Minnesota Headhunter: Minnesota Morning: HomeSpotter Expands, More On The Code42 Layoff/Reorg, Google Data Center And Whats Next For Minnesota Headhunter Part I

Minnesota Morning: HomeSpotter Expands, More On The Code42 Layoff/Reorg, Google Data Center And What’s Next For Minnesota Headhunter Part I

January 18, 2019

I didn’t get much sleep this week. And I’ve already been restless the past two weeks and did not know why until a conversation with a friend at the Enterprise Rising Happy Hour and another this morning. Let’s say… I was challenged. There are a lot of things I want to do and rather than do them, try it, test it… I over think it (them) and days become weeks become months become (sometimes) never. Or some over thought idea that I squeezed the fun out of and now is not as cool as it could have been.

Enough of that failed strategy Smile

Do you remember the Diet Coke and Mentos videos from a decade ago? That’s how I feel. And I am going to go with it.

More on that below…

Here is a photo from the Enterprise Rising Happy Hour:

Save the date for the next Enterprise Rising Conference May 8th & 9th 2019.

HomeSpotter Expands

Good news from HomeSpotter yesterday… they announced their first acquisition, Spacio, HQ’d in Vancouver and the addition of Dug Nichols (@dugnichols) to the team => HomeSpotter makes first acquisition, hires former Kidizen CEO (MSP Business Journal). I’ve been a long time fan of Aaron Kardell (@akardell) , CEO. We worked together a few times between 2012 and 2015 as Aaron was growing the team. He is one of the best people, personally and professionally, I’ve been around. I am assuming prepping for the announcement the HomeSpotter web site has had a refresh. Click HomeSpotter Careers… they are hiring.

Code42 Layoff/Reorg

If you are not aware, last week Code42 announced that 9%, or 55 people were let go. It has been called a number of things… layoff, reorganization and restructure. Here is my blog post about it:

What The Code42 Layoff And Restructure Means For The Minnesota Tech Community - Minnesota Headhunter Blog

Here are a couple of stories that were posted that day:

Minneapolis-based Code42 to lay off 55 workers as growth slows - Minneapolis Star Tribune
Code42 eliminates 55 jobs amid reorganization - MSP Business Journal

Over the weekend Neal St Anthony from the Minneapolis StarTribune had this:

Code42's retrenchment last week is part of its plan for long-term growth

And starts with:

“The layoff of 55 people last week at Minneapolis-based Code42, which is trying to transform itself to a broader IT security provider at the same time it accelerates growth, shouldn’t diminish the company as a potent player in Minnesota’s growing software industry.
Nor should it tarnish our local software industry.”

Another take on it comes from Josh Fedie, CEO of SalesReach in this LinkedIn post and video => 2 Minutes about Code42

It has been interesting to see/hear the reaction to the Code42 news. A bunch of people freaked out about it thinking this was a bad sign for the Twin Cities tech scene. Others (I think myself included) have written it off as a change in their particular business situation and/or getting ready for an IPO.

This is another reminder that we live in a really large, small town.

If a tech company in the Bay Area let go 55 people it would likely be a bullet point among other bullet points on a tech news site. Here… this is big news.

And as I say in my blog post, this is a BIG thing for those 55 people. I think I have spoken to and given advice to 11 so far and have a few more calls to make.

As this year moves on I wonder how other news like this will be received.. it will and you can read more about my 2019 Minnesota Jobs Prediction.

Google Data Center

Another bit of news that has picked up a lot of attention, myself included, is that Google is proposing a large data center in Becker, MN:

Google looking at $600M data center in Becker, Minn. – MPR
With Google project, Minnesota joins the boom in megasized data centers – Minneapolis StarTribune
Google considers building $600M data center in Minnesota – St Paul Pioneer Press

I don’t know of anyone that knew talks were going on. In the big picture its a decent to good sized project. It’s not a lot of ongoing, post construction, jobs. It will be nice to say that Google has a presence in the area and hopefully this is the beginning of a larger one.

What’s Next For Minnesota Headhunter

I have a visual in my head… that if my fingers are not typing on the keyboard then I am not doing my job right. Action. No more thinking (trust me, don’t need more). Start trying stuff. Don’t get caught up on how pretty something is or that the wording/messaging is not yet perfect.

I’ve been living a Waterfall life in an Agile world Surprised smile

And I need to stop.

Next week I will be talking about three new things I am going to start doing:

I am starting a Recruiter, HR and Talent group.
I am going to schedule a webinar focused on job search for those in the tech industry.
I am going to do a blog post and schedule a follow up webinar for the C Suite on how they can be better recruiters for their company.

All things that have been on my mind for months, quarters and in once case years.

Come back next week as I talk more about these initiatives.

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT jobs I am working on.