Policymakers who are eager to ensure that their communities are strong competitors in the tech economy should pay attention to where tech jobs really are, says NSC Senior Fellow Amanda Bergson-Shilcock. Spoiler alert: They’re not necessarily in big Silicon Valley companies.
The headlines you see about layoffs in the tech industry are obscuring an important truth. A huge range of today’s technology jobs exist in everyday industries far removed from Silicon Valley. They include roles like:
Understanding this reality is important because it enables advocates and policymakers to more accurately prepare people for the jobs that exist in their local communities. These jobs are especially valuable during times of economic uncertainty, because they often provide more durable, reliable employment than the market-driven fluctuations of a few high-profile companies.
(Want to get more background on digital skills? In 2023, NSC’s analysis of 43 million “Help Wanted” ads demonstrated the widespread demand for digital skills across industries: 92 percent of postings required such skills. This includes occupations primarily focused on technology – such as those described above — as well as jobs where technology plays a more peripheral role.)
Did you know that the retail industry is the third-largest employer of web and digital interface designers? (I didn’t, until I started this research.) It makes sense when you think about the continuing growth of the e-commerce sector.
The thing about retail is that it exists in every community in the country. It’s not one of those industries that is localized to a specific region. Workforce leaders don’t always think about career pathways into the retail industry, but when you realize the outsize role that tech jobs play at retail giants like L’Oreal, it gives you a different perspective. Data scientists analyzing consumer demand, product developers creating new website technologies, logistics specialists ensuring the supply chain meets sustainability standards…there’s a whole world of tech jobs that support retail businesses!
Happily, some workforce organizations are thinking about the best ways to create on-ramps to tech jobs for entry-level retail workers, including opportunity youth.
Almost every city these days has a team of tech workers that help to analyze data and improve services to city residents. Here is Baltimore’s team, for example. These aren’t just IT workers keeping legacy systems running. They also include User Experience (UX) designers who are rethinking processes from the ground up.
As one journalist described Baltimore’s work: “The group’s first project was to modernize permitting; instead of going to several offices in person to obtain permits for events and street closures, people can now apply online. It seems simple, but for the local government, that’s a huge deal.”
In rural communities, the picture is more mixed. One recent study found that although there are 24,000 tech workers in public-sector jobs in rural communities, this number would nearly double if rural communities were hiring for those jobs at the same rate as their urban counterparts.
There is also some really cool work happening at the intersection of nonprofit organizations and state agencies. For example, the nonprofit Code for America worked with California officials to develop GetCalFresh, an app that helps people apply for SNAP benefits. It’s a stunningly successful example of tech workers designing tools that actually work for real people on the ground.
To put it bluntly, workforce leaders should be moving quickly to invest in cybersecurity training programs. Local communities across the US are already facing real-life consequences because of cyber attacks, and they can’t protect themselves if there aren’t enough qualified cybersecurity professionals available to hire.
To step back for a second, ransomware attacks are basically when a bad actor takes control of a company’s computer system and demands a payoff to give it back. Lots of ordinary Americans have already been affected by these attacks, which have cut off access to prescription medications, threatened the safety of the water supply, and caused ambulances to be diverted.
The pace of these attacks is increasing: Utility companies faced a 70 percent rise in cyber attacks over the past year. There are also incidents like the healthcare data breach that caused cash flow problems for 94% of hospitals. In this kind of environment, it’s easy to see why cybersecurity workers are in high demand, and why workforce and education advocates should act now to create more career pathways into this field.
For sure! There is a whole field of precision agriculture specialists working on different aspects of technology. At North Carolina State University, they’re developing new sensor technology to detect diseases in tomato crops. Companies like John Deere now employ more software engineers than mechanical engineers, because equipment like tractors and harvesters now includes sophisticated on-board computers.
And getting down to the small business level, farmers themselves have moved assertively to gain the “right to repair” their own high-tech farm equipment. This issue is a widespread challenge in the industry, and numerous states have pending legislation on the topic. It points to the keen interest that local farmers have in being able to tinker with technology themselves, without waiting for a far-away manufacturer to come on site.
There isn’t one single magic list of in-demand skills – and I’d be very skeptical of anyone who tells you there is. Instead, workforce leaders should follow the tried-and-true approach of connecting with employers and industry associations in their local communities to get direct input on the skills they need. I know it doesn’t sound sexy, but it’s really the best way to approach this challenge.
In fact, following longstanding practices in workforce development is just generally the right approach to creating effective on-ramps to tech jobs. Leaders should design training programs that are informed by local employers’ needs, offer a combination of foundational and technical skills, result in industry-recognized credentials, include supportive services, and are accessible to workers of all backgrounds.
I don’t want to gloss over the tough stuff. The advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools has dramatically reshaped the hiring market for entry-level software developers. If an intermediate-level software engineer can rely on an AI tool to do certain basic tasks, do they really need a junior colleague? Given this shift, many bootcamps and training programs have closed down or substantially reconfigured their operations.
But those are just one type of tech jobs! It’s important not to over-focus on coding or software development as the only way into the tech field. To that end, I’d encourage policymakers and advocates to start asking questions of their non-tech industry employers in their communities. What kinds of tech jobs is YOUR company hiring for, and how can we make sure that our education and workforce programs are preparing people effectively for those jobs?
The other tricky thing right now is that there just isn’t the same kind of consensus about credentials that you see in an older industry like healthcare or manufacturing. There are a dizzying array of tech-related credentials out there, including vendor-specific credentials, third-party certifications, and more traditional higher ed degrees and certificates.
But it’s less clear that hiring managers are actually paying attention to many of these credentials. Here again, I’d emphasize going straight to the source: Ask your local employers what credentials they value. (And if you’re a policymaker wanting to set guardrails around credential quality, you should definitely check out NSC’s wealth of resources on this topic.)
Regardless of what’s going on in the wider world, pretty much everyone still needs to get up in the morning and go to work. If you want to make sure that people in your community can get good jobs to support themselves and their families, you should be thinking about creating pathways into tech jobs. They’re often some of the best-paying jobs in our economy, and they aren’t just located in tech companies. If nothing else, I hope I’ve convinced you of that!
