Tech Toledo connects the IT, design and entrepreneur communities in the Toledo region by guiding grass root efforts, organizing events for networking and education, and providing strategic roadmaps for collaboration.
Tech Toledo is leading a submission to designate the Toledo Region a “TechHire Community.”
Read below to learn more about the initiative, what our approach will be, and how you can join us.
What is TechHire?
TechHire is a White House initiative to build tech talent pipelines and expand regional tech sectors. The key aspects:
- Innovative training to help students gain coding and other tech skills quickly.
- Employer input on the most needed skills, and a willingness to hire from these “non-traditional” training methods.
- Local leadership that fosters communication, collaboration and innovation among employers, training providers and other stakeholders.
- Regional collaborators to provide support services and integrate students to the tech community, such as participation in meet-ups.
There are 50 communities on board with TechHire after the first year.
What neighboring TechHire communities are doing
- Akron is building upon existing assets like The Software Guild. Conexus is working with employers to address underserved populations and industries and creating internship opportunities.
- Cincinnati has already had 150 non-traditional students hired, using programs like Cincy Code IT and Girl Develop It.
- In Detroit, Grand Circus is the lead.
- Flint‘s TechHire efforts have a “social impact” angle to help change the narrative about the city.
- Indianapolis is piloting “Code Indy” and developing curriculum.
Check out techhire.org to learn more about TechHire and what each community is doing.
Why is Tech Toledo applying for TechHire designation?
If we receive the TechHire designation, we will get access to how-to guides and best practices.
We will also get a chance to participate in national partnerships and the TechHire national learning network. We may be invited to participate in White House events to participate in national discussions of issues and challenges related to tech talent.
We will get to use the TechHire branding to help initiate other services to develop, retain and attract tech talent.
Some TechHire communities are getting grants to address specific needs.
Existing tech talent efforts within our regional ecosystem
Tech Toledo and others in the Toledo Region are already doing things to help develop a pipeline of talent to meet rapidly evolving IT talent demands of employers.
- Girl Develop It Toledo and other grass-roots coding courses.
- Spurring tech entrepreneurship with Startup Weekends, roadmaps for entrepreneurs, and business model canvas classes.
- Innovative user experience conferences featuring remote experts in a local setting.
- A healthy collection of meet-ups such as Toledo Web Professionals, Open Hack, and an annual mixer to help us collaborate.
- Connecting tech workers to local corporate IT opportunities at Connect IT.
- A community calendar of tech, design, and entrepreneur events.
We are applying innovative technology education at the K-12 level with CoderDojo Toledo and planning Computer Science Education Week for December.
Also, we are helping understand tech talent needs across Ohio.
Key aspects of our strategy for TechHire designation
Our first pass at the submission for the region, based on our IT, design and entrepreneur connections, includes these aspects of our strategy:
- Target job seekers: Women, Veterans, displaced manufacturing workers, rural youth, underserved communities.
- Job categories: Software developers, infrastructure and technical support specialists, user experience designers, tech entrepreneurs.
- Types of employers: Corporations, Design/Marketing Agencies, and Tech Startups.
We see the economic value of Design In Tech and are incorporating it into our regional tech talent strategy. We would apply user experience design methods to evolve our TechHire community (similar to this design sprint example).
We welcome your input and expect this to evolve as we engage with partners during the application process.
Tech Toledo: Hub Operator
Tech Toledo will fill out the initial application for the region. The application must be completed by July 15th. The submission will include information on partners across the region. We will be reaching out to potential partners in order to develop an action plan for training and placing people into tech jobs.
If you are interested in participating in the application process, contact us right away.