July 2018

Breaking
into Tech

Customer testing
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary 3

Introduction 4

Methodology 5

Literature Review 6

Skill and Aptitude Needs for the Technology Sector 6

Employment Opportunities for Workers in the Technology Sector 8

Key Findings 9

High Demand Skills 9

Job Routes and Opportunities 11

An Opportunity to Leverage Job Similarities 17

Conclusion 19

Appendices 20

Appendix A: Taxonomy of High Demand Skills 20

Software Development 20
Data Science 21
Artificial Intelligence 22
Sales + Marketing 23
Product Management 24
User Experience 25
Technical Business Management 26

Appendix B: Interview Questions 27

Appendix C: Interviewees 28

Bibliography 29

Acknowledgements 30

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Authors
AJ TIBANDO
Project Lead for Palette Inc.

AJ Tibando is the Project Lead for Palette Inc. at the Brookfield Institute for Innovation +
Entrepreneurship with an interest in the intersection of innovation, entrepreneurship and public policy.
Prior to joining BII+E, she co-founded SoJo, a social enterprise that delivers social entrepreneurship
training to youth through international development agencies. She previously spent several years as a
Senior Policy Advisor at the Government of Ontario working on issues such as workforce development,
post-secondary education and the innovation agenda. AJ has a Masters in Political Science from the
University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia.

ANDREW DO
Policy Advisor

Andrew Do is a Policy Advisor at the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship with an
interest in policy innovation, entrepreneurial education and organizational behavior. Prior to joining
BII+E, he was a Studio [Y] Fellow at the MaRS Discovery District. He previously worked for a global
health startup focused on combating counterfeit medication and also worked as a Research
Associate for the City of Toronto on social policy files. Andrew has a Masters in Public Policy and a
Bachelor of Arts with a focus on Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Toronto. He is a
2017 CivicAction DiverseCity Fellow.

Communitech was founded in 1997 by a group of entrepreneurs The Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship (BII+E)
committed to making Waterloo Region a global innovation is a new, independent and nonpartisan institute, housed within
leader. At the time it was crazy talk, but somehow this Ryerson University, that is dedicated to making Canada the best
community managed to pull it off. Today, Communitech is a country in the world the be an innovator or an entrepreneur.
public-private innovation hub that supports a community of
more than 1400 companies — from startups to scale-ups to BII+E supports this mission in three ways: insightful research and
large global players. analysis; testing, piloting and prototyping projects; which informs
BII+E’s leadership and advocacy on behalf of innovation and
Communitech helps tech companies start, grow and succeed in entrepreneurship across the country.
three distinct ways.
+ Communitech is a place – the centre of gravity for
entrepreneurs and innovators. A clubhouse for building cool
tech and great companies.
+ Communitech delivers programs – helping companies at all
stages with access to capital, customers and talent. We are
here to help them grow and innovate.
+ Communitech partners in building a world-leading ecosystem
–making sure we have all the ingredients (and the brand) to
go from a small startup to a global giant.

For more information visit [Link] For more information, visit [Link]

/Communitechpage /BrookfieldIIE

@Communitech @BrookfieldIIE

Communitech The Brookfield Institute for Innovation +

Entrepreneurship
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Executive Summary
As Canada’s innovation-driven economy grows so does its tech sector. With this, technology-enabled roles become
more prevalent and the skills required for these roles become vital to Canada’s economic growth. This means
it is increasingly important for organizations supporting the growth of the tech sector as well as organizations
supporting workers seeking employment in general to understand the exact nature of the skills valued within these
jobs. Technology companies are seeking a continuous pipeline of talent in order to sustain growth. And while
many job-seekers want to work for technology companies, there continues to be friction in matching the right
worker with the right skills to the right job in the right company.

There are many potential reasons for this type of friction to exist - from companies lacking internal clarity on their
skill needs, to inaccurate representations in job descriptions, to a lack of workers with the specific skill and
experience to meet the current needs of employers. The purpose of this report is to take a closer look at the talent
and skills components of specific in-demand careers inside Waterloo Region tech companies, skills and talent
needs of tech companies, as well as the different routes that workers travel to gain entry into - and navigate
between - companies.

This report is a joint effort between Communitech, a technology innovation hub based in Waterloo Region, and
the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, an independent policy and research institute based at
Ryerson University. Communitech is developing the Communitech Academy to support workers and companies
coming together to better match their skills with talent needs, and the Brookfield Institute for Innovation +
Entrepreneurship is powering the research underpinning this effort. Through collaborating to deliver this project,
both organizations hope to offer a clearer picture of how tech companies in the Waterloo region might go about
exploiting the untapped talent pools that exist.

To develop this report, we conducted a literature review scanning the most recent reports issued by other research
organizations examining the skill needs of the tech sector. We also spoke with research participants representing
over 30 tech companies within the Communitech network to better understand (i) their need for skilled talent, (ii)
the job opportunities that job-seekers take to enter the technology sector, and (iii) the direction those workers take
once inside a technology company. Some of our high level findings include:

1 There are a number of skill profiles that together comprise of up to seven career fields
representing the highest demand areas for talent with tech companies. These career fields include:
a) Software Development e) Product Management
b) Data Science f) User Experience
c) Artificial Intelligence g) Technology Business Management
d) Sales + Marketing

2 A ‘growth mindset’ continues to be cited as one of the most valuable and essential aptitudes an
employee can bring to a company - in many cases being seen as more valuable than certain technical
skills and proficiencies.

3 The most common way into a technology company is by recruiting through employee referrals and recent
graduates, which creates limitations in reaching new talent. As companies scale, they identify a need
for more senior talent than they can obtain from jobseekers aiming to make a career transition
into tech.

4 Technology companies encourage horizontal movement of employees within a company more

so than vertical growth. There is some professional development infrastructure in place to support
employee growth in this respect, however much of it is either ad hoc or externally sourced.

