A report televised by the BBC News, last week, investigates 10x Management’s pioneering role in addressing the shortage of highly-skilled professionals in the technology industry. It gives excellent context for 10x cofounder Altay Guvench’s upcoming talk at SXSW Interactive, The Tech Talent Shortage: Problems and Solutions. Video linked below.
In Why Computer Programmers Need Agents, the BBC’s Michael Maher explores 10x Management as the first talent agency created to provide a reliable source of top-level technology professionals during a time of tremendous demand. Maher interviews 10x’s founders Rishon Blumberg, Michael Solomon and Altay Guvench, along with one of 10x’s elite programmers, James Cropcho.
The intro for the BBC’s report begins:
Ninjas. Rock Stars. 10-Xers. These are just some of the labels that have been applied to the world’s most sought after computer programmers.
They’re a rare breed and are in high demand. In fact, so high is the demand that some of these coders now have agents to manage their stellar careers in the burgeoning digital marketplace.
One tech talent agency leading the way, 10x Management, is run by two New Yorkers who started out in the music industry.
The tech talent shortage has been receiving increasing attention lately, especially with President Obama’s announcement of his $100M TechHire initiative to fill the nearly 500,000 unfilled technology jobs in America. In the BBC report, one of 10x’s customers, Michael San Soucie, a software engineer at web startup Unroll.Me, is quoted as saying:
“I think the reality of the technology industry in 2015 is that it’s really hard to find good people. Having someone come in from Day 1 – and you know they’re competent, you know they’re productive and when they leave, their code is well-documented and someone will be able to maintain it easily – it’s invaluable.”
View the full video on the BBC News website.