According to a study released in September by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, as many as 11.5 million Americans will have to be retrained in the next three years with new skills as the country’s economy continues moving toward tech-focused careers.
But even among its peers, Austin stands out as an especially competitive market for talent in this new economy. A 2019 report from commercial real estate firm CBRE ranked Austin the fourth-most competitive market in North America for tech jobs, behind only the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Denver.
The growth of the Austin area has been good to major tech employers over the last decade. Facebook, for example, has grown from seven Austin employees in 2010 to nearly 1,600 in 2019, growth Corporate Communications Manager Tracy Clayton called “whip-fast.”
“It’s not just Facebook,” Clayton said. “Other businesses, they’re experiencing the same growth.”
That growth has led to competition for both workers and the office space to hold the employees. In 2019, CBRE found 2.1 million square feet of office space was absorbed in the market, just 7,000 square feet shy of a record. Jason Kelley, IBM’s general manager of blockchain services, said even in this competitive environment, companies need to see the big picture and come together to invest in a skilled workforce, whether those prospective employees end up working for the company or not.
IBM, which has about 6,000 employees in the Austin area, partnered with Austin Community College and Austin ISD to launch the city’s first Pathways in Technology Early College High School, or P-TECH at Navarro High School this fall. There, students can graduate with both a diploma and an associate degree from ACC in either computer programming or user experience design.
“We have people who are ready to innovate. We have people in Austin who are ready to do great things, and we just have to give them the tools and capability to get it done,”Kelley said.
Sophie Webb is one of those people Kelley is referring to. After moving from New York City to Austin, Webb is in the midst of a yearlong software engineering apprenticeship at IBM.
“It’s perfect for people who want to switch careers. I’m not as experienced as a four-year tech degree [candidate], so it’s an amazing opportunity,” Webb said.
Diverse Voices
Tamara Fields is a lifelong Austin resident who has risen to Austin managing director at consulting firm Accenture, where she oversees more than 3,500 employees.
Fields said there is healthy competition among Accenture and some of the other major firms in the area for employees, but finding talented employees is not the only issue; tech companies also should be cognizant of bringing on women and people of color as they hire new employees to ensure those perspectives are included as the world continues getting more technical.
CBRE’s 2019 “Tech Talent” report found that in Austin, 22% of the tech workforce is made up of women. Globally, 44% of Accenture’s 505,000 employees are women. The company has set a goal to get to 50-50 gender equality by 2025.
“We have expansive growth that’s going to come in blockchain and artificial intelligence. The more we don’t bring on everyone in that revolution, it creates a natural type of bias,” Fields said.