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Introduction
The Canadian technology sector is a fast growing area of the economy and a promising source for employment
growth. It is increasingly recognized as a global leader with a vibrant and flourishing tech community, thanks in no
small part to the highly skilled and highly educated talent pool readily available in Canada.

According to the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, the technology sector accounts for
$117 billion, or 7.1% of Canada’s GDP. It is estimated to employ 864,000 people across Canada and is expected
to continue growing.1 In addition, many technology-intensive jobs are perceived to be highly desirable. According
to [Link], some of the best jobs as measured by salary and employment growth in Canada are in the tech
sector, with jobs such as Machine Learning Engineer and Full Stack Developer topping the list.2

In spite of its impressive growth, tech companies still struggle to attract the talent they need to grow. In Ontario
alone, 82% of tech firms say that their ability to attract and retain talent is their most pressing need, hindering
their ability to scale.3 For many organizations focused on supporting the growth of the tech sector, understanding
the challenges that companies face in attracting and retaining talent is an essential part of their work.

For Communitech, understanding how to best support companies in finding and keeping talent is a focal point of
their work. Communitech is focused on growing more successful technology companies to support Canada’s
economic prosperity. Headquartered in Waterloo Region, its mission is to help technology companies start, grow,
and succeed; with the objective of creating more companies, more jobs, and more wealth in Canada. Since 2009,
Communitech has helped attract $1.4 billion in equity investment to local tech companies; supported the creation
of 2,800+ startups; supported creation of 16,000+ new jobs at existing companies; and helped attract 20
multinational firms to invest in Waterloo Region. Waterloo Region boasts over 23,000 people in tech in the
community, accounting for 8.2% of all workers in the region.4 This makes it the third largest employer in Waterloo
after manufacturing and retail sales.

Communitech partnered with the Brookfield Institute for

Innovation + Entrepreneurship to conduct a study of the skill gaps,
directions employee take to enter and move within tech companies,
and talent pipelines in the tech sector. These insights will inform the
programming design of the Communitech Academy – a learning
centre to help people navigate breaking into tech and expanding
their skills within it.

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Methodology
This report aims to build a knowledge base to support Communitech in understanding the skill needs of their
member companies, the career opportunities available for workers and the routes through which employees enter
and move within [Link] questions this report seeks to address are:

1 What are the skill gaps that tech/tech-enabled companies in Waterloo Region are experiencing?

2 How are they currently filling these gaps?

3 What are the different directions employees take to enter a company?

4 How do employees move within the company once there?

5 What are some of the skill gaps or other struggles employees experience in pursuing these job
opportunities?

To answer these questions, we relied on a two-pronged research strategy:

1) A literature review to understand the existing knowledge base on three interrelated themes:

a. evidence of the increasing pervasiveness of technology in the workforce;

b. skill needs for technology workers; and

c. the routes technology workers take to enter the technology industry.

2) Qualitative informational interviews with a wide cross-section of companies that share the following
characteristics:

a. Research focused on scale-up tech companies, defined as having a minimum of 10 employees and
a run rate of at least $1M per year with a clear path to growth.

b. Target companies primarily came from the Communitech network in Waterloo Region.

By speaking with employers, we were able to identify and analyze some of their most important skill needs.
In unpacking these needs further, it is instructive to outline a couple potential directions for workers that occupy
sectors outside of those identified by this report. One way we approached this task was by making use of the US
Bureau of Labor Statistics O*NET database. The O*NET is an occupational classification database of almost 1000
separate occupational groups in the US, with a common language surrounding skills, education, and experience to
compare between occupations. We have performed a cross-reference of Canadian data to be able to leverage
O*NET to map the underlying knowledge and skills required to perform a designated job. In describing career
transition opportunities, we referred to comparable jobs using O*NET and through online job boards to determine
definitions for career profiles and related focus areas. Lastly, we used O*NET to identify similar job roles based on
the levels of underlying knowledge and skills.

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Literature Review
The tech sector is a disruptive, innovative and fast growing area of the economy that poses a tremendous
opportunity for the labour market. The impacts of technology are not confined to the tech sector, but are more
accurately changing all sectors and industries. These changes are typified by companies adopting new tools
to automate and streamline their processes, while looking to use technology to define new ways to increase
productivity and efficiency. The end result is that the core skill set required for workers to participate and succeed
in this wave involves a fluid and constantly changing set of skills and competencies. Prime examples of sectors that
are experiencing these shifts include the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, media sector,
professional services and financial services.5

The upshot of this technological transformation is that it will introduce a substantial bias towards technology-
related skills into the labour market. Specifically, technology will reduce the demand for jobs that comprise of
routine tasks and enhance the value of jobs that are comprised of non-routine tasks.6 Given the rapid pace of
technological change in Canada, we can predict that 42% of jobs are at high risk of being impacted through the
increased automation that comes as a result of it.7 This in turn will impact the skill needs required for workers to
remain competitive. A recent report from RBC suggests that 50% of occupations will require workers to undergo a
significant skills overhaul as a result of the rapid pace of technological change across industry.8 As such, there is a
strong desire among researchers, academia, industry and other organizations to better understand the needs and
opportunities posed by the tech sector, and how best to position workers to ensure they have the right skills to
benefit from it.

To set the stage for this report, we surveyed some of the most relevant research conducted on talent gaps, skills
mismatches and additional issues impacting the tech workforce in Canada. Overall, the literature points to two key
themes that we used as our baseline understanding of the current state of the workforce in the tech sector. These
themes include the broad base of skill needs from within the technology sector (regardless of whether the job is
high-tech, mid-tech or no-tech) and the employment routes of workers entering and moving within the
technology sector.

Skill and Aptitude Needs for the Technology Sector

The emergence of new waves of technology has without a doubt impacted the overall needs of employers in the
tech sector. In speaking with employers of many technology-based companies we heard continuously that one of
the top challenges these companies face is the lack of qualified talent. In unpacking this finding, we discuss three
inter-related factors that are often identified by the technology sector as in-demand: 1) digital skills, 2) soft skills to
complement digital skills and 3) key aptitudes.

