A range of initiatives are helping Delaware build a stable and diverse pipeline for tech talent.
The war for tech talent has been described as “endless in sight,” with the pandemic driving much wider adoption of tech and companies needing qualified candidates now more than ever.
While companies are setting out to find the best talent for the next generation of technologies, one place they should start their search is Delaware. Delaware’s low cost of living along with its long -standing sector in financial services, chemistry and life sciences attracts talent who admire the value the state provides.
Delaware has the highest relative concentration of financial services jobs of any U.S. state. The sector generates 9% of all jobs in the state – a number nearly twice the US average. Furthermore, Delaware’s biotech research and development workforce concentration is more than 1.5 times the national average, while the Delaware Technology Park serves as a centralized hub where technology companies and academic research institutions come together. to incubate ideas and conduct world-class research.
Along with all of this, Delaware has one more thing to offer tech companies: access to a diverse, deep pool of technology talent. The fourth highest U.S. concentration of Ph.D.s working in health, science and engineering is located in Delaware, and the state’s rate for the concentration of technology workers is also high, ranking seventh overall. country, leading only to California. There are more than 100 colleges and universities within two hours of Delaware, and several unique organizations are working to build the next generation of tech talent in the state.
A member of Code Differently
Code Differently and Zip Code Wilmington are two Delaware -based organizations that aim to train locals interested in moving into a career in tech. Desa Burton, executive director at Zip Code Wilmington, said the group’s mission is to build the state’s economy by training talented individuals seeking to make a transition to a tech career with a full-stack software developer skills.
“In doing so, we are helping to build the economy by putting them in jobs with partners in our region – increasing the tax base and the number of people who choose to call Delaware home,” he said. Burton.
Burton added that, while the average age of a Zip Coder is 35, students in Wilmington’s Zip Code program range in age from 18 to 60. When they enter the 12-week immersion program-where they will learn Java software engineering or data engineering and analytics-they usually make an annual salary in the mid- $ 20K range. When they graduate, many are offered jobs with an average salary of $ 75K per year in the financial, telecommunications and pharmaceutical software industries, among others.
According to Burton, on average, 75% of graduates stay in the area. Thanks to Delaware’s status as a stable and growing financial services and fintech hub, Wilmington’s Zip Code hiring partners include large financial institutions including M&T Bank, Wilmington Trust and Marlette Funding.
“Our 2021 Java program has an approximately 95% completion rate and within three months, 74% of those individuals have gotten jobs,” he said. “In six months, that number has risen to 86%.”
Stephanie Eldridge, CEO of Code Differently, described her organization as a “diversity, equity, inclusion, technology and workforce solutions company” that delivers career -focused technology training to people who lack representation in the technology industry, including women and people of color. The organization is dedicated to teaching software development skills, including Java, Spring Boot, AWS, React and other capabilities that will help people learn how to work behind technology development.
Desa Burton and members of the Wilmington Zip Code
Code Differently is also a certified training partner for software company ServiceNow and trains people to work on its proprietary platform. Despite the fact that the company is based in California, Eldridge said, the partnership currently has 36 Delaware residents in training who will work remotely in jobs averaging $ 75K when completed. He added that JP Morgan Chase and Vanguard also hired some employees through Code Differently, such as Accenture, Comcast, HubSpot and Oracle.
The organization also works directly with several companies to create training programs tailored to their exact needs.
“We work with local companies as well as across the U.S. and abroad to understand exactly what employers are looking for and where they’re headed,” Eldridge said. “We talk to their recruiting teams, hiring managers and even to their architects. We’re all technologists on the leadership side of Code Differently, so we really understand the language. ”
Along with unemployed and underemployed adults, Code Differently works with hundreds of high school students as part of its pipeline program for youth, creating the next generation of tech entrepreneurs. It’s a full-time program, so Code Differently does its best to offer stipends, childcare vouchers and other benefits that can remove barriers for people to complete it. Currently, Eldridge said, 90% of group graduates are recruited after they complete the program.
Eldridge also released the Delaware IT Industry Council, which brings together corporations from across the state to better understand what their tech talent needs to help ensure there are trained Delaware residents ready to fill the gaps. position.
“Delaware is just a weird space,” Eldridge said. “It’s big enough to find great tech talent and to develop tech talent, but it’s small enough that you can see the immediate impact on the community when you train people to move into tech careers.”
This article was produced in collaboration with Studio B and the Delaware Prosperity Partnership. Bisnow news personnel are not involved in the production of this content.
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