Live in Miami and can’t find that tech job? You’re not alone
If you’ve been wondering when you’re going to get a piece of the new Miami tech action, you have company. Tech Trail recently wrote that of the more than 1,800 jobs promised by firms moving to or expanding in Miami, fewer than 300 have materialized — though these companies have three years to fulfill those hiring pledges.
But it’s even worse than that, as new local firms appear to be prioritizing established, out-of-state networks for many of the jobs that they do have.
We checked in with Ja’dan Johnson, who wears multiple hats on the Miami tech scene. In addition to his full-time role as marketing and community lead for Miami at networking app Upstream, he also serves as a venture capital scout for Florida Funders and helped organize this year’s Miami Hack Week.
Johnson said Miami continues to be haunted by the notion, real or perceived, that it lacks adequate home-grown talent. The result?
“A lot of the roles locally are going to people outside Miami,” Johnson said.
Johnson was recently hiring for a position for
Miami Hack Week, and found most of the applicants were from outside the area.
The biggest problem, he said: Many Miami natives might not have experience in a fast-paced startup on their résumé, compared with someone newly arrived from New York or California.
“There’s always a bias toward people with some existing experience working in tech,” Johnson said.
But there are other factors at work, too. In the case of Miami Hack Week, Johnson continued, the group’s modest size dictates that they “don’t have the luxury of being able to bring someone on to develop.”
“We need someone who can jump in and hit the ground running,” he said.
Asked about hiring,
Matthew Vega-Sanz, CEO and co-founder of Lula, a highly touted, Miami-based car insurance startup, emphasized the talent influx.
“Building a purely Miami tech organization is still a challenge,” he said in an email.
The pandemic and the rise of remote work has leveled the geographic playing field. That’s caused new workers to arrive in the city, VegaSanz said.
“We’re starting to see top-tier talent trickle in, so I’m excited about what’s to come for the community,” he said.
At the same time, a more experienced candidate from outside the Miami area who could relocate or work temporarily from here may now have an advantage over a 305er.
“It’s definitely the case that Miami workers are competing against everybody else, mostly because of the pandemic,” Johnson said.
Kevin Amézaga, a young coder with an active Twitter presence, said he has not been able to get a job among any of the new-toMiami tech firms — and has essentially stopped trying. He said he’s not alone.
“I have not seen anyone get hired recently,” he said, “especially people looking at relatively entrylevel work like myself. For people with more experience that can compete it’s OK, but it’s hard to compete for entry-level.”
Those entry-level openings, he noted, often don’t exist in many of the companies moving here.
The hiring situation was summed up by Michaël Ortali, a Miami-based software engineer, on Twitter this week:
“Every Miami founder I talked to is not hiring locally, they’re hiring remote or importing talent,” he wrote.
The implication may be ominous, Ortali said.
“Sounds familiar? A similar situation happened in the Bay Area which over 10 years drastically changed demographics & cost of living. We are trending towards becoming the new SF.”
SPEAKERS FOR MIAMI ART WEEK NFT BZL AT FTX
The initial slate of speakers for NFT BZL, the NFT-focused conference
presented by Moishe Mana’s Mana Tech group and MiamiDade County, include venture capital investor Tim Draper, Justin Blau, CEO and co-founder of Founders Fund-backed music ownership platform Royal, and LiveNinja co-founder Will Weinraub.
The event at the FTX Arena is slated for Nov. 30. Tickets start at $199.
“Art Basel represents a unique moment for NFTs. As one of the world’s preeminent art gatherings, the art fair brings together artists, collectors and innovators in a way not seen since the pandemic,” Michelle Abbs, managing director of Mana Tech, said in a statement last week.. “Not only do these new digital contracts create a transformative vehicle for the union of art and tech, they also represent the evolution of how we interact with the arts and with each other in a decentralized setting.”
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said, “We in Miami-Dade pride ourselves on standing at the intersection of culture and innovation, and the NFT BZL conference is a great example of how we can bring tech and the arts together to showcase the vibrancy of our community and lead our economy into the future.”
Info at NFTBZL.com.
ROKK3R CO-FOUNDER WINS BACKING OF ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ
Nabyl Charania, best known in Miami as the co-founder of Rokk3r Labs, has launched an NFT-focused investment fund alongside Miami-based entrepreneur Brandon Buchanan and with the backing of famed Silicon Valley venture group Andreessen Horowitz (“a16z”).
Charania and Buchanan’s investment firm, called Meta4 Capital, launched earlier this year “with a mandate to buy digital art and collectibles, purchase virtual land and trade NFT-related cryptocurrencies,” a release said. Meta4’s NFT fund will specifically invest in digital art and collectibles, gamingrelated NFTs and metaverserelated purchases.
Terms of the deal with a16z were not disclosed.
“NFTs are the driving force behind a new generation of internet products and services that are sharing value directly between the millions of developers, artists, collectors, and even gamers that participate — rather than platforms that simply act as a middleman,” said Arianna Simpson, general partner at a16z Crypto.
FTX PARTNERS WITH HEAT’S HASLEM ON CRYPTOCURRENCY
Cryptocurrency exchange and Miami Heat arena sponsor FTX
U.S. is launching a local spin-off of its national “You in?” campaign promoting cryptocurrency adoption that will feature Heat legend Udonis Haslem.
To kick off the campaign, FTX executed an exclusive NFT drop during the team’s home opener Thursday that featured a QR code on T-shirts given to each fan. FTX also announced Haslem as a company ambassador.
FTX announced last week that it had raised $420 million at a $25 billion valuation.
“We are looking to integrate ourselves into the fabric of this community in order to not only best support the local crypto movement, but all of the diverse cultural and economic enterprises that make Miami unique,” said FTX U.S. President Brett Harrison. “Given his commitment to the Miami Heat and the city as a whole, partnering with Udonis Haslem was an obvious choice.”
Rob Wile’s “Tech Trail” column appears every Sunday in the Miami Herald. If you have tips, Rob can be reached at 312-806-6565. Follow him on Twitter: @rjwile