DIGITAL SKILLS
Digital skills are cited as in-demand skills from employers in all sectors, but are especially essential in the
technology sector.9 By digital skills, we are referring to a worker’s ability to use technological tools to solve
problems, underpinned by the ability to critically understand digital content and tools. This wider and more flexible
definition of digital skills puts forward the suggestion that digital skills are not necessarily restricted to more
technical and niche skills.

What this means for aspiring tech workers is that while not everyone will need to learn to code, today’s sector will
almost certainly require a baseline of digital literacy that extends into the domain of basic problem solving with
technology. To break this term down further one can also look at the idea of being ‘digitally skilled’ as falling into
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different levels proficiency: (1) baseline digital skills, (2) workforce digital skills, and (3) professional digital skills.10
Evidence points to the fact that falling below or outside these categories could prove as a challenge and obstacle
for workers looking to enter the tech sector.

The Information Communications and Technology Council (ICTC) estimates that there will be 216,000 vacancies for
ICT jobs by 2021 in Canada.11 A Business Council of Canada survey reinforces this pressing need for workers with
digital skills, stating that approximately 64% of employees lack the technical digital skills they require.12 The need
for enhanced digital skills is also reflected across industries in the U.S.. From 2002 to 2016, approximately two-
thirds of net new jobs created required at least a mid-level understanding of digital skills. These jobs also have an
associated wage premium that is attributable to the degree of digital skills a worker has.13 Taken together, this
evidence clearly points to the increasing importance of digital skills, regardless of industry.

SOFT SKILLS
Accompanying the increased demand for workers with digital skills will likely be an increased need for workers
with soft skills. These are skills that enable people to cooperate and coordinate with others in a productive manner,
and include strong interpersonal, communication, collaboration and adaptability skills. What this suggests is that
there is a duality to what the ideal tech worker can and should possess in terms of dominant skill sets. On the one
hand are the digital skills aforementioned, and on the other are soft skills to complement such. It is safe to say that
employers in the tech sector are increasingly looking to find workers that possess both skill sets and often express
the importance of having both.

One study notes that, between 1990 to 2012, jobs requiring a high degree of soft skills grew by 12 percentage
points as share of the overall US labour force. This was especially true for jobs that required a high degree of
technical and soft skills. Technology-intensive jobs with less social interaction shrank by 3.3 percentage points as a
share of the overall US labour force over the same period.14 This suggests that technical skills on their own are
insufficient to meet the skill needs of employers.

Employer surveys validate the need for workers with soft skills. According to the Business Council of Canada, the
most valued skills that employers look for in both entry-level and mid-level hires are teamwork skills,
communication skills and problem-solving skills.15 Soft skills will only increase in demand for employers, particularly
as employers seek workers who can move between human interaction and digital interaction seamlessly.

APTITUDES
In the tech sector, employers are seeing a need for assessments to be able to expand their talent pool beyond
people who have formal training to include those with specific aptitudes. Underpinning the rapid changes within
the workplace is the desire from employers for employees with a “growth mindset” - that is, employees that
are highly adaptable lifelong learners capable of solving a wide variety of problems, and taking initiative. The
specific technical skills required by companies are changing so fast that many employers are opting to focus less
on the explicit technical skills of an employee (for example, which programming languages they know) and more
on their ability to teach themselves new skills quickly.

Survey evidence from Stack Overflow, one of the world’s largest online communities for software developers,
suggests self-driven learning is prevalent and expected among software developers.16 The growth mindset was
described by an employer in previous research as:“We present the problem because of where the market is
headed, and they’re teaching themselves new technologies [to solve it].”17 Many of the job roles within the
technology sector require individuals to self-teach and evidence suggests that the expectation that employees will
have a growth mindset and aptitude for self-teaching is a new baseline for hiring among tech companies.

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Employment Opportunities for Workers in the

Technology Sector
Workers enter and move within the tech sector in various ways. Our previous research indicates that referral
networks and post-secondary work-integrated learning programs are primary talent pools from which employers
source employees.18 This appears to be a common means through which employers source technology talent.
A 2017 survey from Stack Overflow found that referral networks are among the most common way in which
software developers land their jobs in the technology sector. Approximately 26.8% of developers obtain their jobs
through referrals.19 Furthermore, survey evidence in the Greater Toronto Area suggests that there is a mismatch
between how employers are sourcing potential employees and how job-seekers are looking for work in the
technology sector. Employers rely on active recruitment methods such as referrals and in-person recruitment.
However, the majority of job seekers tend to rely more on passive methods such as online job boards that
employers tend not to look to.20 This suggests that is the most effective way to enter the technology sector is
through more active means of recruitment.

Within the technology sector, there is an identified need to strongly support lifelong learning opportunities and
training. A McKinsey survey found that establishing a culture of lifelong learning was ranked by companies across
most sectors as most needed for developing their workforces.21

In spite of this need, evidence suggests that there is a chronic underinvestment in workplace training. Between
1990 and 2010, the average amount an organization spent per employee fell by more than 40 percent in
Canada. While the trend is reversing direction in the past five years, Canadian companies still lag behind their US
peers.22 While evidence points to a lack of training, there appears to be limited research that explores what
opportunities for career growth within a technology-based company can look like. This report begins to provide a
picture of this internal employee movement in an effort to close such a knowledge gap.

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Key Findings
The most important takeaways from this analysis are based on interviews with a cross-section of scale-up and
enterprise companies that employ a large number of employees working on technology-based activities. In our
interviews, we focused on verifying and further understanding the key themes of: employer skill needs and their
application on the job and job routes into and within technology-based companies.

