The Dallas-Fort Worth area (DFW) has remained a constant game-changer when it comes to innovation and technology.1 It’s prime real estate for tech talent, with multiple Fortune 1000 companies calling this area home and one of the fastest job-growth rates among major cities. Between the attractive salary potential, budding entrepreneurial scene2, inexpensive real-estate, no state or local income tax, and central geographical location, there are many reasons why the DFW area led the nation in metropolitan population growth in 2020.
Community is at the center of everything we do, which is why GA Dallas fosters an ecosystem of individuals seeking to transform their careers with expert-led classes and workshops each week. Since opening our doors in 2019, we’ve already attracted more than 19 active hiring partners, ranging from Dallas-raised brands to international corporations.
Companies and Jobs
Top industries: defense3, financial services, technology, energy4, manufacturing, as well as aviation & aerospace.
Major employers5: Walmart, American Airlines, JPMorgan Chase, Southwest Airlines, Target Co., Raytheon, IBM, Mary Kay, and Neiman Marcus.
Large enterprises like Verizon, Wells Fargo, NTT Data, and Lockheed Martin are increasing their IT hiring efforts in DFW.6
Adding over 110,000 jobs in March and a potential increase in job growth, Dallas proves to be promising as it bounces back from the pandemic.7
Dallas’s annual weeklong Startup Week is the largest free conference in North Texas and demonstrates the community’s enthusiasm for tech growth and innovation.
Stay In the Know
Here are just a handful of resources to help you to dive deeper into Dallas tech:
Stay up to date with the Dallas startup scene with the Startup Digest Dallas insider newsletter.
The Dallas Regional Chamber provides an in-depth logistical view of DFW, the latest in talent attraction, startups and founders to connect with, and economic development news.
Stay apprised. Check out Dallas Innovates for the latest moves within the tech industry, including acquisitions, social impact, new weekly patents & grants filed in Dallas, as well as university collaborations.
Do you want to be a data scientist? Data Science and machine learning are rapidly becoming a vital discipline for all types of businesses. An ability to extract insight and meaning from a large pile of data is a skill set worth its weight in gold. Due to its versatility and ease of use, Python programming has become the programming language of choice for data scientists.
In this Python crash course, we will walk you through a couple of examples using two of the most-used data types: the list and the Pandas DataFrame. The list is self-explanatory; it’s a collection of values set in a one-dimensional array. A Pandas DataFrame is just like a tabular spreadsheet, it has data laid out in columns and rows.
Let’s take a look at a few neat things we can do with lists and DataFrames in Python! Get the PDF here.
BEGINNER’SPython Cheat Sheet
Lists
Creating Lists
Let’s start this Python tutorial by creating lists. Create an empty list and use a for loop to append new values. What you need to do is:
#add two to each value my_list = [] for x in range(1,11): my_list.append(x+2)
We can also do this in one step using list comprehension:
my_list = [x + 2 for x in range(1,11)]
Creating Lists with Conditionals
As above, we will create a list, but now we will only add 2 to the value if it is even.
#add two, but only if x is even my_list = [] for x in range(1,11): if x % 2 == 0: my_list.append(x+2) else: my_list.append(x)
Using a list comp:
my_list = [x+2 if x % 2 == 0 else x \ for x in range(1,11)]
Selecting Elements and Basic Stats
Select elements by index.
#get the first/last element first_ele = my_list[0] last_ele = my_list[-1]
Apply a custom function to every value in one of the DataFrame’s columns.
def fix_zipcode(x): ”’ make sure that zipcodes all have leading zeros ”’ return str(x).zfill(5) df[‘clean_zip’] = df[‘zip code’].apply(fix_zipcode)
Ready to take on the world of machine learning and data science? Now that you know what you can do with lists and DataFrames using Python language, check out our other Python beginner tutorials and learn about other important concepts of the Python programming language.
It’s possible to learn Pythonfast. How fast depends on what you’d like to accomplish with it and how much time you can allocate to study and practice Python on a regular basis. Before we dive in further, I’d like to establish some assumptions I’ve made about you and your reasons for reading this article:
You have little to no prior experience learning Python programming.
You have no Python programming background or coding experience.
