Archive for Michigan

| August 9, 2012
One comment

Detroit Among Best US Cities for Tech Jobs

More tech jobs in Detroit MichiganIf you’re looking for a job in technology, come to Detroit. According to a report from VentureBeat Baltimore, Detroit and Pittsburgh have the best prospects for tech jobs. This comes from the Simply Hired July 2012 employment outlook.

Detroit, MichiganSimply Hired’s Nathan Beers sliced the data and told VentureBeat that when you compare the number of available jobs and the number of currently employed technology workers, the best places in the U.S to be looking for a job are Baltimore, Detroit, Charlotte, and Portland. By this measuring stick, the Silicon Valley area ranks only eighth.

Simply Hired which bills itself as the world’s largest job search engine, currently has over eight million job listings. 30 million users check the service monthly from 24 countries, and Simply Hired powers the job search functionality on sites like LinkedIn and The Washington Post.

Here are all the details on the best markets for technology workers, according to Simply Hired:

  1. Looking fro a job in DetroitBaltimore – Towson, MD
  2. Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI
  3. Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC
  4. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA
  5. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
  6. Pittsburgh, PA
  7. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
  8. Richmond, VA
  9. RaleighCary, NC
  10. New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ

Forbes recently called Detroit a potential up and comer for tech jobs in the next  decade. The article says even though the Motor City area lost 20% of its tech jobs in the past decade, it still boasts one of the nation’s largest concentrations of tech workers, nearly 50% above the national average. In the past two years, the region has experienced a solid 7.7% increase in technology jobs, the second highest rate of any metro area.

Ford, GM, ChryslerThe Forbes article says the Motor City region seems to have some real high-tech mojo. According to the website Dice.com, Detroit has led the nation with the fastest growth in technology job offerings since February — at 101%. This can be traced to the rejuvenated auto industry, which is increasingly dependent on high-tech skills. Manufacturing is increasingly prodigious driver of tech jobs; games and dot-coms are not the only path to technical employment growth.

Simply Hired - July 2012Forbes - May 2012
Baltimore, MD areaSeattle, WA area
Detroit, MI areaWashington DC-area
Charlotte, NC areaSan Diego, CA area
Portland, OR areaSalt Lake City, UT
Seattle, WA areaBaltimore, MD area
Pittsburgh, PAJacksonville, FL
Milwaukee, WI areaSan Jose, CA area
Richmond, VAColumbus, OH
Raleigh-Cary, NCRaleigh-Cary, NC
New York, NY areaNashville, TN area

rb-

Umm- I’ve covered this for phenomenon for a while here. here and here. On one hand this seems to be true, it is nearly impossible to hire good tech staff, I know I’ve tried. On the other hand I am still looking for a new gig.

Anybody hiring? Who wants to prove to me that Detroit Michigan is among the best US citie to find a tech job?

Related articles
Category: Michigan | Tags: , , , ,
| July 27, 2012
One comment

Bill Ford Wants to Turn Michigan into “Silicon Valley of Mobility”

Michigan Ford Motor Company (F) Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. believes Detroit and Michigan can shed their rust belt persona. In a speech during the annual Mackinac Policy Conference, on Mackinaw Island, Mr. Ford said the Motor City can shed its rust belt image and take on high-tech communities like San Francisco, Palo Alto, California or Seattle. The Ford Chairman contends Michigan can be repositioned as the “Silicon Valley of Mobility.”

Ford Motor Company logoThe Detroit Bureau observes this is a matter of been-there-done-that. In its heyday, in the early years of the 20th Century, Detroit was the quintessential American boom town, much like Silicon Valley is today. It was dubbed by many the “Paris of the Midwest” because of its art, architecture and sophisticated lifestyle. But things began to rapidly decline in the post-War years and today some old industrial sites are being converted back to farmland.

Chairman Ford insisted continuing decline is not inevitable, especially if Detroit and Michigan embrace new “green, smart technologies.” Mr. Ford continued, “To address this issue, we will once again need new technologies, as well as new ways of looking at the world. We will need to view the automobile as one element of a transportation ecosystem.”

Detroit ZooThe automobile, Bill Ford has noted on several occasions, can no longer be viewed as a standalone machine. Industry leaders need to accept and respond to such challenges as fuel economy, emissions, safety and highway gridlock.

“This technology is in varying stages of development and deployment, but it promises to radically transform the experience of driving,” said Ford during his speech. “As it develops, I believe Michigan must become the Silicon Valley of the mobility revolution.”

The Ford Chairman noted the automaker has so far invested nearly a billion dollars in battery technology in Michigan. That includes upgrades to the Michigan Assembly Plant in the Detroit suburb of Wayne that recently began producing the new Ford Focus Electric. The factory will also add a plug-in hybrid version of Ford’s new C-Max “people-mover” later this year.

Help wantedAs TheDetroitBureau.com recently reported, there has been a significant turnaround in terms of high-tech job opportunities in Michigan. According to the Society of Automotive Engineers and other groups, there is now a shortage of trained specialists, especially with more advanced skills in areas such as fuel economy and emissions controls. And Detroit’s Big Three aren’t the only ones hiring. Virtually every major automaker and supplier now has a significant tech presence in Metro Detroit, including Toyota which has set up a major test track and engineering center near Ann Arbor.

In his speech, Chairman Ford noted a recent study by TechAmerica Foundation (which I also noted here) that found that despite the deep recession Michigan had added more high-tech jobs in 2009 and 2010 than any other state.

