is, he's certain Amazon would make Boston a more attractive tech city.

Angle pointed out that every year thousands of students graduate from Boston-area colleges and then move away. He thinks Amazon could help convince those graduates to stay, and essentially offer the city a stamp of approval.

Colin Angle, CEO and founder of Bedford-based iRobot, said an Amazon headquarters in the Boston area would lift up the tech ecosystem here. He stands before a display of Roomba models in the iRobot Museum. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

"It’s not about [Amazon] taking jobs away from the tech community. It’s about the impact — the very positive impact — they can have on the tech community," said Angle, who insisted an Amazon HQ2 in Boston would be "unambiguously positive" even if it made iRobot's hiring decisions more difficult in the immediate aftermath.

The idea that some mid-level tech companies might have additional challenges hiring workers in the short-term is a belief executives at both Carbonite and HubSpot supported but seemed to dismiss.

"It would certainly be more competitive for positions," Sherman agreed. "[But] that’s gonna happen anyway, because I think the Boston tech scene is getting more and more vibrant," he said.

Sherman said HubSpot has already realized it needs to compete on more than just salary to attract software engineers. The company has been trying to promote opportunity and growth to prospective employees.

Developing Homegrown Talent

One way for Amazon to solve the talent problem is to help import and retain people, but Mohamad Ali, CEO of Carbonite, said an Amazon HQ2 could also be an opportunity for the state to invest in developing talent.

"If we use the Amazon relocation here to develop talent then it’s a win-win for everyone," said Ali. He would like to see a focus on improving tech education in high schools and colleges throughout the state to train those with an aptitude for the subject already studying in Massachusetts.

"What we can’t do is, you know, bring Amazon here, provide massive tax incentives, don’t educate our population," he said. "And then what we have is just massive competition for talent, and it’s just the limited few that benefit. That is not a good outcome."

A "good" outcome for Ali would benefit all Bostonians, including those folks who have historically been overlooked in the knowledge economy.