Building a New City of Tech(Boise)

We have an opportunity. An opportunity for people like us, an opportunity to define the future of our home – Boise.

Did you know that we have the oldest legislative body in the entire nation? Our state representatives, many senior business leaders and officials leading the education infrastructure are not tech savvy. Worse, they glaze over and talk in circles whenever tech is mentioned (most of them anyway).

Meanwhile the evidence is clear that Idaho is becoming home for many of the lowest paying jobs in the nation. These are comprised of service industry (McDonalds, Taco Time, etc.) and call centers (T-Mobile, CitiCard, etc.) where the bulk of the positions range from $5.25 to $12 an hour. The reality of life is that it takes much more than that to live in our community.

Tech jobs are skilled and pay better.

The median tech professional in Boise makes ~$25 / hr. That means half of wage-earners are below and half are above, but the reality is that this lumps in tech workers in semi-skilled manufacturing positions. The higher end of the spectrum are people like you who code applications or architect solutions. These are great jobs and not only promote quality of life monetarily, but also create a quality of life that is consistent with the culture and lifestyle of Boise.

Tech jobs (software development, etc.) are green jobs. Tech jobs are are not dependant on distribution lines (and the costs associated therein). Our geographic isolation does not hinder the delivery of the product / service. Boise is a perfect location for this type of work. We have a strong engineering base, strong tech corporations, and a state university in our city core. What we lack is:

• entrepreneurial spirit,
• legislators who will get out there and press the flesh with those from other states to discuss the resources we possess.
• Tax considerations for small and mid-size businesses.
• No charge or low charge resources to educate people on starting and running a business focusing on areas that are not core to their competencies.
• mentors (yes I am talking to you.)

We have an opportunity to become great - good to great is not a far leap!

Great communities like Boise are rare. TechBoise seeks to surface the tech community, build upon it and create awareness of our technical powerhouse for the entire world to see. It begins with a discussion at a TechBoise FREE event which is the catalyst for great innovation, imagination and opportunities yet to be realized.

Now ask yourself, shouldn’t you come to the next event?

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About This Post
Published: March 19, 2008
By: George Seybold

This article is filed under:
Business | Business Start up | Event | Social | Social Networking

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