Apple’s Arrival Cements Seattle’s Status as ‘Cloud Capital of the World’

GeekWire | Todd Bishop | Nov. 4

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/new-apple-engineering-office-cements-seattles-status-cloud-hub/

This probably shouldn’t come as a surprise, but Apple is being extremely secretive about its new Seattle engineering center. The company has confirmed the existence of the office, first reported by GeekWire yesterday morning, but it’s declining to give any details such as the exact location or the type of engineering that will take place there. That’s OK, because there are clues all over the place. And it’s clear that the cloud is playing a big part. “We are looking for talented multidisciplinary engineers to design and develop the core infrastructure services and environments driving every online customer experience at Apple ranging from iCloud to iTunes,” says Apple in a job description for the new Seattle office. “Successful candidates will solve distributed systems and performance challenges with hands-on competency in a variety of tools, languages, and algorithms.”

 

Factbox: Tech industry drawing up wish lists for new U.S. Congress

Reuters | Alina Selyukh | Nov. 6

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/06/us-usa-elections-tech-factbox-idUSKBN0IQ2QU20141106

A Republican majority in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives presents opportunities and challenges for technology-related legislation in Congress. Big industry groups are drawing up wish lists and honing strategy. Some of the developments technology and telecommunications lobbyists are watching in the next Congress include new leadership, Communications Act rewrite, immigration, trade, net neutrality, and taxes.

 

Where Does the Creative Class Move?

City Lab | Richard Florida | Oct. 31

http://www.citylab.com/work/2014/10/where-does-the-creative-class-move/382157/​

D.C., Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Houston, and Dallas draw those with “symbolic knowledge.” America’s economic and social fabric has been remade over time through a series of great migrations: settlers heading west; farmers and new immigrants to great industrial centers; blacks from the rural South to the urban North; the middle class from the urban centers to the suburbs; and more recently, from an ongoing dual migration of the skilled and less skilled I dubbed “the means migration.” But which metros have proven best at attracting the creative class, the roughly 40 million workers (a third of the U.S. workforce) whose occupations span science and technology; arts, design, media and entertainment; and the knowledge-based professions, like medicine and law?

 

High Tech Immigration Sparks Debate among 10 TechFlash Cup Startup Founders

Puget Sound Business Journal | Rachel Lerman and Sarah Aitchison | Oct. 31

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2014/10/high-tech-immigration-sparks-debate-among-10.html?ana=e_tf&s=newsletter&ed=2014-10-31&u=q6Cb+g8sfzAR5LXsi35RhQ015a2488&t=1414792462

It’s a hot topic in the Puget Sound region — the booming tech economy means many companies are always on the search for talent. And that talent doesn’t always come from the U.S. But there are a finite number of high-tech visas that the U.S. gives out, and a lottery to win them. That means many talented people are not able to come to the U.S. to work, and if they do come, there are miles of strings attached to their entry. In 2012, almost 500,000 people were granted permanent residence, according to the Department of Homeland Security, but only 3 percent were given green cards on the basis of employment opportunities. Some startup founders think more people should be given long-term visas based on potential entrepreneurship or work.

 

Innovation Hub: How Immigrants Fuel Innovation

Xconomy | Kara Miller | Oct. 31

http://www.xconomy.com/national/2014/10/31/innovation-hub-how-immigrants-fuel-innovation/

Immigration policy reform is a hot-button issue right now, but it’s affecting the innovation economy in unexpected ways. U.S. companies are having a hard time recruiting enough skilled workers to fill all their high-level science, tech, and engineering positions. I discussed the issue with Stanford Law School professor Dan Siciliano and Silicon Valley Leadership Group VP Emily Lam.

 

Apple Secretly Opened a Software Office in Settle

Fast Company | Chris Gayomali | Nov. 4

http://www.fastcompany.com/3038021/apple-secretly-opened-a-software-office-in-seattle

Apple is expanding into the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle Times reports that Apple has quietly opened an engineering office in Seattle, one positioned to operate in “the shadow of Microsoft.” The end goal, according to the report, is to siphon up local software talent, purportedly to build out Apple’s cloud infrastructure. Microsoft and Amazon’s competitors have been encroaching on their territory. Google recently doubled the size of its campus in 2013 to work on cloud computing. And Rift VR—which is owned by Facebook—earlier this year opened an R&D lab in Seattle, hiring former Valve engineer Atman Binstock as its chief architect. Small wonder Seattle’s rent prices are climbing.

 

From High School to High Tech: Bridging the Talent Gap in The Innovation Economy

Forbes | Rebecca O. Bagley | Nov. 4

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccabagley/2014/11/04/from-high-school-to-high-tech-bridging-the-talent-gap-in-the-innovation-economy/

As Johnathan Holifield puts it, unlike the agrarian and manufacturing economies of the previous two centuries, the Innovation Economy can often be invisible, particularly to students. Much innovation today is taking place behind closed doors – in labs or design studios. We often don’t hear about new technologies or scientific breakthroughs until they hit the market. By the time our students are developing an interest for these innovations, our businesses are on to the next big thing.This disconnect poses a threat to the future of our workforce. Already, many businesses complain about a talent gap. We need to do a better job of exposing students to new trends and technologies early; and we need to do a better job of harnessing their entrepreneurial spirits. The question is how.

 

‘Posting and Praying’: Why Agencies’ Old School Approach to Recruiting Tech Talent Needs an Update

Next Gov. | Jack Moore | Nov. 5

http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2014/11/posting-and-praying-why-agencies-old-school-approach-recruiting-tech-talent-needs-update/98285/

U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith says she wants college students to think of working for Uncle Sam as sort of like Teach for America. “So many kids at the top schools apply” for the short-term teaching fellowships, Smith told The New York Times in a recent interview. “I’d like to talk to those young people and say: Consider government. It’s real service, and you can affect hundreds of millions of people.” The federal government’s ability to shell out for top salaries – even for high-skilled, high-tech and in-ademand technology positions – remains as elusive as ever. So, in a bid to entice applicants for these positions, agencies are increasingly focusing on the uniqueness of the mission inside government. But their recruiting strategies shouldn’t only play on jobseekers’ altruism. Experts say agencies also need to think smarter about the whole recruiting process.