Techies reject coasts for 'Silicon Prairie'
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 3:12 pm
Saw this on CNN.com today
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation ... tml?hpt=C2
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation ... tml?hpt=C2
Midwestern tech is coming into its own. Jeff Slobotski produces an event called Big Omaha that includes more than 500 of the region's workers from Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. The annual event just took place in May.
"We've got a real healthy and growing community," said Slobotski, innovation director at the AIM Institute -- a nonprofit membership organization for IT leadership.
Recent jobs for developers, coders for backend structures, as well as traditional corporate IT jobs have been filled recently by workers from the coasts, he said.
Slobotski, who runs a blog called "Silicon Prairie News" http://www.siliconprairienews.com/ said high-tech talent and ideas are thriving in the region many coastal residents snidely refer to as "flyover country." Some of the newer companies in Nebraska include Agile Sports/ Hudl in Lincoln, and Hayneedle.com  http://www.hayneedle.com/ and Rockdex http://rockdex.com/ in Omaha.