A New Silicon Valley is Sprouting in Middle America

mayo 10, 2018
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Carolyn Presutti/VOA

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA — Kavitha Kamalbabu needed a break. She had raised her two children and the youngest was now in kindergarten. It was time to turn attention to her career. The 36-year-old wanted to code. The mecca of high tech — Silicon Valley — wasn’t an option because she needed to stay close to home and family in Indianapolis, Indiana.

«I chose Kenzie Academy because of its life project-based learning,» she said.

Kamalbabu is now at the top of her class, getting a two-year degree as a software developer. Kenzie, based in Indianapolis, was established to keep talent in Middle America and to create a mini tech capital.

Kenzie Student Kavitha Kamalbabu Returned to school to learn how to code after raising two children.

«Our point is to bring people from Indianapolis to stay in Indianapolis,» said founder Courtney Spence. To do that, they place students in local companies as quickly as possible after their enrollment.

For one class, Kamalbabu, originally from India, found herself asking questions about measuring beer and learning how data increases profit. The class was taking a tour of Steady Serve — a local beer management system that invented a device to measure the content of kegs to reduce waste and fraud.

In the past, CEO Steve Hershberger hired from big universities near Silicon Valley. Now, he needs coders to work on the connection between beer kegs to his iKeg app, and he is choosing interns from Kenzie because of the quality he sees in the candidates.

«It’s like they folded the country and brought San Jose [the heart of Silicon Valley] into Indianapolis.»

Kenzie students tour Steady Serve with CEO Steve Hershberger and learn the value of data and what internships are available.

By the numbers

Indianapolis is Middle America. Located in the Corn Belt, Indiana is known for its farms — the state’s model is «The Crossroads of America.» City leaders said that perception is changing. Indianapolis deputy mayor of economic development Angela Smith Jones calls Indianapolis «Western Silicon Valley» with a «great startup culture.»

Last year, technology companies in Indianapolis contributed $7.7 billion into the city’s economy and employed 75,000 people.

Job postings for emerging tech are up 40 percent over last year, and the city’s unemployment rate is currently 3 percent, which is lower than the national average.

The average tech industry wage in Indiana is $76,860.

“It’s on the cusp of what we are seeing as being a tech boom,” Spence said.

Not so fast

But students majoring in tech at Stanford University — a research school located in the heart of Silicon Valley — were unimpressed. Freshman Max Comolli said he wouldn’t be enticed to leave California for Indianapolis because of the opportunities and «such a great tech scene already established.»

Masters candidate Diego Garcia said when he thinks of high tech, he thinks of «California or New York, not Indianapolis.» But freshman Alexa White from Detroit, Michigan, thinks a tech capital in the Midwest would «benefit the field» and create diversity.

The gender diversity hasn’t reached Kenzie, although school officials said they actively recruit females. The next class of 18 students starting later this year will have three women. Of the current class, only Kamalbabu and an African American are female.

Statistically, women — and especially women of color — make up a small percentage of the tech field. But 24-year-old Mya Williams called it a «pleasant surprise» when she saw Kamalbabu on the first day of class because she thought she would be the only female. Williams said young girls aren’t encouraged to concentrate in math and science. «They get looked over when it comes to software,» she said.

To Asia and beyond

Kenzie officials plan to duplicate the academy model, starting in Malaysia. Spence goes a step further. «We have a commitment to replicate it around the world,» she said.