Calgary’s tech industry is on a hot streak. A new report from the CBRE Group shows that the sector grew by 56 per cent, adding 28,900 jobs.
“In Alberta and in Calgary, specifically, there’s a lot of tech that’s based on kind of our natural resources and traditional industries,” explained Jen Lussier, CEO of Platform Calgary.
“Energy, of course, clean tech, agriculture, manufacturing — it really is literally across the board.”
Located in Calgary’s downtown, Platform Calgary serves as a hub for those within the tech space, offering supports for entrepreneurs, and creating connections for those looking to find opportunities.
“We like to say it takes a village to raise a startup,” Joked Lussier. “Platform works to connect and grow the broader tech community, but we also have direct programming that helps a founder build a product, learn how to build their product, learn how to find a customer, talk to a customer, learn how to raise dollars, and learn how to hire.”
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Lussier continued by saying the success of Platform didn’t just happen overnight.
“The Calgary Economic Development innovation strategy has been put in place, and over the next three years… Platform is the critical referral engine at the middle of that,” Lussier shared.
“There’s nodes for each sector, and how tech is integrating into each sector… into aerospace, into energy, into sports, into logistics, etc., so that strategy is solid foundational policy.”
Employment in tech isn’t just limited to programmers and coders. Many companies need people to work in sales, human resources, logistics, and more.
“For the past six consecutive years, we have doubled in size,” notes Nathan Day, sales and marketing head at TCG Machines.
“From modest beginnings of just our founder for five years, while he invented our product, to this year — I believe we began with 15-employees, we’re now up to 40.”
TCG Machines found their niche in the the realm of trading cards. Recently having moved from a co-op work space into a more than 15,000 square-foot facility, they celebrated a milestone of their machines sorting through an impressive billion cards.
“I mean, the proof is in the pudding, you know what I mean? We’re now in 24 countries, we have just over 500 units out in the field, this is making a real impact for people,” Day noted.
“So as cool as it is to be able to do this, I think the best part about it is that we’re actually making valuable change in business owners’ lives and helping this community we’re all big fans of.”
However, the success of the company isn’t just the luck of the draw but years of hard work.
“The more fun a job is the harder you have to work at it. Because more people are interested in it for its intrinsic worth to them, not necessarily for the financial reward,” Explained Day.
“It kind of fell on us to take advantage of every opportunity we possibly can, because at the end of the day the mission for us is to provide value for people who are running trading card businesses.”
One area in which Calgary comes up short is education. The report shows that of those nearly 29,000 jobs, there were only 3,660 graduates with tech-related degrees coming out of local post-secondary institutions. But at least at TCG Machines, Day doesn’t think Calgary will struggle to attract talent.
“Calgary has done an excellent job of leveraging what we already had, which was forward thinking and ambitious people,” Day stated.
“We’re seeing so much support both from Calgary and the province, and on a federal level. It not only reinforces our belief in ourselves, but makes possible all the things we’ve been able to do.”
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