While talk of a tech downturn continues to simmer, economists are optimistic that the rich talent market will make next-generation tech growth possible here in Austin.
According to Anup Srivastava in Harvard Business Review, “A recession is the best time to acquire resources, all while your competitors are cutting back.”
Though some companies across the sector are reducing their head counts, the time is ripe for expanding teams to attract talented professionals to their next great-fit roles.
“The winners emerge during these challenging times are those that capitalize on the opportunities and acquire the right assets, customers, talent and competencies at the right prices,” Srivastava wrote.
Built In Austin spoke to leaders at four Austin tech companies that are currently hiring — and heard about the work they are proud of today and the top talent that will power them as they grow.
What they do: John Deere builds intelligent connected machines for industries including agriculture, construction, and forestry. “Agriculture presents some of the most exciting and complex problem-solving opportunities in the tech industry because it’s both high stakes and high impact,” said Austin Site Lead Laurel Caes.
What’s exciting now: “At John Deere, we’re committed to helping farmers keep up with the world’s rapidly growing demand for food, fuel and fiber, so we develop and deploy technology to help farmers do more with less. We invest heavily in R&D and use our history of innovation to make purpose-driven technology, not tech for tech’s sake. Deere has a longstanding history in technology innovation as we have evolved alongside the farmer.
“We embraced IoT and big data early on to deliver real-time insights so farmers can get the most out of every growing season. We invested in our own GPS satellite network. We deployed sensors and robotics to make farming tasks automated and more precise. We developed computer vision technology to distinguish between plants and weeds. Our goal is to create an automated and autonomous technology ecosystem that leverages advanced tech so farmers can operate as efficiently as possible and feed the growing world population.”
Advanced technology like AI, automation and robotics is key to increasing precision and helping farmers do more with less.”
Coolest recent project: “The coolest project I’ve worked on recently was our presence at CES 2022. We held our first-ever press conference to reveal the John Deere Autonomous Tractor, created an outdoor booth in Central Plaza to showcase precision agriculture technology and launched a microsite experience for virtual attendees. What I enjoyed most about CES 2022 was seeing our story resonate with attendees. We all need to eat, and farmers work tirelessly every day to feed our rapidly growing population. But, with limited resources and labor, farmers can only do so much in a day or season.
“Advanced technology like AI, automation and robotics is key to increasing precision and helping farmers do more with less. And this is just the start — Deere will have an even bigger presence at CES 2023, starting with our first-ever keynote. Our CEO John May is excited to kick off the event and share how purpose-driven sustainability and technology advancements address one of the world’s biggest challenges — feeding over 10 billion people by 2050. This is also the first time in CES history that an agriculture technology company will give a keynote, and we’re honored to have this opportunity at a leading tech event.”
What they do: Sonar recently raised $412 million to power continued growth of their clean code software solutions, which are centered around a comprehensive platform that enables developers to write clean code and to remediate existing code organically.
What’s exciting now: “At Sonar, we immensely value continuous improvement, feedback and are big on collaboration. By adopting ‘smarter together’ and ‘collective intelligence’ principles, we are able to garner the experience and expertise of our teams to identify and solve complex problems. We feel this is what sets us up for continued success. We believe in listening closely to our community and are transparent and authentic with our products and communication.”
We believe creativity is intelligence having fun.”
Coolest recent project: “We recently went through a deep rebranding and repositioning project which was daunting at first, but an absolutely rewarding project to work on! Through this exercise, we adjusted our visual identity, our messaging and our position in the ‘clean code’ category. We have been involved in creating new content and creative assets to raise awareness of our brand and solution to millions of developers and thousands of customers globally. The best part of this project has been the team collaboration and creativity greenfield. The entire company and our customers have been invigorated by the transformation. Sonar is the ‘Home of Clean Code,’ and we strive hard every day to make this known to all!”
What is clean code?
What they do: Apty’s no-code platform helps companies adopt and optimize digital solutions, and their physical presence in Austin is optimizing employee experiences internally, too. “We recently opened our new office just south of downtown Austin,” said Akhil Kamalakar, vice president of marketing. “It comes loaded with a full snack drawer, furry mascots and free parking.”
What’s exciting now: “At Apty, we believe creativity is intelligence having fun. We’re a fun group of curious personalities, collaborating to solve the challenge of accelerating enterprise software adoption. While the broader market is suffering from an economic downturn and budget freezes, we find ourselves positioned for growth due to our ability to help large companies maximize their digital transformation investments by ensuring that employees are completing business-critical processes accurately and efficiently.”
Our AI blends customer data with our model of the world to translate every aspect of the environment into actionable intelligence.”
Coolest recent project: “My favorite rocketship fueling project that I’m currently working on is our new go-to-market partnership with Microsoft and Servicenow, two of the largest enterprise software providers.
“What I enjoy most about this project — besides how strategically important it is to our company’s growth plans — is the ability to collaborate cross-functionally with our product, engineering, partnership and sales teams to develop a cohesive program. As a new member of the Apty team, this has helped me quickly build relationships with the rest of the organization, setting the stage for even greater things in the future.”
What they do: “The use of AI to assess risk for critical infrastructure is what makes Urbint Lens distinct,” said Senior Product Manager Amber Smith. The company is working to make communities more resilient by enabling utilities and infrastructure operators to manage risk through AI-powered solutions.
What’s exciting now: “Our AI blends customer data with our model of the world to translate every aspect of the environment into actionable intelligence, so our customers understand where to best distribute their resources and focus on the interventions that matter most to prevent safety incidents.”
Coolest recent project: “The most impactful project I’ve worked on recently was developing a new mapping feature to view risk by geographic location for our worker safety solution. What I really like about this feature is that it allows our users to not only understand what work is highest risk but also to get the most out of their risk assessments by concentrating on the most dangerous work in a given area. This allows our customers to understand where to best distribute their limited resources, to prevent people from suffering serious injuries.”