First, I’ll address how quickly you should be able to learn Python. If you’re interested in learning the fundamentals of Python programming, it could take you as little as two weeks to learn, with routine practice.
If you’re interested in mastering Python in order to complete complex tasks or projects or spur a career change, then it’s going to take much longer. In this article, I’ll provide tips and resources geared toward helping you gain Python programming knowledge in a short timeframe.
If you’re wondering how much it’s going to cost to learn Python, the answer there is also, “it depends”. There is a large selection of free resources available online, not to mention the various books, courses, and platforms that have been published for beginners.
Another question you might have is, “how hard is it going to be to learn Python?” That also depends. If you have any experience programming in another language such as R, Java, or C++, it’ll probably be easier to learn Python fast than someone who hasn’t programmed before.
But learning a programming language like Python is similar to learning a natural language, and everyone’s done that before. You’ll start by memorizing basic vocabulary and learning the rules of the language. Over time, you’ll add new words to your repertoire and test out new ways to use them. Learning Python is no different.
By now you’re thinking, “Okay, this is great. I can learn Python fast, cheap, and easily. Just tell me what to read and point me on my way.” Not so fast. There’s a fourth thing you need to consider and that’s how to learn Python.
Research on learning has identified that not all people learn the same way. Some learn best by reading, while others learn best by seeing and hearing. Some people enjoy learning through games rather than courses or lectures. As you review the curated list of resources below, consider your own learning preferences as you evaluate options.
Now let’s dig in. Below are my eight tips to help you learn Python fast.
“UX” has become a buzzword that UX designers are often asked to define. The discipline of user experience is broad and reaches across many other design disciplines so its meaning can seem elusive. And for UX designers, it can be hard to explain in a few words.
UX Design Focuses on the User
User experience design focuses on designing for how a user interacts with an organization, whether through its services, products, website, or more. This kind of design centers on the user — their needs, goals, frustrations, and motivations.
Who is the user? A person! What type of person? That depends.
Great UX design seeks to understand the person who will be using the product, website, or service. This is really important for a specific reason: Rather than expecting a person to adapt to the specifications laid out in a website, app, or service, a UX designer considers the needs of the person they are designing for, and creates an intuitive interface that adapts to the user.
UX design is human-centered. This type of design is a mindset. It keeps the user at the center of what we do so that the user’s experience can be the best possible.
What’s great about this approach is that users who have a positive experience when interacting with a company or organization are more likely to reward that organization through additional visits, sales, or referrals. A positive user experience can be an economic driver, benefiting everyone.
UX Design’s Origins
We can see some principles of UX design that reach as far back as 4000 BC. Feng Shui is the Chinese philosophy of arranging a physical space to optimize the flow of energy. Much like a UX designer might design an app interface to be intuitive and easy to use, feng shui experts arrange the physical space of a room in the same manner.
We can see other principles of UX design throughout history. When computers entered the scene, human-computer interaction and usability became important disciplines to help people have better experiences.
It wasn’t until the 1990s when Don Norman, a cognitive scientist working at Apple, named this field “UX design.” Norman, who authored The Design of Everyday Things, felt that earlier disciplines of usability and human-computer interaction were too narrow. He wanted a term to describe a role that would encompass a broader range of skills to design human interactions.
Multiple studies from organizations such as McKinsey & Company, the UK Design Council, and others, have found that companies that prioritize design see a financial benefit. This is partly why so many people have taken an interest in UX.
Since user experience design is broad and encompasses several different disciplines, it’s understandable why so many people have questions about what UX design includes and how it relates to graphic design, visual design, product design, user interface design, or marketing.
Common UX Design Myths
Unfortunately, misunderstandings about user experience design have led to assumptions and confusion. You’re likely to run into an employer who believes they understand UX design, but in reality, they only know about one part in reality. Or, you might have a client that says, “I just need some UX.”
It’s the UX designer’s job to figure out how to educate and inform those around us so we can eliminate these misconceptions.
Myth #1: UX is the same as UI design.
This is the most common misconception I run into. Organizations still think of UX as being focused on the user interface design of a website. They don’t always understand that the UI can improve with solid user research, information architecture, and user testing.