HIGH DEMAND SKILLS

Based on our interviews with employers, we have identified a number of high demand skills that managers from
technology-based companies expressed difficulties in sourcing. We aggregated these skill needs into seven distinct
career profiles with multiple focus areas within each field. We then applied the O*NET skill database to identify
similar occupations to identify the different unique knowledge and skills required to perform the job. The table
below provides an overview of the top ranking high demand career fields and the associated focus areas within
them.

Career Field Focus Areas What Employers Are Saying

Software Development: Software + Back-end Development "The need for traditional systems
developers write, develop, design + Front-end Development administrator skills is rapidly declining. As the
world shifts from physical hardware to the
and test new and/or existing + Networking Infrastructure
cloud, we need developers who know how to
software using computer science + Dev Ops work with cloud-based systems." - KIK
principles. The software can be + Database architecture
databases, apps and/or websites. + Cybersecurity
+ Cloud computing

AI: + Natural Language Processing "As much of our data is human structured,
This refers to a specialized subset + Machine Learning interacting through voice is key -- as we
of software engineering that relies started launching our products to be used by
+ Model Interpretation
on a variety of methods and Alexa, Siri...we need to ask 'How can we
understand context?'" -MANULIFE
techniques to learn and operate.
AI mostly refers to Narrow AI that
is able to facilitate individual,
repetitive tasks by learning from
patterns found in data.

Data Science: + Data analytics "We’re always looking for data to refine
Data science refers to obtaining + Business intelligence algorithms. As a traffic data company, we
need data scientists. I’m very bullish about
insights through analyzing data + Data engineering
finding more. We need to be involved with
using a combination of statistical directly extracting value from the data on
techniques and computer behalf of our customers, as well as building
programming. tools for them to do so." - MIOVISION

"In the early days, sales functions tend to be

Sales + Marketing: + Technical Sales junior level employees pounding the
Sales + Marketing refers to the + Enterprise-level sales pavement with cold calls. Eventually you get
process of understanding the + Customer Success to bigger enterprise models or bigger
needs of potential customers, + Business Development contracts/relationships as the startup evolves
from its early days and need to scale-up. At
increasing their interest in a + Account Management
this time, you will need deep business
service/products to them and then + Technical Support/Helpdesk experience, combining negotiation,
converting them to consumers. partnership models and international
experience." -COMMUNITECH GROWTH COACH

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Career Field Focus Areas What Employers Are Saying

Product Management: + Product Strategy "We tend to have trouble with product
This refers to supporting the + Agile Project Management management - individuals who work with our
strategic development of + Experience Modelling customers and identify what is the next stage
product by defining product + Technical Communication of our product roadmap and translate that
requirements based on customer into real actual items to create our
engineering team...this has been the most
feedback, communicating those
challenging skillset to find globally. It’s a
requirements throughout the rest unicorn role." - HR LEAD AT SCALE-UP COMPANY
of the organization and aligning
the organization to deliver on the
product.

User Experience: + User Interface

This refers to analyzing behaviors + Customer testing
of potential customers, building
prototypes and testing product
features to help make informed
business decisions.

Technology Business + Team Lead "There is a need for leadership skills broadly
Management: + Project Management speaking - skills in leading and developing
This refers to implementing + Strategic Growth people, across all functions and levels in the
business structure."
business processes to lead + Organizational Planning
teams and to scale a technology + Finance - COMMUNITECH GROWTH COACHES
business.

TRENDS ACROSS CAREER FIELDS

Across all these career fields, we can identify some common
trends. First, it was clear from employer interviews that assessing

“
a potential employee’s aptitude for a growth mindset continues
to be a baseline for predicting success in the technology sector, We are really focusing on the
regardless of career field.23 Looking at software developers, again 70% (experiential development
opportunities) now…how we can
many employers indicated that while they have a preference for
leverage experiential
them to be familiar with certain programming languages, it was
opportunities for workers in
far more important for workers to demonstrate an aptitude for support of their growth. We use
quick learning given how fast technology changes. This indicates these as an opportunity
that any training program should both assess for key aptitudes to supplement an individual’s
and train for hard and soft skills. capability, and deepen
experiences. We are focused on
Furthermore, as we examined the top knowledge and skill purposeful development through
requirements for these career fields (see Appendix A), we these engagements, and look

”
identified many common elements shared across fields. For for opportunities across the
example, critical thinking was a skill needed in almost all career organization to provide [them].
fields. This suggests that certain skills have a high degree of - TD
transferability across career fields. Further research shows that
many of these skills can be transferable not only within tech
careers, but across sectors, supporting the potential for certain
workers to more easily transition into roles within tech companies.
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Job Routes and Opportunities

To grow the talent pool available for tech companies to draw from, we not only needed to understand the skills
most in demand, but also the directions technology employees take to, (1) enter technology-based companies, (2)
move within technology-based companies; and (3) tap into the professional development infrastructure that exists
to support employees to grow within their company.

WAYS INTO TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES

1) Employee Referrals

The vast majority of employers we spoke with have an employee referral program in place. This is consistent with
preliminary evidence from previous interviews with scale-ups and survey results which suggest that referrals are a
common way that technology-based employers bring talent into their company.24 Many companies have financial
incentives to encourage existing employees to refer prospective employees into the company in the form of a
referral bonus in the event the candidate is successful.25

There are two implications of this. One is that it suggests that exposing job-seekers to networks within the
technology sector is a key means by which they can transition into it. Workers without a peer network aligned
with the tech sector will struggle to learn of job openings that may otherwise go unposted, or to succeed in
their applications without an internal referral to vouch as support. Second, it has the unintended consequence
of sourcing talent that can be extremely homogeneous, both from a racial and cultural standpoint, but also in
mindset, perspective and lived experience. This kind of homogeneity can result in critical blind spots for a company
that has the potential to lead to unforeseen challenges with their products or business model. As technology
companies look to diversify their talent pool, it is key that they expand their hiring practices beyond referral
networks.

