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By: Hellen Zaboulani
New York City’s tech industry is still going strong, despite a narrative that says the sector peaked in 2022.
As reported by Crain’s NY, the industry is continuing to reap the fruits of a growth-at-all-costs mindset. It’s true that in 2023 venture capital investment in tech has shrunk, and there isn’t any hard evidence that will bounce back soon. Also, IPOs are far and few, and some of the biggest names in tech are seeing their stocks tumble into the red on Wall Street. Still, experts in the industry say there are subtle signs that tech in NYC is still in a bull market.
These encouraging factors include the abundant availability of tech talent, and strides in artificial intelligence which could trigger a dot-com-level boom. C-suite executives are confident in their NY companies’ growth, a new survey found, and more tech firms are opting to do business in NYC than ever before. “Tech in New York City feels super optimistic right now,” said Julie Samuels, founder and president of Tech:NYC, which works as a booster for local tech firms. “Obviously the industry has faced some headwinds—you’ve seen that internationally—but it feels like we’ve really navigated that quite well.”
New York City is overflowing with tech talent, with more than 370,000 tech workers now across New York, according to the latest data from real estate firm CBRE. The figure indicates that there are more tech jobs in NY than there are jobs on Wall Street. “The city is benefiting a lot from the exodus from San Francisco,” said Jordan Fliegel, managing director at TechStars NYC, one of the industry’s leading local accelerators. “It might not be as good as tax-free startup places like Austin, Texas, and to a lesser extent Miami, but New York is already a top two or three tech hub in the country and is moving to No. 1.”
Aside from attracting out of town talent, NYC is also now producing a tech workforce of its own. “We are just doing a much better job of spinning up tech talent locally,” Samuels said. “The tech sector here has really doubled down on supporting workforce development efforts, supporting computer science education in schools, and we’re really starting to see that investment pay off.” A good example of this is the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island, opened in 2012, which almost immediately started creating homegrown tech talent.
Per Crain’s, the ample talent is a boon for the city because now industry leaders and startup companies feel they don’t need a base in Silicon Valley to achieve their goals. A survey published Monday by Tech:NYC and Accenture, shows that company leaders are very optimistic about tech talent in New York. A whopping 99% of employers surveyed said they are confident in their ability to secure needed tech skills in NYC in 2023. The survey, conducted over the summer, included 350 C-level executives working across 11 industries for companies with at least one city location.
“What I’m hearing now, and what the data reinforced, is that people are confident that they can find the talent that they want in New York,” said Laura Peterson, senior managing director at Accenture. “If we compare the results to a year ago, we’ve seen an increase in that, and that makes everybody more confident that we can drive what we need here.”