User interface design is a small piece of the overall UX puzzle. Before a UX professional even begins to design the interface, they should have solid research and an understanding of what problem they are trying to solve. Designing a user interface before researching user needs can lead to assumptions that confuse or frustrate your users.
Myth #2: UX is just for digital products.
User experience has been embraced in the digital world, but it’s not just for websites and apps. The foundations of user experience design can be applied across a broad range of industries and be useful for a web designer in developing services and physical products.
Myth #3: UX is just usability.
Usability is an essential component of UX design; it uncovers flaws and defects in the product or service. However, it’s just one part of UX design’s seven major sub-disciplines:
User Research A UX designer spends time empathizing with users through interviews and observational research.
Content Strategy Quality content is a core component of a successful design. Designers must audit and create clear content that people find useful and helpful.
Information Architecture Content must be organized so that it’s understandable, findable, and meaningful. Information architecture helps users understand their location within a design and what to expect. It informs many parts of the UX design, including the content, interface, and interactions.
Accessibility By designing for accessibility, a UX designer ensures that all users can access and interact with a service or system regardless of their personal abilities. Accessibility is more than just checking for color contrast. It’s about designing to accommodate a wide range of people.
Usability Nielsen Norman Group defines usability as “a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use.” It also refers to using testing to improve the user’s experience as they interact with your product or service.
Visual Design Users are more likely to have a positive experience with a design that they enjoy using; designs that are aesthetically pleasing and consistent. UX designers often also need to ensure that the interfaces they design are beautiful and visually clear.
Interaction Design UX designers who work on a product or system must also consider how that system behaves. Interaction design considers how the system behaves when the user interacts with it to understand what to do.
As you can see, good UX design covers more than usability alone. Depending on the specific role or organization, UX designers may need to have other skills as well.
UX Design Process
A UX designer often manages all of these sub-disciplines as part of the total UX design process. This process is not linear. In fact, it can feel quite messy. It typically looks very similar to a design thinking approach and has five key phases:
1. Empathy
In this phase, a UX strategist seeks to understand the people they are designing for. By developing empathy with the user base, the design team can learn about frustrations and motivations that will help them create better solutions later on.
UX designers use these tools as part of the empathy phase:
User Interviews
Surveys
Observations
Stakeholder Interviews
Empathy Maps
Proto Personas
2. Definition
During the definition phase, the design team figures out the problem they are trying to solve. Armed with a solid understanding of the user, the design team creates insights from that data to address their core needs. The design team should try to spend as much time as possible in this phase, because it’s a key step before ideation begins.
UX designers use these tools as part of the definition phase:
Affinity Diagram
Point-of-View Statements
User Scenarios
Customer Journey Maps
Storyboards
User Personas
Heuristic Evaluations
Competitive Analysis
Problem Definition
3. Ideation
Once the problem has been identified, the UX design team can start developing ideas to solve that problem. Ideation is all about generating lots of ideas. It’s important to start by thinking of all the ideas you can before narrowing them down to those that are feasible.
UX designers use these tools as part of the ideation phase:
Brainstorming
Mind Mapping
User Flow Diagrams
4. Prototyping
The UX design team then decides which of the ideas generated in the previous step to prototype. Prototyping allows the team to communicate the idea, advocate for ideas, and test feasibility. A prototype can be simple or complex. It should be created rapidly so that the idea can be tested.
UX designers use these tools as part of the prototyping phase:
Low-Fidelity Prototypes
High-Fidelity Prototypes
Site Maps
Interactive Prototypes
5. Testing
In the testing phase, a UX design team is trying to find out whether their prototype works or not. This is a time for evaluation, and a time to go back to the users to see how the prototype meets their needs.
UX designers use these tools as part of the testing phase:
Usability Testing
Testing Recommendations & Report
Because this approach is non-linear, sometimes a UX designer will loop back and forth between phases. A UX designer doesn’t always use every tool within all of the phases, but they’ll typically use at least one or two.
What does a UX designer do every day?
A UX designer’s job will vary depending on the role or company. Some companies look for generalists who have experience across all or most of the sub-disciplines described above. Other roles will be more specialized. A UX designer may focus on research or just on prototyping if needed, depending on the position.
