https://chicago.suntimes.com/busines...tech-workforce
BUSINESS NEWS POLITICS
Does Chicago have the tech workforce to satisfy Google’s massive appetite?
It’s a good time to be a talented tech worker in Chicago — but daunting for local startups aiming to expand.
By WBEZ Chicago Sept 27, 2022, 3:50pm CDT
Steve Hendershot
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That’s typical Silicon Valley logic, and it’s about to be put to the test in Chicago. In July, tech giant Google announced plans to buy and renovate the cavernous James R. Thompson Center in the Loop, which it will then use to substantially expand its local workforce of 1,800 employees — likely adding several thousand jobs along the way.
That makes this a good time to be a talented tech worker. But if you’re working in HR at a Chicago startup that’s aiming to expand, it’s daunting.
“Google does have some things that are going to make it very tough on some of the local companies: They have stock that is worth a lot of money, and they have bushels of cash,” said Troy Henikoff, managing director of Chicago-based tech investor MATH Venture Partners, and a longtime startup mentor.
Google’s planned expansion will help lure more tech talent to the region, insiders say, which is good for the tech sector as a whole. But it’s also a gut-check moment for companies that want to hold onto their workers: Is there enough tech talent here to feed that broader, burgeoning ecosystem while also satisfying Google’s appetite?
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A magnet for young Midwest coders
Google came to Chicago in 2000...
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The basis for that thesis still holds: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers the country’s fifth-ranked graduate computer science program, according to U.S. News & World Report. Other nearby universities such as Purdue, Northwestern and the University of Chicago also rank in the top 30, while the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Illinois Institute of Technology crack the top 100.
Google’s expansion announcement pointed to the draw of downtown. Chicago site leader Karen Sauder wrote an enthusiastic blog post proclaiming, “We will be getting in on the ground floor of a broader revitalization of the Loop” ...
About 41,000 software developers are employed in the Chicago area, according to CompTIA, and
Chicago ranked fourth among U.S. metro areas with nearly 11,000 job postings across the technology sector in August, according to CompTIA’s monthly Tech Jobs Report. New York City, Washington, D.C., and Dallas were the top three. At the moment — granted, well ahead of the Thompson Center’s renovation — Google lists 338 available jobs here.
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“I truly believe we can absorb this, we can handle it. This is a really big city that’s had a sleepy reputation, but Google wouldn’t come here if they didn’t have the data that proves that we can play,” Lannert said.