SAN DIEGO—While San Diego ranks No. 19—in the top half of the country—on CBRE's Tech Talent Scorecard, which scores tech talent nationwide, capitalizing on its growth from within will help it retain more talent here, Andrew Ewald, VP and leader of the firm's tech and media practice in San Diego, tells GlobeSt.com. According to the Scorecard, part of CBRE's fifth-annual Scoring Tech Talent Report, which ranks 50 US and Canadian markets according to their ability to attract and grow tech talent, San Diego's tech labor force grew 27.7% over the past five years and now totals 66,340.

The report, which can be viewed in detail by market in the interactive Tech Talent Analyzer, finds that strong demand for talent that offer specific skills, such as software development, coupled with a tight labor supply, is driving companies to locate in markets with the largest concentrations of high-quality talent. And while value is a key driver when it comes to choosing an office location, companies are showing that they are willing to pay a premium to access the highest quality tech talent.

San Diego is an attractive market for tech talent, particularly due to its affordable living costs compared to top competitive markets such as the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City and Los Angeles. Helping to elevate its ranking on the Scorecard, San Diego stood out in the report in a number of key areas:

San Diego is one of the highest-paying markets, taking the eighth spot. Over a five-year span, average tech wages climbed 13 percent to $100,258.
San Diego was the 20^th-largest tech talent labor pool among large markets, with 66,340 tech employees, behind Austin (68,810) and Orange County (68,220).
San Diego's office rents increased by 30% to $33.52 and its vacancy rate decreased 5.3 percentage points to 11.5% from Q1 2012 to Q1 2017.
San Diego produced 2,734 tech degrees, a 22.9% increase over the past five years.
San Diego is a strong tech-job creator and tech talent attractor, with 2,000 more tech jobs than graduates.

We spoke with Ewald about San Diego's tech talent and how it might improve its score.

GlobeSt.com: What is driving San Diego's tech talent to this market?

Ewald: San Diego has continued to score very well—it's in the top half of the country. One of the key drivers here is that we have an incredible foundation in our universities, which continue to spit out tech-focused labor. The Jacobs School of Engineering at UC-San Diego is putting out more MBA students than Stanford and Berkeley combined. With the infrastructure of universities here, we have high levels of education in this area, so education and universities continue to be a strong draw for this market.

Another driver, of course, is our lifestyle, which is often compared to L.A. and the Bay Area. Even though their scores are higher in some capacities, here we have a lower cost of living and an incredible lifestyle: the weather, access to housing, diversity, the water line. These are all variables that are keeping talent here in San Diego.

In addition, we've had a tremendous amount of positive funding. Capital coming into the marketplace supporting the growth of tech businesses is very strong—just over $292 million in Q2 alone, which is up 16.3% from first-quarter 2017. Some other markets have had dramatic spikes, but San Diego didn't have that. The fundamentals are positive for our continued growth. We're very diverse; the backbone of our companies here include strong defense, life-science and med-tech companies and Qualcomm for communication technology. Partnering together, it's a nice circulation of tech talent.

GlobeSt.com: Is this type of diversity helping to keep tech talent here? What other changes are occurring in this market that help retain talent?

Ewald: Absolutely. San Diego has a tech-focused mindset. Software is embedded in every type of sector we have in town. We have a diverse base and will continue to draw talent here as well as keep talent from within because these people know there are multiple opportunities for jobs. Even though we're #19 on the report, if you look at the wage section, San Diego is ranked #8 as it relates to overall wages provided, which continues to be a draw that keeps talent in place.

GlobeSt.com: How could San Diego improve upon its tech talent score?

Ewald: Well, the cost of living is probably not going to change too much, but there are a couple things I feel are important: 1. We still are losing a lot of talent to the Bay Area—more than we would like. It's a brain drain versus brain gain. 2. We're showing a 2,000-person job growth in the tech sector, so we are positive, but we could improve this by looking at our universities and talent—we need to be more aware as business leaders on how we retain that talent. People are moving to lower cost-of-living centers or up to the Bay Area looking for some of these larger well-known companies. We have the ability to change this: we need to retain more of the talent that has grown from within here. Our strong growth from Millennials has continued to go up the last couple of years, and we need to retain that Millennial talent.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this benchmark?

Ewald: San Diego is in a great position. We're very diverse, and our wages are very competitive. While we are losing some things to some cheaper markets, every major market will be a victim to that, and we are a grow-from-within market. There is a lot of growth happening: UC-San Diego spit out 288 companies last year. Those aren't major game changers today, but the continued percolation of smaller companies is doing great things with regard to research. We will continue to rise; we just need to make sure we're supporting these companies and doing what's necessary to retain them. We will see growth in San Diego in the next couple years if we continue to do this.

San Diego is one of the highest-paying markets, taking the eighth spot. Over a five-year span, average tech wages climbed 13 percent to $100,258.
San Diego was the 20^th-largest tech talent labor pool among large markets, with 66,340 tech employees, behind Austin (68,810) and Orange County (68,220).
San Diego's office rents increased by 30% to $33.52 and its vacancy rate decreased 5.3 percentage points to 11.5% from Q1 2012 to Q1 2017.
San Diego produced 2,734 tech degrees, a 22.9% increase over the past five years.
San Diego is a strong tech-job creator and tech talent attractor, with 2,000 more tech jobs than graduates.

We spoke with Ewald about San Diego's tech talent and how it might improve its score.

GlobeSt.com: What is driving San Diego's tech talent to this market?

GlobeSt.com: Is this type of diversity helping to keep tech talent here? What other changes are occurring in this market that help retain talent?

GlobeSt.com: How could San Diego improve upon its tech talent score?

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this benchmark?

Instant Insights /

Can SD Improve Its Tech-Talent Score?

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