“ An employer referral
program is a good way to find
talent but can reinforce hiring
trends of finding people that
are too like-minded. This can
harm goals of meeting diversity
and inclusion goals. We are

”
trying to rethink our program to
better meet these goals.
- VIDYARD

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2) Recent Graduates

The vast majority of employers we spoke with rely heavily on recruiting from a pool of recent graduates,
particularly from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. Specifically, employers pointed to their
heavy reliance on the co-op programs from these post-secondary institutions to form their pipeline of recent
graduate hires. Employers indicated that it was extremely common for them to hire co-op students into full-time
roles and many of the companies we spoke to took pride in their high co-op to employee conversion rates.

They typically rely on computer science and engineering graduates for technical roles and they tend to get
streamed into a “software development” career field. For business-related roles, employers rely heavily on
business graduates where they will be streamed into the “sales + marketing” career field. Companies find that
recent graduates are well-suited for entry-level roles, which is partly why so few companies highlight a challenge
finding junior developers. They are also generally well-suited to rely on during a company’s early growth stage, but
not surprisingly, employers often state that as they begin to scale their co-op pipelines are insufficient to find the
leadership and management experience they need.

“ Almost 80% of students that come in [to our company] co-op become full time.
The path to get in as a new graduate is for us to try before you buy.
- HR LEAD AT SCALE-UP COMPANY

”
3) Career Transitions from Adjacent Industries

As companies scale, they experience an increased need for employees with more industry-specific experience as
well as employees with more overall career experience. In order to gain such talent, employers often resort to
either luring talent away from competitor companies or relying on people from adjacent industries relevant to
their business that are looking to make a career transition.

As business grows, the types of skills the company

values also shift. When a company is early stage, it will
often look for generalists. As a company begins to scale
and its product and the business become established,
they begin to seek out workers with more specialized

“
skills or experience unique to the needs of the company.
There are many people in smaller Adaptability and a growth mindset are still important,
companies that have a misperception but it is increasingly clear that employers are beginning
that people from larger enterprises to place a higher value on specific technical skills
cannot adjust to the culture of a smaller integral to the specific product or service the company
company. They think, “people who like is delivering. With more specialized products, scale-ups
structure won’t make the transition,” but
in reality, more individuals attracted to
will more heavily rely on mid-career workers
a culture that supports transparency and transitioning from adjacent industries. In our interviews
trust are making the jump into smaller this included, for example, hardware companies

”
tech companies. They realize they no referencing the need for workers who have experience
longer fit the big enterprise culture. in the manufacturing sector. Another example includes
- TEXTNOW a scale-up assessing mid-career workers looking to
transition based on whether they have worked at a
previous company in a similar stage of growth, even
though it may have been in an entirely different sector.
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These findings make it clear that hiring mid-career

workers who are embarking on a career transition is an
under-utilized opportunity for employers. Generally,
when these kinds of workers are considered for roles, it

“
is to engage people with industry experience that can
serve in more senior-level roles. This presents an
opportunity for employers in the tech-sector to further We look for the best talent,
explore how to leverage those making career people who have proven to be
transitions, and find new ways to tap into this able to make an impact, while
unexploited talent pool. deeply understanding our values.
We look for people with relevant
experience for our size of business
not necessarily our industry. In
sales for example, this can mean
having sold deals of our size before.
Even though the products are not
necessarily similar, you understand

“
the deal flow and how the decisions
We are now regularly hiring for are made by clients. You are also

”
candidates who have over 3+ more process-driven and can help
years of relevant and transferable build these processes as we scale.
work experience. It ultimately -FIIX
depends on the skillset but for
certain roles, previous experience

”
in a manufacturing environment
is what we need.
-CLEARPATH

WAYS TO MOVE INSIDE TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES

1) Vertical Growth

One of the central challenges with respect to talent management that a scale-up must overcome is the need
to balance between having opportunities for employee growth within an organization while maintaining a
relatively flat organization. As such, while some scale-ups have put thought into career development planning
for employees, few have a clear processes in place for employees to grow vertically within an organization.
The challenge this creates is that employees may not envision a long-term future within a company. Part of this
challenge emanates from the nature of working at a small but fast growing company. Companies will only create
new senior roles as they are needed by the organization and make sense for the business. However, the timelines
for this role creation may not align with an employee’s personal career goals for job growth. In these cases, there
is very little a company can do to satisfy an employee’s desire for an enhanced role or job title if the timing for the
employee does not align with the timing for the business.

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When companies do have opportunities for vertical

growth, they tend to have two things in place to

“
support vertical trajectories. The first is that they
have clear, identifiable metrics to measure job
performance. The second is that many scale-ups
We’re a relatively flat organization and [we] are adopting individual contributor tracks as well as
take an agile approach to career development
which is centred around building your skills
management tracks to have career growth
and capabilities through key experiences, new opportunities for people that want to advance
projects, tougher challenges and increased within an organization but may not necessarily
scope of responsibility and autonomy. The want to be a manager. Nonetheless, scale-ups have
challenge is that some people are used to less opportunities to support opportunities for
having very clear paths from one role to vertical growth within an organization generally
another...and so they may think if I don’t get a

”
than a more established enterprise company.
new title, am I really growing in the
organization?

- THALMIC LABS
"We have a management track vs. individual
contributor track to support development of
people who are valuable to [the] company
but are not interested in management."
- TULIP RETAIL

2) Horizontal Growth

In spite of limited opportunities for vertical growth, many employers have options for horizontal movement
between different roles. The two most commonly cited reasons for this include 1) talent retention and 2)
organizational learning so that employees will have a more holistic view of the company through working at
different business functions. As such, horizontal movement serves as a means to get employees learning on the
job. Many employers referred to the fact that the best way for an employee to increase their value to the
company is by expanding their skills and abilities, and gaining a more dynamic understanding of the different
roles and responsibilities within the company.

Employees will often move into skill-adjacent positions. What this means in practice is that employees occupying
business-oriented roles will transition into other business-oriented roles. Employees that occupy a technical role
will transition into other technical roles in different projects across the company. For example, a technical
salesperson will transition into a business development role and vice-versa.