Typically, a UX designer works with a team. Sometimes the team will have other UX designers, a product manager, and developers. This team may be responsible for designing products used by customers or internally within the company. Sometimes a designer will work on a single project for months at a time, or they might juggle multiple projects, especially if they work for an agency.
A UX designer is responsible for creating the deliverables of the phase they are working on, keeping their work on time according to the project schedule, and presenting their work. They may need to present to the rest of the design team, internal stakeholders, or clients.
Deliverables created for these audiences can vary. According to a 2015 article from Nielsen Norman Group, UX designers were most likely to create static wireframes and interactive prototypes, followed by flow charts, site maps, and usability reports. When presenting work, interactive prototypes were most common. These deliverables are the most accurate representation of the final product.
In addition to creating wireframes and prototypes, a UX designer may:
Plan user research
Identify the target audience
Interview and survey users
Analyze qualitative and quantitative user research
Create a content inventory
Design a style guide or add to a design library
Conduct usability testing
Analyze usability testing results
Summary
UX design is like an umbrella that covers multiple areas, and a UX designer is expected to be familiar with all areas. Because UX design is so broad, and because the term itself has become popular relatively recently, it’s often misunderstood.
At its foundation, good UX design is about putting the user first. By empathizing with the user, a UX designer can create products and services that anticipate and meet users’ needs. The UX process isn’t linear; great UX design is an iterative process that continues to loop back with the user to test and improve the design team’s ideas.
The First Step: Transitioning to a Digital-First Culture
Due to the effects of the pandemic, we know that remote offices are not only surviving — they’re thriving. The digital world is here to stay.
Between consumers’ accelerated adoption of digital behaviors and a permanently changed working culture, the inevitable — and necessary — digital transformation of every industry took unusual leaps forward in the last 18 months. Business leaders across the board are trying to get ahead of the transformation imperative that digitization requires and the economic pressure it adds to their businesses.
For a problem that requires holistic change, we help make digital transformation manageable. Through our deep and diverse experience, we’ve seen leaders’ transformation challenges boil down to four key goals:
Create digital mindsets across the company. This includes understanding digital trends, growing digital mastery, and building a product-driven organization.
Upgrade capabilities to reflect cutting-edge technical skills across marketing, technology, and data functions.
Accelerate technical hiring by upskilling and reskilling current employees and new hires.
Understand what good looks like — a skill necessary in achieving every goal.
This series, GA Jobs To Be Done, unpacks each of these four goals, providing actionable recommendations that organizations can put into practice to help set their businesses on the path to sustainable digitization and success.
In this first post, we will share how to begin creating digital mindsets across your business.
A digital-first culture: What is it, and how do you know when you’ve got it?
For those embarking on a business transformation initiative, the first problem we often hear is, “my business needs to transition to a digital-first culture.” This is understandable, as culture fit is one of the most important aspects on both sides of hiring, and your high-skill candidates want to work on high-skill teams.
So, what is a digital-first culture? It begins with digital literacy, a competency for using digital technology to find, create, evaluate and communicate, across an organization. This basic skill set is the stepping stone to developing comfort with — and ultimate adoption of — digital practices, such as experimentation, iteration, and “antifragile” working practices incorporating continuous learning and growth into everyday work.
Once literacy is achieved, you can begin unlocking the skills that are the hallmarks of a digital-first culture, such as data literacy, design thinking, and agile project management. From there, teams can advance their use of practical, hands-on skills in data science, marketing analytics, coding, and beyond.
The transition from digital literacy to true digital culture requires these digital processes and technologies to work effectively across the organization. When these digital practices become core to your business — that is when they are the go-to, standard process by which a majority of your company operates — then you may claim a digital-first culture.
Culture… it matters.
To many business leaders, “culture” is a “soft” word that leads directly to a People team — and keeps it there. This is a great place to start culture transformation, but it reflects the siloed way traditional businesses think about talent. While formal development is critical to digital transformation, it needs to touch every part of the organization to cause a real cultural shift. That means engaging leaders across teams to plan the transition, champion new processes, and set appropriate goals.
A learning culture is critical to staying competitive in a rapidly changing landscape. The days of arguing whether digital transformation is the right path are over; not only does transformation drive performance, it is a key element of attracting and retaining top talent. In a January 2021 study, we found that supporting professional growth is a core value of the modern worker. Many ranked “commitment to supporting my professional development to improve in a current role” as the #1 factor in whether they will stay at their company — rather than finding greener pastures elsewhere.
