Providence Technology Group

Last week, we heard that Sacramento did not make “the cut” for Amazon’s 2nd headquarters.   An official with the organization charged with recruiting business to the area, the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, believes that Sacramento needs to “focus on providing more digital-skills training.”  This is not a bad idea, but how will the region make this happen in a meaningful way that generates new business and jobs? It seems that most technology jobs in the Sacramento area require at least 5 years of relevant experience.  While many jobs in technology provide an excellent salary, most new tech workers don’t have 5 years of experience and will need to start near the base of a career ladder.  As they learn how to apply their skills in a way that provides value for their employers, they can...[Read More]

In its continued pursuit of becoming the nation’s next Silicon Valley, the City of Sacramento has announced it is searching for applicants for $1 million in innovation grants. Open for applications for the second consecutive year — starting April 9 — through an annual economic development program called the Rapid Acceleration, Innovation and Leadership in Sacramento, or RAILS, grants will be awarded for educational and training programs encouraging entrepreneurship, civic tech companies seeking to relocate or expand, and incubator programs that support job growth and bolster the local tech economy. The latest funding round, which Democratic Mayor Darrell Steinberg said will help “connect the disconnected” is a key component of the California city’s desire to transfo...[Read More]

Imagine you’re an emergency room doctor staring down at a non-responsive patient. You open the electronic health record to learn about her history, and all you find is a record from an ICU stay in your hospital four years ago. You assume she has probably had treatment since then, but you have no idea what type. You try calling the phone numbers listed for the patient’s primary care provider and the patient’s son, but it is 2 AM, and neither is answering. You need information now. What you don’t know is that just 12 days ago, this patient was admitted to a hospital only blocks away. That hospital ran the full gamut of relevant tests, prescribed several medications, scheduled follow-up appointments with various specialists, and developed a comprehensive care plan. So you unknowingly order th...[Read More]

A diverse crowd of Sacramentans turned out to SMUD HQ on Wednesday, March 30 for Pro Talk Series: Tech in Sacramento, organized by CAAPS. The event featured leaders in government, economic development and business discussing the future of technology in Sacramento. The event was part of a planned series of community discussions that will focus on technology and economic growth in the Greater Sacramento Region, including: Technolgy and Business Technology companies and  growth in the Greater Sacramento Region Agricultural technology Technology & economic development in the Greater Sacramento Region Keep reading this article on STARTUPSAC

Thinking about making a change to your website or app?  But will the change be better or worse?  What do you do?  Determining if a change in software is good or bad is done as a controlled experiment called A/B testing.   Our guest writer, Leona Henryson is a seasoned blogger and UX designer and discusses A/B testing in this article. A beginner’s guide to A/B testing To be at your most effective, you need to know whether a change you’ve made is actually beneficial or not. Now you can simply guess, assume, or judge based on your own observations. All of those choices come with problems, however. And that is that they’re not very accurate. A much better way to know what’s actually going on is by comparing what you had with what you have and seeing how the numbers compare. This will give you ...[Read More]

The other night was an amazing workshop for the packed crowd at 801 K Street with incredible insights into building constructive relationships with investors.  So much was covered it is hard to do a summary that does the session justice. The discussion was particularly lively, with lots of questions from the audience. Matt van Leeuwen set the stage with a soup-to-nuts review of what investor are interested in during a fund raise and what terms they may seek in a Term Sheet and the final documents.  He gave a good perspective on what is negotiable–and what is not. He also warned about terms that can turn out very unfavorably for startups. Matt discussed different types of financing options for companies, terms startups might hear,  standard terminology and special types of agreements that y...[Read More]

One of the stated goals of turning Sacramento into a hub of innovation is to build out innovation districts within the city, expanding the revitalization that’s happening in downtown and midtown into other areas of the city that can become clusters of innovation. One of those areas that is on the cusp of some major new developments is the Power Inn Alliance improvement district. The district is located in the southeastern quadrant of the city of Sacramento and is home to over 10,000 businesses that create over 29,000 direct jobs and produce over $3.2 billion in annual economic output. It serves as the city’s manufacturing core with over 62% of the city’s manufacturing base taking place in the 6.2 mile area. Keep reading this article on STARTUPSAC  

“Customizing” your resume simply means tailoring it to match a specific job description. Customizing is now a must because most large employers and recruiting companies store resumes in an ATS (applicant tracking system), which uses keywords to retrieve relevant resumes for specific jobs. Once a human reviewer pulls relevant resumes, studies show that they will spend fewer than 10 seconds looking at it before deciding whether or not you are qualified for the opportunity. There are two main reasons to customize: To ensure your resume passes the critical keyword test. You’ll add appropriate keywords so that the employer’s ATS recognizes that you are a fit with the job’s requirements. With the right keywords in your resume, the ATS should make your resume visible to the people doing the resum...[Read More]

If you look out of the window today, it may be a bit overcast, but in a few months, the sun will be bearing down on the Sacramento region with promises to scorch the valley.  We know those 100-degree days are not too far off.  Solar technology seems to innovate regularly.   Sacramento would seem to be an ideal place to capitalize on solar power, so why don’t we see more solar panels installed on our neighbor’s roofs, much less our own roofs? Google’s Project Sunroof can help you determine if solar is a good option for your wallet and home.  Depending on your current electricity rates, solar power may not be a cost-effective strategy for you.  When we ran the Project Sunroof calculator for our own homes, it gave us 17-year payback periods – that’s a long time to wait for your investment to ...[Read More]

After all, it’s an uber-competitive job market, as every Sacramento IT consultant knows. Here are the stats: The average job opening attracts 250 résumés. (Glassdoor) Only 2% of applicants will be called for an interview for the average job opening. (Glassdoor) It’s so tempting to pad your résumé. You could probably fake your way through an interview, you probably won’t be found out, you won’t go to jail, so why not? After all, everybody does it at one time or another. (Or do they? Actually, most people are actually honest on their résumés, according to Michael Klazema at Brazen Careerist.) First, let’s define our terms. What do we mean by “padding”? Creative title inflation (you call yourself a senior programmer, but you have only 5 years’ experience) Exaggerating responsibilities (you pr...[Read More]

Two short summers ago, Rio de Janeiro hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics when Russia won the duet and team Synchronized Swimming events.  This year during the opening ceremony, Korean snowboarders expertly rode down the slope in choreographed synchronization.  Ask any Olympian – synchronization is harder than it looks, and its not just for the Olympic competitors any more. This year an Intel team, based in Folsom, wowed the world with synchronized drones during the Opening Ceremony.  More than 1200 Intel Shooting StarTM drones delighted a billion people with their synchronized dance creating the Olympic Rings above the venue.  It was inspiring.  If you happened to be in Folsom last November, you might have seen Intel testing these drones in preparation for the Olympics.  Kudos to the Intel te...[Read More]