Some roles, such as product management or overall business management roles will require employees to grasp
both the business-oriented and technically-oriented sides of the company. Horizontal rotations can serve as a
means to train people into these kinds of roles. Contrary to popular belief, some of the most sought after skills
were not exclusively technical in nature, but were found in workers who could straddle the divide within their
company between technically-oriented roles and business-oriented roles, and serve as a translator between the
two.

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“
In spite of horizontal movement opportunities for
employees to take advantage of, employers cite some
[Product management] is often an
friction contributing to lower than expected uptake
afterthought in planning the overall
rates. They cite three reasons for this: (1) a lack of structure and key roles in the
awareness about opportunities to move horizontally to company. Creating a product
a different job, (2) a lack of understanding of management function might mean
transferable skill-sets and (3) a misperception that taking a great marketing manager,
moving onto a different job role will be frowned upon. teaching them enough of the
technical and product side of business,
and then have them coordinate an
internal, cross-functional team to

”
develop product roadmaps, launch
plans, etc.

- COMMUNITECH GROWTH COACHES

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT INFRASTRUCTURE

1) Onboarding

Almost all scale-ups have some form of an onboarding program for new hires. This serves as training where
employees obtain firm-specific technical skills. These refer to skills that are narrowly scoped and tend to be specific
to a firm such as learning about a company’s products. In some instances, there is dedicated staff to design
onboarding programs. However, onboarding programs can differ dramatically from company to company, ranging
in length and formality, with some lasting no more than a day and others involving formal training over several
weeks.

2) Professional Development

Many scale-ups do not have formal in-house professional development programs. Where they do have internal
development programs, these often take the form of peer-to-peer learning, such as organized lunch and learns or
TED-style talks. Some companies referenced setting aside time for employees to work on specific projects outside
of their usual workload, or organizing staff hackathons, where employees can create cross-functional teams to
develop new product solutions. These kinds of development activities both provide workers the opportunity to get
outside of their comfort zone and learn from peers, as well as provide the company with new ideas or product
solutions they may otherwise not have considered.

Companies will often rely on external professional development programs to fill in the gaps of their in-house
programs. This could range from taking an online course to a short or longer term in-person program. Most
companies also cover the costs for their employees to attend conferences or gain job related skill certifications.
Often employees must make a case on the value of the training opportunity; and managers administer a
professional development budget for employees to learn a skill through formal training programs.

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“
We need a more entrepreneurial workforce that can search out things and also stop the things that
are not working. No one knows the future of media. It is a lot better to explore possibilities and test

”
the ideas. So we have Kickbox. This is a two-stage in-house innovation program to upskill our staff
and develop an innovation mindset.

- GLOBE AND MAIL

3) Mentorship Programs

Almost all scale-ups have a mentorship component that functions like a buddy program. These programs pair new
hires with senior-level employees to help get new hires up to speed. This is particularly important for technical
teams where senior software developers will get new software developers up to speed on a team’s legacy
code base. A buddy program is a low-resource way to provide mentorship within an organization. However, it
is not a substitute for coaching and mentorship that can be provided by senior leadership. A small number of
scale-ups are able to offer a more formal mentorship program, though some cited challenges in matching
mentors, ensuring ongoing engagement and ramping up programming.

“ We think about development much more

“ Every new hire is set up with a

”
broadly than formal training courses and most ‘buddy’ to help them get situated,,
of our learning happens on the job. If there is a [and to give them a] company and
business case for external training that is product overview.
relevant we find a way to accommodate it, but - D2L
internally there are countless opportunities to

”
work on new things with experts who are the
best in their field.
- THALMIC LABS

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An Opportunity to Leverage Job Similarities

Through all of our conversations with employers, one message was very clear - there is a need to continuously
grow the talent pool of available skilled workers for the tech sector. One opportunity to do this is by identifying
and exploring transferable skills for job adjacencies - that is, figuring out what kind of workers in other industries
have jobs that are closest in skill profile to the skill needs of the tech sector. Better understanding this will help to
target job seekers making career transitions as well as better equip employees to make horizontal moves within an
organization. One method to achieve this relies on using the O*NET skill database. Given an identified job role, it
also publishes a list of similar occupations, based on similarity between two occupations on the grounds of skills,
knowledge, work activities, education and training, as well as a host of other dimensions. We hypothesize that
these similar jobs are jobs that one can easily transition into with minimal retraining given that the existing skill set
is there.

For the purpose of this report, we decided to test this approach within the Waterloo Region labour market,
picking one area of work that tech companies cite as being high demand and studying it in depth for its skill
alignment with the Waterloo Region workforce more broadly. For this example, we identified technical salesperson
as a role needed by almost every employer we spoke to. We matched the description to the corresponding
National Occupational Classification for this occupation, which is Technical Salesperson - Wholesale. The adjacent
job roles are the jobs in Waterloo Region that most closely align with Technical Salesperson. Using O*NET, we
were able to generate this job similarity table. The skill overlap column names all of the skills identified through
O*NET that the adjacent role shares with the skills required for Technical Salesperson. The employment in
Waterloo Region column provides the number of workers in the region currently employed in these roles based on
the 2016 census.