This all points to a positive feedback loop: innovation breeds innovation, and procrastination pulls traditional companies further behind. This is definitional; digital transformation promises that it helps businesses scale non-linearly while keeping costs low — that is, your investment in digital pays dividends long after the work is done. According to BCG, companies that focus on digital culture are 5x more likely to achieve breakthrough results than companies that don’t.
How can you encourage digital culture in your organization?
The Critical Steps:
Digital literacy often develops in pockets among junior staff, hired-in individuals, or specific strategic teams, but it doesn’t work in silos. Building a workforce that excels in a digital-first context requires engagement of all levels in the organization, from contributors becoming literate to leadership driving digital adoption.
1. Leaders need to role-model digital behaviors and create a culture where teams thrive in adopting a digital mindset. This requires training to accelerate mindset shifts and learn the latest philosophies for innovation in digital strategy. From there, leaders must set goals and hold teams accountable to digital KPIs — and vocally champion the use of new digital practices.
2. Teams need to understand — and be able to communicate — why digitalization is a business imperative and lead by example with their digital mindset. Peer support is key to empowering teams to make more autonomous decisions that avoid cognitive overload as the business scales.
And, while it makes sense for some roles and teams to be more digitally advanced than others, it is important that all individuals at the company have basic digital literacy. This shared language is important to a cohesive working environment where all employees understand the priorities, are motivated by business milestones, and have opportunities to advance.
Diagnose a Digital Mindset
Luckily, you can prepare your organization to develop its digital culture no matter where you are in the process. Likely, there are digital-first practices you do well today and other areas where you might improve. Here are the top characteristics for digital-savvy organizations — how many do you have?
Be customer-centric. You solve customer problems through a seamless, consistent experience based on an empathetic understanding of the customer mindset at each engagement journey phase.
Experiment. You take complex problems and break them down into smaller parts to implement for testing your assumptions early and often.
Adopt agile methods. You are nimble, flexible, and good at working across multiple departments. You always close the loop on experiments to maximize team learning.
Activate growth. You design tactics to target your customer across each stage of the funnel and spot opportunities to grow product usage. You have metrics to evaluate each stage of the marketing funnel and its impact on business success.
Be data-driven. You navigate the proliferation of data and use data at the heart of all decision-making. You’re skilled at data capture, analysis, and visualization to generate and communicate actionable insights across teams.
Evaluate trends. You are aware of how emerging trends impact customer expectations, and you routinely evaluate evolving your strategy to meet fluid demand.
How many boxes did you check (or not)? Whether your business is about to begin a digital journey or already has a digital practice ongoing, it’s helpful to return to basics to understand which qualities of digital culture are working for you today and where you can stand to invest. One of the best actions you can take is to advocate for digital maturity across your organization, helping leaders understand the benefits of developing their digital culture and plans to move forward.
We’ll share more on how to grow digital impact, accelerate technical hiring, and evaluate what “good” looks like at every stage to help your business get the most leverage out of digital culture in the upcoming posts of this series. Stay tuned.
If you notice specific areas you want to grow, we can help. Explore our catalog here to see the digital literacy and upskilling courses that we provide — from IC to strategic leader and across digital fluency, marketing, data, and technology.
Want further specific advice on how we could help your organization? Get in touch.
With a robust population of 5.8 million people1, Philadelphia (or Philly) boasts a rich and diverse culture founded on hard work and innovation. The growing pool of highly skilled tech talent in the area is a testament to why it’s becoming one of the most promising tech hubs in the country. It’s also home to the nation’s 7th largest workforce (3.4 million) and the top U.S. business school.2
Ranking third in the nation for best cities for women in the tech sector based on the gender pay gap,3 Philadelphians are reshaping the future of work into a more equitable playing field for all. The opportunity for non-technical advancement is also growing at a rapid pace for the emerging tech talent pipeline4 — not to mention the other Pennsylvania cities with growing tech communities, such as Harrisburg, Lancaster, and Pittsburgh.
