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Just because Bernie Moreno may be able to build an incubator to grow blockchain businesses does not mean startups will come to Cleveland unless the region can train or attract a labor force to populate the nascent ones.
In announcing his plan, the car dealer and technology entrepreneur said he intends to see a workforce of 1,000 blockchain professionals working in Cleveland by the end of 2019.
Conversations with local education and HR professionals have not found a uniform security that the workforce that Moreno is predicting can be produced, although there is some optimism that the goal can be achieved, with some efforts that precede the announcement of Moreno already under way.
"Everything is possible," said Kelly Keefe, president of ERC, a non-profit human resources training and research organization based in Highland Heights, "but we need to create and implement a strategy that includes universities, government and the private sector. . "
A study published in July 2017 by the Regional Information Technology Engagement Council (RITE), a nonprofit organization at Lorain County Community College that works to narrow the gap between supply and demand for workers of information in the Northeast of Ohio, reported that the region needed to expand the conduct of IT personnel trained to meet demand forecasts, even before Moreno established its goal. According to the report, "The results of this research suggest that we may be further behind the changes in the demand for IT professionals to fill the top-level positions" with "dramatic gaps" between the number of potential employees and the number of people who complete post secondary school programs.
"Employers, with the exception of (Hyland Software Inc.) and those with great brand recognition, are seeing an insufficient flow," said Courtney DeOreo, director of the RITE Board, in an e-mail . "There remain significant concerns about skills, as (employers) say they want full-time candidates."
For starters, Cuyahoga Community College already has a blockchain training program. William Gary, Tri-C executive vice president of labor, community and economic development, said the program is the second in the country created in collaboration with IBM Corp.
"The Blockchain curriculum has already been developed and we are incorporating it into our suite of technology courses," said Gary. "We are making 100 people through these programs, and they are employed even before they have finished with our program."
The Case Western Reserve University Lifelong Learning Program is also planning a blockchain coding program starting in January.
Julie Maurer, a human resources consultant and founder of Silverline Consulting Akron, wrote about the challenge of filling the technology jobs nationwide, citing an estimate that by 2020 there will be one million more jobs than graduate students.
While she said she is still not quite capable of accelerating blockchain technology, Maurer believes Northeastern Ohio can meet the demand for developers and programmers of blockchain software that Moreno anticipates. Examining his LinkedIn groups, Maurer estimates there are more than 12,000 people who are or have been at one point in their past in a software developer role in Cleveland.
"It would be a great challenge, but it is feasible if the story (the promoters) can say it is quite impressive," he said. "There are many training camps, many graduates coming out of Cleveland, a lot of people going to school outside Cleveland who have a reason to come back, we can do it and we can convert them and we can attract a part."
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