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NON-TECH SECTORS FILLED WITH TECH TALENT IN WATERLOO REGION

Adjacent Job Roles Knowledge and Skill Overlap Based Employment in

On O*NET Waterloo Region
Advertising, marketing and Economics and Accounting, Computers and Electronics, 1,100
public relations manager Law and Government, Telecommunications, Evaluating
Information to Determine Compliance with Standards,
Selling or Influencing Others, Active Listening, Persuasion

Corporate sales manager Production and Processing, Psychology, Geography, 1,400

Monitor Processes, Materials, or Surroundings, Evaluating
Information to Determine Compliance with Standards,
Active Listening, Speaking

Business development officers Economics and Accounting, Psychology, Assisting and 1,100
and marketing researchers Caring for Others, Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating
and consultants with Others, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Active
Learning, Coordination, Instructing, Management of
Financial Resources, Management of Material Resources

Authors and Writers Clerical, Computers and Electronics, Psychology, Monitor 500
Processes, Materials, or Surroundings, Judging the Quali-
ties of Things, Services, or People, Processing Information,
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates,
Developing and Building Teams, Coaching and Develop-
ing Others, Performing Administrative Activities, Critical
Thinking, Active Learning, Learning Strategies, Moni-
toring, Complex Problem Solving, Operations Analysis,
Judgment and Decision Making, Time Management

Insurance Agents and Brokers Administration and Management, Sales and Marketing, 1,500
Computers and Electronics, Communications and Media,
Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Material, Thinking
Creatively, Coordinating the Work and Activities of Oth-
ers, Training and Teaching Others, Coaching and Devel-
oping Others, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening,
Critical Thinking, Active Learning, Learning Strategies,
Monitoring, Instructing, Service Orientation, Complex
Problem Solving, Operations Analysis, Judgment and
Decision Making, Systems Analysis, Systems Evaluation,
Management of Personnel Resources

Financial Sales Representative Customer and Personal Service, Personnel and Human 800
Resources, Education and Training, English Language,
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work, Coordinating
the Work and Activities of Others, Training and Teach-
ing Others, Active Listening, Writing, Speaking, Active
Learning, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Instructing,
Complex Problem Solving, Operations Analysis, Systems
Analysis, Time Management, Management of Financial
Resources, Management of Personnel Resources

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Conclusion
The Canadian technology sector continues to grow and is likely to continue doing so. Communities like Waterloo
Region represent the engine of much of the innovation that is fueling that growth in Ontario, and in Canada more
broadly. In order to ensure the tech sector succeeds in delivering on the promise of job creation and economic
prosperity, it is essential to ensure that barriers to growth are removed. As acknowledged earlier in the paper, 82%
of tech companies identified the challenge of recruiting and retaining talent as a major barrier to growth.

Understanding the specific skills needed by the tech community is only the first step to ensuring that there
is a robust and active talent pool available for companies to draw from. It is also essential to understand how
companies source talent, the pipelines into the sector that exist and the opportunities within companies to move
and grow once a worker is inside. Any product, service or program that seeks to support both workers and
companies will need to factor all of these components into their work in order to convert potential into impact.

This paper has also demonstrated that there are novel ways to grow the available talent pool for tech companies
beyond the traditional approach of increasing STEM graduates. Mid-career workers from adjacent industries with
high skill overlaps are well suited to transition into the tech sector with targeted training requirements necessary to
succeed. Programs targeting these workers may not require as much focus on digital or human skill development,
but may require an effort to develop and expand a workers’ growth mindset in order to be well suited to make the
career transition successfully.

The technology sector poses tremendous promise for continued economic growth and labour market engagement.
The better we can understand how to support its continued growth through talent, while creating new
opportunities for workers, the greater the benefit to the Canadian economy.

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Appendices
APPENDIX A: TAXONOMY OF HIGH DEMAND SKILLS
Software Development

Career Field

Software Development
+ Software developers write, develop, design and test new and/or existing software using computer science principles.
The software can be databases, apps and/or website.

Focus Areas

Focus Area Name Description

Full Stack Development Developing both the front-end and back-ends of software applications.

Back-end Development Developing the back-end infrastructure for software applications. This
includes APIs, database servers and data validation

Front-end development Developing the front-end user interfaces for software applications.

DevOps Designing and testing automation processes between software

development and IT teams for the purposes of building, testing and
releasing software more rapidly.

Database Administration and Designing and maintaining database systems, including setting and the
Architecture implementation of standards for operations, programming, and
security.

Cybersecurity Designing and implementing security measures to protect computer

networks and information.

Computer Network Architecture Designing and implementing computing and information network
systems.

Knowledge and Skill Areas

+ Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and
software, including applications and programming.
+ Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes
applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
+ Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
+ Programming — Writing computer programs for various purposes.
+ Systems Analysis — Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will
affect outcomes.
+ Complex Problem Solving — Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and
implement solutions.
+ Reading Comprehension — Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
+ Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or
approaches to problems.

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Data Science

Career Field

Data Science
+ Data science refers to obtaining insights through analyzing data using a combination of statistical techniques and
computer programming.

Focus Areas

Focus Area Name Description

Data Analytics Formulating research questions and analyzing data to answer them.

Business Intelligence Developing and analyzing data to support making business-oriented

decisions.

Data Engineering Developing the back-end infrastructure to support the analysis of data;
a specialized subset of back-end development.

Knowledge and Skill Areas

+ Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and
software, including applications and programming.
+ Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This
includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
+ Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
+ Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
+ Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-
making.
+ Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate
one.
+ Mathematics - Using mathematics to solve problems.
+ Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or
approaches to problems.

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Artificial Intelligence

Career Field

Artificial Intelligence
+ This refers to a specialized subset of software engineering that relies variety of methods and techniques to learn and
operate. AI mostly refers to Narrow AI that is able to facilitate individual, repetitive tasks by learning from patterns
found in data.

Focus Areas

Focus Area Name Description

Machine Learning Designing algorithms that enable computer systems to learn and
make predictions based on historical data using methods of data
analysis and analytical modelling.

Natural Language Processing Refers to functionality that enables machines to process,

understand, and / or generate audio and textual speech.

Model Interpretation Interpreting the artificial intelligence model and its results. This is
accompanied by communicating this to a broader audience.

Knowledge and Skill Areas

+ Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and
software, including applications and programming.
+ Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes
applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
+ Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
+ Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
+ Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-
making.
+ Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and
implement solutions.
+ Mathematics - Using mathematics to solve problems.
+ Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or
approaches to problems.

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Sales + Marketing

Career Field

Sales + Marketing
+ Sales + Marketing refers to the process of understanding the needs of potential customers, increasing their interest in
a service/products to them and then converting their interest into a sale.