With its neighborly feel, a deeply connected community is a signature feature of Philadelphia — one that is instrumental to the city’s history as well as its future. GA Philly plans to cultivate thousands of meaningful connections through thoughtful partnership building and learning opportunities by facilitating expert-led classes and workshops and intentional panel discussions each week.
Companies and Jobs
Top industries: life sciences, information technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, energy, financial and professional services, logistics, and manufacturing.5
Major employers:6 Comcast, Day & Zimmerman, Clarivate, Spectra, Health-Union, Sidecar Interactive, Spark Therapeutics, Meet Group, Vici Media, and Phenom People.7
Philadelphia is considered the leader in healthcare innovation with increased investment in biotech.8 The Greater Philadelphia region is home to more than 30 cell and gene therapy development companies,9 as well as the CAR T-cell cancer treatment therapy — developed in a collaboration by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine.10
The recent surge in job postings suggests that exciting possibilities are on the horizon. With a lower cost of living than other major cities, it’s a compelling environment to launch a business and attract new talent.12
The Philadelphia Tech Community
With 5,100 tech businesses,13 organizations like Philly Startup Leaders are creating space for startups to connect with leaders in the community.14
From a women-focused non-profit to a community-led talent marketplace, there are local organizations where you can find resources to start a business, offer your support, or connect with like-minded entrepreneurs.
Want to help diversify the tech talent pipeline? Philly Tech Sistas is a non-profit organization that helps women of color gain technical and professional skills in order to work, thrive, and level up in the tech industry.
Require assistance to build a product or enhance your business? Think Company has a team full of experts in design, developing, and coaching (featuring some of our very own GA alumni!).
Need a diverse and supportive community of fellow tech enthusiasts? Tribaja is not only community-led but offers tons of resources for your next career move.
Having the lowest office rental rates among top metros, Philly is home to some of the most elite co-working spaces such as 1776, CIC Philadelphia, Industrious, and City CoHo — all great places to check out for networking or collaborating with entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and creatives.
Stay in the Know
Here are just a handful of resources to help you dive deeper into Philadelphia’s tech and startup ecosystem:
Subscribe to Billy Penn, one of Philly’s media channels for local news and announcements, or Technical.ly Philly for daily updates on navigating Philly’s local economy.
Small Biz Philly covers everything related to launching and growing small businesses.
Check out Philly Mag to stay in the loop on the latest industry trends, events, and upcoming business ventures in the area.
Miles of white-sand beaches, perfect weather, and a red-hot tech scene — welcome to the modern San Diego. With its charming neighborhoods and diverse community, San Diego has been revered as “America’s Finest City.” But in recent years, it’s also quickly gained a reputation as a hotspot for startups and tech jobs, which accounts for almost 9% of total employment. A high concentration of millennials in the area — a characteristic of vibrant tech ecosystems — is only one force bringing San Diego into the future of work. A recent report found that millennials account for 24% of the region’s population and more than half of the population is younger than 39 years old.
Successful tech companies such as Qualcomm, LunaDNA, and Aira share a common mission — to make the world a better place through innovation and community. With startup gateways such as Fresh Brewed Tech, Startup San Diego, and General Assembly, it is no doubt you’ll find support and opportunities to collaborate in San Diego.
Companies and Jobs
Top industries: defense/military, tourism, international trade, and research/manufacturing.
Major employers: Naval Base San Diego, University of California San Diego (UCSD), San Diego County, Sharp HealthCare, Cubic Corporation, and Pulse Electronics.
San Diego ranks ninth in the nation for tech jobs.
The San Diego Tech Community
The emergence of organizations supporting entrepreneurs is another reason why the city is on track to becoming the next tech hub:
Startup San Diego is a nonprofit organization that upskills, guides, and connects the local community with the right resources to create an equitable startup ecosystem and community.
Connect San Diego provides entrepreneurs access to investors, mentors, and education.
LatinaGeeks empowers and inspires Latinas by sharing technical knowledge, business skills, and entrepreneurship resources.
Athena is a premier women’s advocacy organization that fast tracks women in STEM through leadership development.
Hera Hub is a women-focused coworking space and business accelerator.
