One thing on my mind lately as the nation faces skyrocketing unemployment numbers is talent – which has been a pretty hot topic in the San Diego tech ecosystem over the years. San Diego is in the top 10 most populated cities in the U.S., has a top 10 best public university in the country, yet is barely in the top 20 metros for tech talent. Luckily, we are growing, but we have plenty more to do. Especially during Covid, this is a good time to invest in training to upskill so many of our local workers who are currently out of work. There are encouraging signs as new training programs emerge, like code training through Income Sharing Agreements with San Diego Workforce Partnership and UCSD, and apprenticeships with San Diego Code School. The EDC’s new Advancing San Diego program is also supplying new tech talent to the community, which is helping supplement the loss of a few code schools because of the state’s legislation against alternative training programs. This is a good start and we need more. For example, we need to train more tech salespeople and marketers, recruiters and finance professionals who understand SaaS business models and stock grants. We can do this all here in our community and modernize our local workforce. I’m excited to see our community rise to the occasion, as it always does!
Cheers!
