After following the link that accompanied the post, a Huffington Post article, the answer became readily available, as the title read: "New Zealand Will Pay For You to Visit If You Qualify for a Tech Job" (Strutner, 2017). Naturally, I set the link aside so that I could share it with you guys, considering the topic fits perfectly with one of the overarching themes of our class: what makes a city a compelling and inviting place to start or build a tech ecosystem?
Before getting in to that, let me give you a brief run-down on the specifics of the program, called Looksee Wellington (Strutner, 2017). Or, you can view the short video posted below, although it unfortunately does not contain as much information.
Basically, the capital city of Wellington wants to fill 100 open positions for tech jobs and, to do so, they're flying out qualified candidates to interview for jobs - for free. In order to qualify, you must register online, which can be done here. Promising candidates will be nominated by employers, and those who receive the most nominations get their free trip to Wellington - including accommodations. The trip includes meet-ups with individuals within the tech hub in Wellington - titled "Silicon Welly" - as well as the opportunity to explore the city (Strutner, 2017). If you're lucky, you might even get yourself a job offer.
This program, along with its advertisement, makes it clear that Wellington is looking to create a strong culture of innovation within New Zealand - one that will eventually be comparable to Silicon Valley (considering the play on words they used to label their tech hub, which is reminiscent of New York's Silicon Alley). Once we contextualize New Zealand's attempt to attract talent from overseas with Canada: A Nation of Innovators, we can begin to understand that NZ is attempting to create a strong culture of innovation within their capital city (GOC, 2016). We have learned that a culture of innovation is made tangible by its values, beliefs and attitudes (Herman, 2017). These cultures have specific attributes, and their beliefs are performed and lived as opposed to being static ideas that aren't put into practice as a way of life. Instead, cultures of innovation are a way of life, which are defined by their welcoming business environments, educative workforce, cultural diversity and knowledge as well as entrepreneurial skills (Herman, 2017).
So what is New Zealand doing to ensure that their culture of innovation is appealing to both those within the country as well as those outside?
Well, to begin, the program alludes to the fact that they have a fairly welcoming business environment and, importantly, one that does not fear immigration but rather invites it. This is something that has distinguished Canada from the US, and will most likely succeed in doing the same for NZ (Herman, 2017). They are not only looking for qualifying candidates within New Zealand, but rather, from people around the globe which, coincidentally contributes to their cultural diversity (Strutner, 2017). As a result, NZ recognizes diversity as vital, which Nigel Thrift highlights as one of the principles of enhanced productivity and expression (Thrift, 2012). People who decide to come to NZ for a job won't feel isolated from the culture but, rather, will feel welcome. Not to mention the amazing beaches, friendly people and surplus of activities - all of which have contributed to NZ's appeal as one of the best places to live (Strutner, 2016). While NZ has been recognized as a great place to live, it's appeal as a creative city is evidently in need of some work. Needless to say, New Zealand's scene, including its network of actors and social relationships, is live and welcoming - but more on that later (Fitzsimons, 2010).
Because I know you're probably tired of reading at this point, I'll only give a few more examples that highlight NZ's attempts to define their culture of innovation. University's and educative platforms are key to the appeal of a tech hub (Herman, 2017). They are also important to contribute to an educative workforce (Thrift, 2012) Wellington currently has an Institute of Technology called WelTech (UOW, 2016). In addition, they recently opened the Wellington ICT graduate school, which was the result of the government's belief that it is essential to increase the number of ICT graduates in Wellington. To learn more, you can read about this here.
Finally, those already within the tech industry in Wellington have vouched for its welcoming, supportive and warm environment (Fitzsimons, 2010). They agree that it has a dynamic and vibrant technology scene that supports both small start-ups and large companies - making it a great spot for a range of companies. There is a great community, accompanied by a lively social scene and, to top it all off, members of the tech hub are at liberty to swear liberally, dress casually, get to know each other/collaborate (which is also important as per Nigel Thrift) and feel great about their industry (Fitzsimons, 2010).
With all that being said, you really would be an idiot not to take them up on the offer.
Work Cited
Fitzsimons, Tom. "Silicon Welly." Capital Life, 10 Nov. 2010, http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/features/4214628/Silicon-Welly
Government of Canada. "Canada: A Nation of Innovators." June 2016. https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/062.nsf/vwapj/InnovationNation_Report-EN.pdf/$file/InnovationNation_Report-EN.pdf
Herman, Andrew. 2017. Lecture Notes.
Strutner, Suzy. “11 Incredible Cities Where Living Abroad is Cheap.” The Huffington Post, 28 Jun 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cheap-cities-to-live-abroad_us_57713a7ae4b017b379f67adc
Strutner, Suzy. “New Zealand Will Pay For You To Visit If You Qualify For A Tech Job.” The Huffington Post, 3 Mar. 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/flights-to-new-zealand_us_58b712f1e4b023018c6c55ec
Thrift, Nigel. “The Insubstantial Pageant: Producing an Untoward Land.”
Sage Publications, vol. 19, no. 2,
2012, pp. 141-168)
University of Wellington. “Silicon Welly.” Victoria, University of
Wellington, 2016, http://www.victoria.ac.nz/news/victorious/2016/autumn-2016/silicon-welly
This seems like an excellent opportunity! It is crazy to think that in today, one is able to get funded to go abroad to be an entrepreneur, especially in the tech world. Before entrepreneurship became super popular, barely anyone knew what that term meant or what an entrepreneur is!
ReplyDeleteI also saw this article recently. I think that opportunities like this are interesting because not only does the employer benefit but so does the young ambitious employee. It's interesting to see this type of thing occur in the field of innovation and tech rather than say.. au pairing. I love the idea for young people looking for a change and a new fascinating experience abroad!
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