Ensuring growth: Building the Indiana high-tech workforce
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What’s the status of the tech industry in Indiana? As the world continues to inexorably move into the Fourth Industrial Age, news is more than good in the Hoosier state, with thousands of new high-impact tech jobs on deck or being created. Tech companies and jobs already punch in more than $16.4 billion to the Hoosier economy. A current CompTIA report estimates that the median wage for the industry is north of $77,000 annually, a considerable step up from the median Hoosier salary for other types of jobs.
The challenge amidst all of this good news? Demand is hot and rising. The state urgently needs more tech workers and the upskilling of our existing tech workforce to fill current and emerging jobs. And this is across all sectors from business to government to academia and non-profit organizations.
How will this be achieved, especially as competition for tech workers remain fierce across the United States?
We at Smithville see this demand in full view throughout our industry. Diverse Indiana strategic initiatives driving tech growth also accelerate high demand for gigabit-level reliable internet capacity.
Evidence of Indiana’s increasingly robust tech sector appears across the spectrum from the emerging Hardtech Indiana corridor to the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, to the WestGate@Crane Technology Park near the $2 billion NSWC Crane facility, the Indiana IoT Lab in Fishers, to innovation hubs in Bloomington at The Mill, 16Tech in Indy, Innovation Pointe in Evansville, The Pantheon in Vincennes, the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center in Fort Wayne, and many more across the state. Like others, Smithville is privileged to provide high-speed internet service that connects many of these innovation centers to strategic opportunities that matter.
As more Indiana companies integrate automation and sophisticated data collection and analytics, we see full-on digital transformation sweep across many Hoosier industries, including agribusiness. Much has been recently written about AI, advances in cloud computing, data analytics and cybersecurity. A key point? In many respects, every company has become a tech company.
To keep up with all of this, Indiana must intensify its efforts to close skills gaps and train new workers. We graduate many hundreds of tech workforce professionals each year, including much-needed engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity specialists, and more. The state must continue to ramp up its current efforts to create a 21st century quality of place across Indiana that attracts and retains these graduates and other workforce professionals.
Indiana must effectively complete for experienced programmers and software developers, as well as professionals skilled in data analytics, statistical modeling, machine learning and predictive modeling. Purdue in West Lafayette and the emerging WestGate One campus in Daviess County (together with NSWC Crane and several tech companies) have taken on leadership roles in semiconductor, microelectronics, and hypersonic development. Indiana has had great success in building up a Software-as-Service (SaaS) industry, and as mentioned, is well into advancing a hardtech sector in high-tech manufacturing.
New initiatives from Hoosier-based manufacturing and development leaders like Cummins, COOK Group, Steel Dynamics, Corteva, Zimmer, Berry Global, Masterbrand, Allison Transmission, Hillenbrand, and more have all taken on this workforce upskilling challenge. A “can-do” focus has permeated new industry and academia collaborations between Purdue, Indiana, Rose-Hulman, Ball State, the University of Southern Indiana, Vincennes University, Ivy Tech and more. These institutions also help drive much needed engagement in continuous learning, setting a high standard to develop our Hoosier workforce and provide companies with needed human assets.
But more needs to be done.
As Dennis Trinkle, TechPoint’s senior vice president for talent, strategy, and partnerships, recently explained: “We have to double down on attracting the thousands of students who come to our stellar colleges and universities to learn, even as we focus on nontraditional channels to develop and retain those who have skills and abilities acquired through certification and experience.” Why? Trinkle continued: “There are great jobs waiting now and in the future; it’s a matter of helping Hoosiers ready to succeed in them.”
Job definition and where workers ply their crafts has changed dramatically in many respects. It’s no secret that many Hoosier companies continue to see working from home as an option, particularly in high-tech applications where onsite manufacturing or physical installation is not required. That remote work, coupled with remote learning, again increases the need for readily available and reliable high-speed internet connectivity.
Our broadband industry reflects the evolving transformation into the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As high-speed broadband becomes more ubiquitous, consumers expect potent “smart” technology to be coupled and available with their internet connection. We are moving to meet this expectation with our “Smithville Smart” initiative.
This “smart” connectivity helps address the demand for tech professionals through continuous learning opportunities. To elevate a competitive workforce, professionals – even those with multiple years of experience – must stay updated with the latest trends, advancements, and technologies. Many are stepping up to the plate – like Purdue and Indiana universities, the Ivy Tech campuses across Indiana, multi-county organizations like Radius Indiana, the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, the Regional Opportunities Initiative, and many more – and making a difference.
A focus on continuous improvement recognizes that a top skill in demand today may well be outdated within a short period of time, especially as companies deploy emerging AI-based technologies.
Concerns about privacy issues will also drive new kinds of technologies. European countries already have their GDPR standards of privacy, which stretch across borders. More than 20 states have adopted new legal privacy standards protecting consumer and personal data collection and use, and more is expected, especially on the federal level.
Demand for tech professionals is high, but the good news includes the fact that Indiana state leadership recognizes the need for workforce transformation – and what it will take for the Hoosier state to achieve that goal. Workforce development has never been more important than it is now.
Technology transformation is fast paced by nature. The time is now to double down to make Indiana truly a state of innovation.
Cullen McCarty is executive vice president of Smithville, Indiana ‘s largest privately held telecommunications enterprise and a national top 100 broadband company.