Tech:NYC Digest: May 12

Tech:NYC Digest: May 12

May 12, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Thursday, May 12, 2022 

In today’s digest, Mayor Adams launches program for dyslexic students, Gov. Hochul’s advice on protecting employees’ abortion rights, and our new survey find NYC employers are still hungry for tech talent.

Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 13,495

    • New positive cases, NYC: 5,985

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 4.9 percent (+0.1 percent)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

    • New Yorkers with at least one dose: 90.3 percent

    • New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 77.1 percent  

In today’s latest:

  • Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine elicits a strong immune response in children aged 6 to 11, but forthcoming authorization for that cohort isn’t expected to increase vaccination rates much. Pfizer’s vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 has been available since November, but just 28.7 percent of that group has received both doses. (New York Times)

  • Even two years after their initial infection, the majority of people hospitalized with COVID-19 early in the pandemic had lingering symptoms, according to a new study believed to be the longest and largest on record to follow people with long COVID. (CNN)

  • Mayor Eric Adams announced the city will launch what his administration is calling the largest dyslexia support program in America, screening all public school students for the condition and offering a specialized learning program for those who need it. (NBC New York)

  • Various hedge funds and investment firms are joining tech companies to seek out new office space in the city while office vacancies remain high. (Bloomberg)

  • And for the Wall Street Journal, Gov. Kathy Hochul advised CEOs on how to protect employees’ abortion rights: Move to New York. (Wall Street Journal)

In other reading:

  • Can Anyone Out-Plan a Pandemic? Bill Gates Has a Strategy, But He’s Not the First (The Atlantic)

  • The City’s First Mass-Timber Condos Are Now for Sale (Curbed)

  • How to befriend the bouncers running NYC’s exclusive nightlife scene (New York Post)

It’s been a tough week in tech news, with many industry metrics signaling dips in the market and hiring slowdowns after two years of record-setting growth.

But it’s not all doom and gloom: NYC employers don’t expect a slowdown in tech hiring at their companies, according to a new survey of 300 NYC C-suite executives conducted by Tech:NYC and Accenture. (Crain’s New York Business)

  • 71 percent of executives surveyed expect to increase tech-related hirings this year, and an overwhelming majority (87 percent) said they felt confident they could find the talent they were looking for here in NYC.

Mirroring results from a similar survey we conducted last year, cybersecurity (64 percent), cloud (61 percent), and AI (51 percent) remain the most in-demand areas of expertise.

  • Respondents also expect the most difficulty hiring talent in these areas.

Companies are casting a wider net: In a tight labor market, they're finding more ways to target talent, including nontraditional sources:

  • 72 percent are sourcing talent through workforce development programs, and 62 percent are relying more on internal upskilling initiatives.

  • “We need to be able to build the infrastructure so that people who want to get into tech can get the background and the training needed,” said Tech:NYC’s executive director Jason Myles Clark.

Shifting workplace norms are also a top concern: 80 percent reported their companies changed work hours, created a more flexible schedule, and/or made changes in productivity expectations.

  • More than two-thirds (69 percent) reported they’re currently operating hybrid workplace models, and even more (79 percent) expect further changes to organizational culture in response to pandemic-era employee demands.

What’s next: The report confirms it’s still a talent-favored market, but for companies to reach their hiring goals, they’ll need to think creatively about attraction and retention efforts, including for those breaking into tech careers for the first time.

In other reading:

  • Prepare for a rebound: Why a veteran recruiter isn’t worried about the tech hiring slowdown (Protocol) 

  • Here’s What Stops Employees from Applying for Internal Roles (Harvard Business Review)

  • Gmail, Slack, Zoom, and More—Tech Rules for New Grads and Everyone Else at Work (Wall Street Journal)

  • Mathison, a NYC-based DEI hiring and retention platform, raised $25 million in Series A funding. F-Prime Capital led the round and was joined by Bain Capital Ventures, SemperVirens, ANIMO Ventures, GTM Fund, Gaingels, and JPMorgan.

  • Reverence, a NYC-based in-home care tech platform, raised $9.5 million and acquired staffing startup Hirehand. Target Global led the round.

  • SirionLabs, a NYC-based SaaS contract management platform, raised $85 million in Series D funding. Partners Group led the round and was joined by existing investors Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global.

  • May 19: In-person: State of NYC Business Summit, with Tech:NYC executive director Jason Myles Clark, Partnership for New York City president and CEO Kathryn Wylde, NYC Hospitality Alliance executive director Andrew Rigie, and others. Hosted by the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. Register here.

  • May 25: In-person: The Business of Biodesign, with AlgiKnit CEO Tessa Callaghan, TomTex chief scientific officer Ross McBee, and Werewool CEO Chui-Lian Lee, and others. Hosted by Newlab and the Biodesign Challenge. Register here.

Any feedback or suggestions of things to add? Get in touch here. Was this digest forwarded to you? Sign up to receive it directly here.