PITTSBURGH -- For years, local leaders have been complaining about bright young people leaving Pittsburgh.

Those same local leaders are hoping Google's announcement will help bring many of those young people back -- but keep others from leaving.

Many Internet users are familiar with Google the search engine.

But Google, the company, is one of the new economy's shining stars.

Its market value is higher than the combined value of US Steel, Alcoa and PPG.

For years, the company has been trying to hire the best and brightest software engineers away from Pittsburgh -- but many of them wanted to stay here.

---

Steel City ... Or Silicon Hill? Talk About Pittsburgh's Tech Growth

---

"We're not too stupid. We eventually got the message if we wanted to hire these people, we were going to have to open an office in Pittsburgh because there are smart people who live in Pittsburgh and want to continue to live in Pittsburgh," said Craig Nevill-Manning of Google.

Google's decision to open a Pittsburgh engineering office -- partnering with Carnegie Mellon University -- is also expected to keep many bright young people from leaving the area.

"It wasn't so much they wanted to leave Pittsburgh -- after all, who could ask for better weather than this. But that's where the jobs were, that's where the exciting careers were," said Carnegie Mellon University Science Dean Randal Bryant.

"The other talent pool that will come back here in droves is what we call the 'boomerangers' -- people that grew up here, went to school here and got to the point where they're looking to come back to Pittsburgh. Google will be one of the reasons they do that," said Dennis Yablonsky, Pennsylvania Economic Development Secretary.

CMU Computer Science professor Andrew Moore will head Pittsburgh's Google office and hire a staff that could number more than 100 employees -- most of them software engineers.

"Google just hires really good people and asks them to be absolutely creative," said Moore.

"There's no particular limit to the size of the office here. It's really about the talent," said Nevill-Manning.

Google still has not decided where its Pittsburgh office will be located.

Also yet to be determined is whether the company will get economic incentive money from the state or county.

But the company is already hiring for the Pittsburgh office. Job listings are available on www.google.com.