Purpose Hubs: Your company needs its Next Gen Tech Hub… and you should build it in Chicago

I have been fortunate to work with leading organizations around the world and also dig deep into the nitty gritty of Chicago

I wanted to offer some thoughts what I view as the urgent need for companies to evolve their ‘tech talent hub’ strategies and offer perspective on ‘why Chicago should be considered’ and how best to go about it

From a macro perspective, there have been big shifts in the way that most companies think about and manage technology:

• IT was a behind-the-scenes ‘enabler’ of the business but has now, in a digitally native world, become inseparable from the core business and product
• We have moved from a world of ‘back office IT’, offshoring and ‘on prem infrastructure’ to a world of DevOps and Cloud
• Talent models have evolved from heavy contractor usage and a hamster wheel of paying top dollar for mid-career talent and to a recognition that organic talent development and pipelines mattering more

In aggregate, these shifts have contributed to the long-term gap (often called a ‘war’) between the need for skilled tech workers and the available supply. There is, as a result, enormous pressure on building a retaining a tech team that can sustainably carry the organization forward

Remote work has helped alleviated some of the pressure by reducing geography as a constraint for immediate hiring. But remote work has not alleviated the need to meaningfully connect as a team, serendipitously interact with the outside world and build real relationships with students and other emerging talent pools.

The reality is that a specific ‘hub’ or ‘hubs’ are still a critical priority for most organizations as a means of building scale, providing the right experiences for early career talent, allowing closer proximity to the business, product and customer and creating a shared identity and community for the team.

In our own vernacular, we think of these next gen hubs as more than just the tech work and instead are calling them 'purpose hubs'. They go far beyond provide a place for workers to sit and meet. The hybrid world we live in dictates that these hubs be far more intentional both in terms of what happens inside the building, but also in the area around the building and the diverse educational and innovation partners the hub needs to connect and collaborate with

Our view is that Chicago has specific defining features that CHROs, CTOs and CEOs should consider as they move to create such 'purpose hubs' for their tech and innovation talent

The reasons are clear. Chicago has:

• the second largest number of CS graduates of any city in the country
• a highly liquid labor market (the fourth largest number of open tech positions)
• a relatively low cost of labor and higher than average employee loyalty
• the fifth highest brand perception of any city in the country amongst young people as a place to start one’s career

Yet navigating the complexity and nuance of Chicago – with its 78 neighborhoods, its countless universities and incredibly diverse economy – creates challenges

But we believe it can be simplified into what we call think of as a basic users' manual for building a tech hub in Chicago

In our view, here are the key ingredients

• Physical location: a great tech hub should be in a location that is vibrant (cultural and entertainment amenities), have good transportation, have highly quality housing nearby, be in proximity to diverse and deep talent pools and have a built environment that allows for lots of collaboration with internal and external partners inside and outside of the office. Chicago is rich in such neighborhoods. To pick an example, Fulton Market is by some measures the fastest growing commercial real estate market in the country because it combines those critical attributes. A tech hub in a neighborhood like ours serves as huge boost to the culture and comradery of a team
• Talent pipelines: 1) Traditional colleges: there are a handful of colleges and universities in Chicagoland that have deep and growing pools of diverse technical talent and increasing amounts of infrastructure and programming to connect that talent to employers. Our team has really good data on where these students are and tips and the experience and desire to help you most effectively connect with them. 2) Non-traditional: there is tremendous promise in building pipelines of tech talent beyond traditional university experiences. Chicago has several large-scale efforts underway to make it much easier for companies to succeed here. Discovery Partners Institute (created by the University of Illinois) has launched a large-scale reskilling effort that aims to prepare thousands of students using this new model. Accenture, AON and City Colleges have made great progress on tech apprenticeships. And new commercial partners like Bitwise Industries are building a presence in Chicago to create strong, viable bridges between underserved communities and viable tech hub employment
• External innovation: tech hubs need exposure to new ideas to flourish. In Chicago, your teams are a short walk or Uber ride away from connecting with dozens of cutting-edge venture firms, hundreds of innovative startups tackling myriad sectors and technologies, dozens of the largest corporates in the world tackling innovation at scale and some of the very best universities on the planet. Few cities in America can rival this depth and diversity.
• Larger community and shared identify: our research shows that talent cares about being part of a tech community beyond the four walls of their organization. Under the banner of ‘TechChicago’, a broad coalition of Chicago tech leaders and workers are investing to further grow that shared identity and connectivity.
• Navigation partners: there is a spirit of Chicago and the Midwest of helping others succeed. P33 is excited to ensure that anyone interested finds the right resources to succeed with their tech hub in Chicago. Our partners at WBC deliver world class support to companies every day. And there are many others ready to help (1871, mHub, Matter, ISTC, Intersect Illinois, DPI, etc). You don’t have to start from scratch. We are here to help find what you need

Chicago, like many places, faces considerable challenges. Public safety, in particular, is a key area of focus in improving our city. That is something we can all call attention to and re-double our efforts. There is also so much work to be done to ensure a more equitable form of economic development for our city

Yet the need for companies to develop and sustain diverse tech talent hubs has never been greater. And Chicago is blessed with the ingredients to make these hubs work. If my team or our partners can help in any way as you navigate these topics, never hesitate to reach out for help