Investment in upgrading the electrical gridThe turnaround of the Great Lakes State will require a significant effort, the Ford Chairman acknowledged, and will take steps that ensure its competitiveness according to the article. He concluded his speech by calling on lawmakers to take several steps, including the elimination of personal property taxes and an investment in upgrading the electrical grid – which many see as a significant impediment to both expanded industrialization and the growth of the electric vehicle market.

“We can keep this momentum going if we are frank about the areas in which we can improve and we build upon our advantages,” Ford added.

rb-

I think there are more fundamental problems that Michigan is going to have to solve before it can take on Silicon Valley. The labor supply pool in Michigan is very thin even for the most basic IT positions like field technicians. Where I am working now, it is a constant struggle to find staff that have some enterprise experience and people skills. I think that anybody with some good skills is either working or has left Michigan.

 

Related articles
Category: Michigan, Wireless | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
| June 21, 2012
Comments Off

White Space Broadband in Michigan

Wiireless broadbandResidents of Vergennes, Michigan a small community east of Grand Rapids, is taking matters in to their own hands to solve their lack of broadband. They’re using “white space” radios from Carlson Wireless, combined with lightly licensed 3.65 WiMax and cellular microcells reports Dailywireless.

MichiganRyan Peel, owner of Vergennes Broadband has been continuously frustrated with the lack of broadband access. Peel’s solution according to the article is to combine three different technologies to extend wireless broadband coverage in his community: WiMAX at 3.65 GHz; TV white space radios; and micro-cell mini-towers to extend cellular phone coverage as well. It’s currently being constructed.

“There’s going to be a hybrid network”, explains Peel. “The primary technology will be WiMAX using 3.65 GHz semi-licensed band. It’s going to use WiMAX radio technology with 6x diversity. But there are a significant number of people in the area that WiMAX cannot reach, because of the terrain and tree cover as is the nature of rural America”, Peel told the blog.

Television white spacesVergennes Broadband uses two 100+ foot towers, each with a WiMAX radio and a Carlson TV white space radio called the RuralConnect IP. The software-defined radio uses the slivers of VHF and UHF spectrum not used by television broadcasters Dailywireless says.

According to the article, Peel is adding supplemental value to the project by offering femtocells. Femtocells provide a local cellular connection and use broadband for the backhaul. It simply plugs into customers’ new Internet connection to work.

rb-

The plan seems like a kludge with a mix of three technologies. However, Comcast (CMCSA) and Charter are never going to do a build out in rural areas. The Internet plans casts are

512 Kbps $39.99
1 Mbps     $49.99
2 Mbps     $59.99
3 Mbps     $79.99

This was a problem that RUS Obama money was supposed to address, but that has gone so well. Maybe Merit can do it.

Category: Broadband, Michigan | Tags: , , , , ,
| May 17, 2012
Comments Off

All EMU Students Dismissed by Email Mistake

Accidential email blastEarlier this month Eastern Michigan University sent a mass email dismissing to the entire student body and an unknown number of recent EMU graduates. Julie Baker at AnnArbor.com reports that the message dismissed the students from the university and canceled all further enrollment. The article says the mass email was sent from the email of Associate Director of Academic Advising Molly D. Weir. EMU says it is investigating how it happened. The dismissal message said in part;

EMU seal“As a result of your Winter 2012 academic performance, you have been dismissed from Eastern Michigan University … you will be ineligible to register for classes … you will not be eligible to resume coursework at EMU until Summer 2013 at the earliest.

Eastern Michigan University President Susan Martin emailed statement addressed to students, faculty and staff reads: “I deeply apologize for the incorrect email many of our students received this evening indicating they were dismissed from the University. This message was a terrible mistake and I regret the undue alarm and concern it caused.”

email_revengeVice President of Communications Walter Kraft denied any claims that this event was the result of a breach of security or a hack. EMU is pointing the finger at a contractor. Mr. Kraft said; “An outside company that we contract with for this notification process, GradesFirst, sent the dismissal message to the entire student body instead of the file of 100 or so students who were supposed to receive it,” he said. “GradesFirst has offered an apology for its role in this matter.”

VP Kraft added EMU will continue to investigate to find exactly what went wrong and take whatever steps are necessary to make sure it never happens again according to AnnArbor.com.

Margaret Thatcher

We are not amused

rb-

Why are they outsourcing their communications with their customers? Goes to show that if you let others control your message, they will screw it up.

Didn’t Longfellow say “If you want something done right; do it for yourself?”

 

 

 

Category: Michigan | Tags: , , , ,
| April 7, 2012
One comment

Amazing Video of Michigan at Night from Space

SpaceshipThe crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station took this amazing NASA video of Michigan. The video begins looking northeast over Texas, where cities like San Antonio, Houston, and the Dallas/Fort Worth area can be seen. Continuing northeast over the Great Plains states, cities like Oklahoma City, Kansas City, and St. Louis can be easily distinguished. The pass continues over the familiar shape of the Michigan Peninsula, with Chicago and Detroit visible. As the ISS continues northeast, the Aurora Borealis can be seen over Canada.

Michigan from the ISS

Click here for NASA Hi-Res video

The sequence of shots was taken January 30, 2012 from 06:13:36 to 06:23:09 GMT, on an ISS pass from northern Mexico to northwest New Brunswick.

Related articles
Category: Michigan | Tags: , , , , ,
« Older Entries  

Switch to our mobile site