The San Diego tech community also hosts dynamic networking events — the largest beingMarch Mingle — to celebrate the latest technologies and startups of the area. Startup San Diego also organizes annual events, such as San Diego Startup Week Month and Convergence, packed with panel discussions, hands-on workshops, and pitch competitions.
Stay in the Know
If you’re new to the community, this guide by the San Diego startup community will come in handy when navigating the local tech scene. We’ve also listed additional resources to help you keep up with the latest San Diego tech news and events:
For entrepreneurs and small business owners, join some (or all!) of these local groups to meet like-minded individuals and grow your network.
Subscribe to Fresh Brewed Tech to stay up to date on San Diego’s tech scene.
Get inspired and listen to Tacos and Tech podcast as they highlight founders, technologies, and the ecosystem of San Diego.
Nestled comfortably in the northern Midwest, Minneapolis and St. Paul — or the Twin Cities — are known for their abundant lakes, expansive parks, and snowy winters. The metro area is home to more than a dozen established Fortune 500 companies, as well as a bustling startup community. From its iconic hospitality to diverse career prospects, the Twin Cities is more than flyover country. Twin Cities Startup Week — with its innovative fly-in program — is proof that it’s a great place to grow a startup and your professional network. According to CNBC, it’s also the best city for women entrepreneurs, having nearly 20% of businesses owned by women and a high early startup success rate of over 80%.
Companies and Jobs
Top industries: healthcare, medical tech, finance, manufacturing, food and agriculture, and more.
Major employers: UnitedHealth Group, Target Corporation, Best Buy, 3M, US Bank, and General Mills.
Between 2016 and 2017, there was a 40% increase in startup investments. There’s also an emergence of startup accelerators such as TechStars and gener8tor.
The Twin Cities Tech Community
The tech community is thriving — organizations like Minnestar make it easy for founders, mentors, volunteers, and employees to connect.
They also host dynamic tech and startup events such as Twin Cities Startup Week — an annual conference with over 200+ events and 15,000+ attendees — and MinneDemo, a showcase of Minnesota-made tech products.
Stay in the Know
Here are just a handful of resources to help you dive deeper into Twin Cities tech:
Salt Lake City has long been a haven for skiers chasing the “best snow on Earth” and adventurers exploring Utah’s many national parks. However, Salt Lake City has recently garnered new attention as a booming tech ecosystem. Multiple high-profile companies — like Adobe and eBay — have opened campuses in the area, while home-grown companies like Qualtrics, Domo, Instructure, Pluralsight, and Lucid have achieved significant success. This tremendous growth across the tech landscape has earned the city the nickname, “Silicon Slopes.” Overall, the tech sector is growing at a tremendous rate in both Utah and Salt Lake City. According to a Gardner report, tech jobs in Utah are growing at twice the rate of the national average, with one in seven jobs based in tech and innovation. In Salt Lake City specifically, tech jobs have grown by 12% since January 20181.
What makes Salt Lake City so attractive for tech companies? For starters, Salt Lake City is a young, highly-educated city, with a median population age of 31.7 years2. The city also boasts the country’s newest international airport, providing easy access for business and personal trips. From a cultural perspective, Utah prides itself on being the Beehive State, reflecting the area’s values of industry, community, and collaboration. This is evident in local organizations like Silicon Slopes — a nonprofit that fosters the startup and tech community through education and events, including the annual Silicon Slopes Summit that hosts more than 15,000 attendees. All of this has resulted in a massive influx of diverse talent to Salt Lake City, particularly in 2020 — LinkedIn’s data showed that Salt Lake City had the second highest gains in net arrivals of any city in the U.S.
Companies and Jobs
Top industries: education, healthcare, and retail.3
Major employers: Wal-Mart, The University of Utah, the state of Utah, Intermountain Health Care, and the U.S. government.4
Utah leads the nation in industry growth in life sciences and recently introduced BioHive, a “healthcare corridor designed to nurture this cutting-edge industry.”5
Salt Lake City’s unemployment rate remains well below the national average at 3.7% in 2020, compared to 6.7% nationally.6
Salt Lake City boasts several incredible creative working spaces, including INDUSTRY SLC, Maven Create, and Kiln, where you can meet and collaborate with like-minded entrepreneurs.
