By Nancy Dahlberg
“We want to dispel that common statement that we were hearing that there is no tech talent here in South Florida. We know that isn’t true,” Miami Tech Works Director Terri-Ann Brown told the crowd of 250 gathered at Miami Dade College for Miami Tech Works’ Future Workforce Development forum this week.
“We know there has been time, effort and money and capital and sweat and tears put in to the academic ecosystem to help students along their journey,” Brown continued. “We want to ensure that anybody who is looking at technology as a career pathway can not only complete their degree program but also get a job and stay on that job.”
That’s the mission of Miami Tech Works, which is focusing its efforts on South Florida’s underserved communities by working with partners to create career pathways for them and amplify the resources available.
Miami Tech Works is funded by a $10 million, 3-year grant from the US Economic Development Administration to bridge the gap between employers and training providers with the goal of creating a sustainable tech talent pipeline (and a stronger economy in the Miami area) through partnerships, training programs and job placement efforts.
How is Miami Tech Works doing?
The organization, which formed a coalition anchored by MDC, Florida International University, Florida Memorial University, CareerSource, OIC and others, is going into year 3 with significant results.
“Collectively the training providers have over 1,700 participants enrolled in tech training programs supported by the grant, and 315 have been placed in jobs. Another 258 have either completed or are in the process of completing internships,” said Brown in an interview with Refresh Miami. In addition to MDC, FIU, FMU and OIC, training partners include 4Geeks Academy, Ironhack, Creative Hub and Brainstation.
The 315 full-time jobs secured so far are primarily in cybersecurity, software engineering, data analytics, and IT systems and support. Employers include FIFA, American Express, Lennar, Bank United, Kaseya, UKG and others, more than 50 companies in all, Brown said.
These are “good jobs” defined as positions paying $66,000 or more annually. About 16% of the job placements were in software engineering or data analyst roles.
Tech may not come to mind for some of these companies but it should. The homebuilding giant, Lennar, for instance employs 600 people in tech in Miami. They’ve hired 150 interns and recent college graduates, too.
“We’re using AI, we’re using robotics to 3D print homes, we’re using drones to survey land and capture data and make purchasing decisions,” said Cristina V. Rodriguez, director of early careers at Lennar, who spoke at the Future Workforce Development gathering on Wednesday. “We’re a tech company that happens to build homes.”
In years one and year two, Miami Tech Works’ Tech Talent Coalition forged strategic partnerships, launched four working groups – Emerging Tech Talent, Tech Skills Gap, Inclusive Tech Talent Pipeline and Small Business Capacity Building – that met regularly. Miami Tech Works also commissioned a tech talent gap study that showed “the jobs that were in demand now would continue to be in demand for the next 10 years unless we did something about it,” Brown said.
Now Year three will be all about expanding all of that work, including by propelling talent for jobs in climatetech, for which Miami-Dade was declared a US tech hub last year. Year three will also be about better branding the message to students that they don’t have to leave the area for a good tech job and also to local employers that Miami area’s colleges, universities, and bootcamps are making sure the local talent is ready for them.
“We need to double down on the narrative that yes, we do have talent, yes, we do have companies, and yes, we do have jobs. That’s why Miami Tech Works is all about connecting everyone,” said Antonio Delgado, MDC’s VP of Innovation and Technology Partnerships.
How demand is growing
The opportunity to continue to create pathways to these jobs in order to prevent brain drain and keep our local talent here is immense. According to wage growth data presented at the summit, over 66,000 new tech jobs were added to the Florida economy from 2020-2023. That’s a 30% jump in just 3 years. The annual average wage in those years rose from $82,810 to $100,180.
According to 2023-2024 data from MDC, FIU and Broward College, software developers were the most in-demand with the highest number of average monthly job postings – 573. That was followed by computer user support specialists (301) and data scientists (271).
To get students leveled up for those jobs, a big focus has been on internships and also sprinternships, projects that could be as short as 3 weeks that Break Through Tech facilitates with employers, said Brown. “We’re doubling down on project-based learning.”
At the conference, Brown announced another initiative of interest to students and employers: Blackstone, working with MDC’s Idea Center and Tech Equity Miami, is supporting a summer internship program with the college. The investment firm will provide half the cost for paid internships for up to 200 students initially. Businesses who want to participate can apply here by Feb. 21.
For all this to be successful and sustainable for years to come, even more employers need to step up, contribute to Miami Tech Works’ mission, and hire locally, said Ken Finneran, VP of Human Resources at eMed. Brown added, “Let’s make a pledge today to commit to hiring local tech talent.”
The future talent steps up
The talent base is ready. The summit featured several students on stage and other students and young professionals presented their work in the active exhibition area.
Ciarra Ashley, for instance, shared that she fell into tech at Miami Dade College after taking only one course in Apple Swift programming and fell in love with it. When she began looking at tech careers where she could help companies grow with real solutions, she then enrolled and graduated from MDC’s data analytics bachelor’s degree program.
The robust program gave Ashley numerous opportunities to do multiple projects resulting in a robust portfolio and resume. Now she works in a remote data analytics job for Purdue University, where she is involved in a project that analyzes Cspan data to look at how people take in congressional rhetoric.
Luis Enrique Ramirez, a business major who had also never coded before, knew where the world was going technologicly and wanted to adapt. He was working on personal projects during the pandemic, and enrolled in a bootcamp at Ironhack. It wasn’t easy but he worked hard and then enrolled in a second full-time bootcamp, which was a little easier because he had gained an understanding how tech works.
Now Ramirez is a full-stack developer. “For me the experience was life-changing,” said Ramirez, who works at Seminole Hardrock.
Ramirez’s advice to other students and young professionals: Get out of your comfort zone and network in the community. For employers, particularly those that hire interns or early professionals, Ashley had some advice too: Take the time to get to know us, she said. Share your wisdom, and let us show you what we can do.
Find out more about Miami Tech Works here and join a working group. The next community-wide meeting will be April 10.
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
- At the Tech Talent Summits and Fest, smart job-hunting advice was in abundance. Here’s some of the best.
- How did this MDC international student land a corporate job in tech? Hard work and networking
- From paramedic to software engineer: Meet Rolando Caceres
- The data is in: We have tech talent, but are not retaining it. Now what?
- Students to tech employers: Take a chance on us and watch us grow
- The Cuban native dreamed of earning a degree. Now she’s graduating from MDC and already landed a job in tech.
- Small business resilience takes center stage at Tech Talent Coalition’s year-end event
- From accounting to web development: Meet this Ironhack grad making big strides in programming
- How Break Through Tech Miami bridges the gap between classroom and industry
- MDC and Apple create a Swift pathway to work experience in tech
- And much more here.
Refresh Miami is a proud partner of Miami Tech Works
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