09-26-2008

Calling All Techies: Boulder Wants You!

by Foundry

If you’ve been following our blog, you already know that we think Boulder, Colorado, is an amazing place for tech startups.  Boulder doesn’t get the same press as high-profile tech meccas like Silicon Valley, Seattle and NYC, but we do have a real culture of entrepreneurship and proximity to a major research university (and all the energy and culture that come with a college town).  Equally important, the gorgeous surroundings of the Rocky Mountains mean Boulder isn’t all work and no play.  Even our Silicon Valley-turned-Boulder transplant partners, Ryan and Jason, had to admit Boulder has a lot to distinguish it from the valley.

In the last several years, Boulder has been named #1 in Forbes’ “Smartest Cities in America”, #1 in Outside Magazine’s “20 Dream Towns”, #1 in Business 2.0’s “Top 20 Boom Towns”, and Best Overall in Men’s Journal’s “50 Best Places to Live” (three times in the last five years!).

It’s no surprise, then, that Boulder has experienced a significant renaissance among technology startups, especially in recent years.  But with that growth has come a noticeable pain point: a shortage of great technical/developer talent.  Just to be clear, this isn’t a knock against the local talent—the Boulder/Denver area has lots of really talented folks.  It’s just that the need is outpacing the supply.

Rather than just bemoan the difficulties of recruiting, a bunch of Boulder’s hottest tech startups have decided to tackle the problem head-on with a really innovative job fair aimed at out-of-state technical talent.  Companies like Aegis Analytical, EventVue, Filtrbox, Fuser, Gnip, HiveLive, Me.dium, Printfection, Rally Software, Return Path, and socialthing! (with more companies in the works) have pooled their resources to create a week-long job fair taking place October 27-31.

What’s unique about this job fair is that participation is by application only, and selected applicants get a free trip (airfare, hotel, you name it—no strings attached) to Colorado to meet with Boulder’s hottest startups and to check out the town.  That’s pretty hard to beat!

So, if you’re a rock star developer or software engineer and want a great way to check out Boulder, make sure you apply here!  Once you experience Boulder and have a chance to see our thriving tech community, we don’t think you’re going to want to leave.