We’ve been busy lately, as the content marketing side of Cronicle has taken off. It’s still small, but we need help writing for Cronicle and for various content marketing clients who have hired us to write blogs for tech companies in the Michigan region.
Looking for a career shift or boost in your tech career? Google’s Grow With Google program is offering professional training and certifications in tech skills that are extremely affordable, or, with a new program designed for rural northwest Michigan, completely free. The program is used for finding entry level workers in tech by Wells Fargo, SiriusXM, Salesforce, Ford, Verizon and Crate & Barrel.
With consumer sentiment continuing a downward trend, falling 14.4% in June according to the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, many companies are tightening their belts. Inflation is outweighing income growth. How will inflation impact your company’s bottom line and, if you are the tech talent, your cost of living?
Cybersecurity startup Blumira has just announced multiple new hires as the company expands rapidly through the end of 2021.
Skykick has announced $130 million in funding, which will allow the IT no-code and low codes cloud automation software firm to expand to Detroit, where VP of Engineering Bob Karaban is originally from. The company is hoping to expand its 13-person team by hiring 30 additional engineers and introducing a new role, VP of IT Security.
Ryan Landau is co-founder of Purpose Jobs, a recruiting firm that works with the hottest tech startups in Southeast Michigan. We have heard both from startups and talent lately that a lot of people are looking for work, but that many startups are also hiring at a faster clip than ever before. Which tech companies in Detroit and Ann Arbor have the most openings? We checked in with Landau to highlight some great companies where you might land your next tech job, and to ask him about trends he’s seeing in the tech startup hiring space in Detroit and Ann Arbor.
Ann Arbor security startup Censys has hired Duo West sales veteran Will Saso of San Jose, CA, to head up its worldwide sales. We take this as a positive sign that security startups in Ann Arbor are able to draw in top hires from Silicon Valley, if still not outside their Duo network of talent.
How does someone build a career in successful startup exits 5 companies deep in a smaller and still emerging tech hub like Ann Arbor? Ask Jim Simpson, who has done just that in the burgeoning security startup scene in Ann Arbor with startups including Duo Security and Arbor Networks. Now new security startup Blumira, whose alumni include people from Duo Security, Censys, Groundspeed, Deepfield by Nokia and the NSA, has just hired Ann Arbor security startup veteran Jim Simpson as VP of Product as the company heads into its next building phase. Blumira has closed on $2.6 million in funding in the last year and recently doubled its team of about a dozen to two dozen, hoping to double that again in the next year to 50. We chatted with Simpson this week about the company’s rapid growth and how Blumira is working with the dynamics created by COVID-19 instead of against it to build success.
One of the risks of the racial justice movements resulting in calls for widespread change in 2020 was that companies jumping on board to promise change in American society would use the moment for PR and then lapse back into business as usual. But tech companies in particular, along with many in fashion and entrepreneurship, have embraced 2020 as a turning point after which the awareness and support of diversity in the workplace and representation in both media and business will not go back to a misguided sense that ignorance is bliss. Is it naive to think these changes will last without a community effort? Probably, but a large number of people often would like to make a change and only need some direction as to how to help. We checked in with a couple of tech companies to see how their diversity programs are changing, to give you some tips if you’re planning your own diversity and inclusion program.
Cybersecurity startup Censys, which offers visibility and risk assessment of businesses’ constantly evolving security vulnerabilities, recently announced that it has hired Derek Abdine as CTO, who will head up technical strategy and innovation. Abdine brings 15 years of work in security industry leadership to the role, as well as experience as an industry evangelist.
