New Award Helps Attract Tech Workers in a Competitive Market

Developers in Silicon Valley last a surprisingly short nine months 

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It’s
 becoming clear that programmers are in short supply and demand is increasing rapidly, leaving small and medium companies struggling to compete in a space where giants rule. In order to be successfulan organization must differentiate their tech culture from others. “We allow pets.” “We have superior daycare.” “We offer flexible work hours.” These are just some of the basic benefits being offered to accommodate today’s workforce 

There are many reasons for increased tech worker demandAs Om Malik points, out, in Silicon Valley, all sorts of monopolies have sprung up, meaning virtually unlimited resources at Google, Amazon, Facebook and others. Then there is the absolutely miniscule cost to launch a new tech company compared to just a decade or two ago. Using the cloud, an organization can pay only for the resources needed. They can outsource HR, accounting and more. The growth of ecosystems which allow seamless and limitless distribution via platforms such as iOS or Android means immediate access to paying customers and freemium models have reduced marketing costs. Then there is the emergence of the API Economy which has grown so fast recently that companies such as Uber needs programmers to open up their architectures to outside developers and companies like Starbucks need to hire developers to leverage them. 

Even though the US has a record 95 million people out of work, according to Rachel Lerman at the Seattle Times: 

At any one time, there are more than 25,000 open jobs in Washington [state] that go unfilled, and 90 percent are in health care and science, technology and engineering fields, according to the Washington Roundtable. 

The Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) estimates that every year there is a 3,000-person shortage in filling such core technology jobs as software developers and engineers. 

Perhaps the most important part of the article is that the average tenure of a developer in Silicon Valley is nine months. This is a shockingly small amount as companies can spend three or more months just getting programmers up to speed on how to do their job. Assuming they spend two months interviewing for something new, this means programmers have perhaps four months or so to contribute to the organization in a focused and fully-productive manner. 

This is where TMC’s Tech Culture Awards come in. The recognition of this program is designed to become the resource tech workers use to determine where they want to work. We hope to help developers, engineers and others figure out where they should apply and hope to get hired. We also aim to raise the bar in tech hiring and work cultures in general. We will be a positive catalyst helping to increase worker satisfaction through better environments. 

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At the very least, we hope to increase the recognition of the cultural differences between organizations so they can more easily hire like-minded individuals who contribute to the positive work environment. 

The deadline for this recognition is fast approaching. Please be sure to alert your HR, management or related department to ensure your benefits and differentiators are chronicled for the right workers to see. 

TMC has been covering the technology market since 1972, when chemical coatings were considered the “hot green technology.” We have launched this award as a way to give back to an industry which we’ve been a big part of for many decades. 

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