1 Million Cups is hosting virtual weekly events so you can network and pitch your startups to your peers.
Featuring Insights From Pedro Martin & Matt Studdert
Read: 4 Minutes
Maybe you’re curious about becoming a front-end web developer but want to know what you’re in for before making the leap. Or perhaps you’re weighing whether it would be financially worthwhile to invest the time and money in a career switch. You probably already know that front-end web development is one of the fastest-growing fields out there. So if you want to hear from the insiders why everyone seems to be clamoring to hire this role, read on. Knowledge is power.
We asked our resident experts what it takes to become a star front-end web developer (FEWD). Pedro Martin is a software engineer at Red Badger, and Matt Studdert is the founder of Frontend Mentor. Both are also GA instructors — and both of their answers were surprising.
Martin cites empathy as being the number one characteristic needed in FEWD, and explained that the role demands you consider every decision you make from your user’s perspective.
“You must understand the diversity of all humans consuming the content, so you can build a human-centric solution with accessibility as the core,” he says. “You must understand the intention of the client and adapt or influence the content accordingly. And you must understand that delivering software based on the web is a team effort.“
Similarly, Studdert claims emotional intelligence is most important since a developer’s process of problem-solving is often trial-and-error.
“Starting your journey in web development is to go from error to error, from problem to problem. So at the beginning of your journey, you should be resilient and emotionally intelligent enough to not get frustrated.” He adds, “Most of us have been there, and we can relate to that struggle.”
So about that problem-solving. Just how advanced do you have to be at writing code? To make it as a FEWD, do you have to be a pro at programming?
Becoming adept at code is an ongoing process, but think of it as lifelong learning. You’ll become better and better over time. Of course, you want prospective employers to be impressed with your skill set, so make sure you have these three languages on your C.V. or resume: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Depending on your area of expertise, your proficiencies among the programming languages will adjust.
For example, Studdert explains, “If you’re an accessibility-focused developer, HTML might be the most used. For styling-focused developers, CSS. For front-end developers focused primarily on interactivity or building modern-day web applications, JavaScript might be the language you work with the most.”
If you can improve your problem-solving skills and your coding, it will help you massively as a developer. Boosting your value in today’s economy ultimately gives you more freedom, more choices, and more money. (More on that later.)
But writing code isn’t all there is to it. Collaboration is crucial. “As a front-end developer, you’ll be working mainly with UI and UX designers to improve the visual side of the site. You’ll also be communicating with back-end developers on how to integrate with the API. Other team members, like product managers, project managers, and product owners, will be people who you’ll be talking to throughout each week. And if you’re working at an agency, you may also be in meetings with the client and need to present work to them.”
One of the great things about becoming a FEWD is that you can take your skills almost anywhere. While salaries vary widely from country to country, even region to region, one thing is clear: developers are in demand.
“The demand for programmers with all levels of experience is not being matched by the supply,” says Martin. “Here in London, you can start at £30,000, and from there, the sky’s the limit. When I started 6 years ago, it was £24,000, so in only 6 years we have an increase of 25% on the starting salary.”
The advantages of working on staff are many — especially for those just starting out. Here in the U.S., salaries for front-end web developers range from $80K to $115K, according to Glassdoor, though these amounts can vary by geographic location and from country to country.
“Working within a team is especially crucial for new developers, as it’s critical you learn good practices and build up your experience in a professional setting,” says Studdert. Not to mention more stability and the benefits that come with working for a company.
The usual downsides of going freelance apply here, too, like less consistent workflow, having to do business management work like accounting, and time spent chasing clients. But the freedom to decide when, where, and how you want to work can be priceless. As a freelancer, you can charge higher wages and actually gross more than if you were working for somebody else.
In this career path, there is ample room for advancement. As a developer in a large organization, you can advance from entry level to senior to lead, and get salary increases along the way. “Many companies offer career progression paths depending on whether you want to focus on writing code or you prefer to move into more management-focused roles,” says Studdert. “Being a front-end developer can also lead to hybrid responsibilities if it’s something you’re interested in. For example, you could become a full-stack developer and work with back-end code as well. Or you could become a UX engineer and blend front-end work with UX design.”
Whether you join a large firm or become an independent contractor, there are plenty of opportunities to create the career you want. The future is bright for front-end web developers.