Focus Areas

Focus Area Name Description

Technical Sales Selling highly technical products typically to business customers.

Enterprise-level Sales Selling highly technical products that involve multiple stakeholders
with a lengthy sales cycle.

Customer Success Developing long-term relationships with customers and clients to

advocate for their needs.

Business Development Developing leads with potential customer and clients.

Account Management Managing customer and client accounts to maintain sales renewals
and leads.

Technical Support/Helpdesk Assisting customers and clients to use technical products effectively.

Knowledge and Skill Areas

+ Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This
includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
+ Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This
includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
+ Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware
and software, including applications and programming.
+ Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
+ Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
+ Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking
questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
+ Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
+ Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

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Product Management

Career Field

Product Management
+ This refers to supporting the strategic development of product by defining product requirements based on customer
feedback, communicating those requirements throughout the rest of the organization and aligning the organization to
deliver on the product.

Focus Areas

Focus Area Name Description

Product Strategy Developing the roadmap of a product that includes outlining product
features and its target market to help meet company goals.

Agile Project Management Managing projects using more flexible project management methods
that is becoming industry standard for making technology-based
products.

Product Marketing Bringing the product to market, that includes launching the product,
communicating product features to the company and potential
customers and driving demand for the product.

Technical Communication Conveying scientific, engineering or other technical information in

an easily understandable manner.

Knowledge and Skill Areas

+ Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and
software, including applications and programming.
+ Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes
applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
+ Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This
includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
+ Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or
approaches to problems.
+ Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
+ Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking
questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
+ Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
+ Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most
appropriate one.

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User Experience

Career Field

User Experience
+ This refers to analyzing behaviors of potential customers, building prototypes and testing product features to help make
informed business decisions.

Focus Areas

Focus Area Name Description

User Interface Designing the visual and graphical elements of a user’s interface with a
technology product.

Customer Testing Testing and capturing customer insights as they interact with a product
to better refine products to meet customer needs.

Knowledge and Skill Areas

+ Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning
and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
+ Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints,
drawings, and models.
+ Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This
includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
+ Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking
questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
+ Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
+ Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or
approaches to problems.
+ Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
+ Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

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Technology Business Management

Career Field

Technology Business Management

+ This refers to implementing business processes to lead teams and to scale a technology business.

Focus Areas

Focus Area Name Description

Team Lead Leading and assembling project-based teams that will also serve as an
intermediary to upper-level management.

Project Management Managing the planning and delivery of project goals within a given set
of constraints.

Strategic Growth Implementing business processes to support scaling the organization in

an efficient manner.

Organizational Planning Identifying around an organization’s long-term objectives and allocating

resources to meet those goals.

Finance Implementing back-office financial controls.

Knowledge and Skill Areas

+ Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource
allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
+ Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for
individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
+ Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training,
compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
+ Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate
one.
+ Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
+ Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for
the job.
+ Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
+ Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

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APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1) What are the top three skill sets you are hiring for to move your business forward?

a. What is the typical background or experience history of someone who possesses these skills?

2) As you look at the next 18-24 months:

a. What new skill sets do you see being needed?

b. What skill sets that employees now have might be redundant in the near future?

3) In thinking about the way individuals join your organization (examples: candidates coming out of school,
vs. candidates transitioning into tech):

a. Are there any specific barriers you see for candidates coming out of school?

b. Are there any specific barriers you see for candidates who are making a career transition into tech?

4) What do you consider for an employee to advance / move around the company? If we asked your employees:

a. What would be the opportunities they would say are available to them to advance / move around
within the organization?

b. What would they say are some of the challenges (to advance / move…)?

5) What development opportunities are available to your employees?

6) What are the things in your organization that are dragging the speed in which talent can grow?

a. What could accelerate or expedite growth?

7) How many employees do you have today? How many do you plan to have by the end of 2018?

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APPENDIX C: INTERVIEWEES

Company List

Aeryon

Auvik

Bonfire

Clearpath Robotics

Communitech Growth Coaches*

D2L

Deloitte

Fiix

Kik

Globe & Mail

Magnet Forensics

Manulife

Miovision

Sortable

TD

TextNow

Thomson Reuters

Thalmic Labs

Tulip Retail

Vidyard

*Communitech Growth coaches based their

responses on insights gained while working with 15
fast scaling companies participating in the REV
Accelerator program over the past 12 months.

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Bibliography
Advisory Council on Economic Growth (2017). “Tapping Economic Potential Through Broader Workforce
Participation.”

Advisory Council on Economic Growth (2017). “Learning Nation: Equipping Canada’s Workforce with Skills for the
Future.”

Autor, D. (2013). The “task approach” to labor markets: an overview. Journal of Labour Market Research, vol.
46(3), p. 185-199.

Business Council of Canada. (2018). Navigating Change: 2018. Business Council Skills Survey.

D’arcy, P. (2018). The Best Jobs in 2018. Retrieved from: [Link] 02/best-jobs-in-
canada-2018/

Deming. D.J. (2017). The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labour Market. The Quarterly Journal of
Economics, vol. 132 (4), p. 1593-1640.

Do, A. and Tibando, AJ. (2018). Understanding the Talent Gap: Lessons + Opportunities for Canada

Gupta, A. (2018). Talent Development for the Tech Sector - Transition Briefing.

Huynh, A. and N. Malli (2018). Leveling Up: The Quest for Digital Literacy.

Lamb, C. and M. Seddon (2016). The State of Canada’s Tech Sector.

MaRS (2018). Talent Fuels Tech: Connecting the GTA’s tech sector with top talent.

McKinsey Global Institute (2015). Digital America: A Tale of the Haves and Have-Mores.

McKinsey Global Institute (2017). Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained: Workforce Transitions in a Time of Automation.

McKinsey Global Institute (2018). Skill Shift: Automation and the Future of the Workforce

Muro, M. et al. (2017). Digitization and the American Workforce. Brookings Institution.

RBC (2018). Humans Wanted: How Canadian youth can thrive in the age of disruption

Stack Overflow (2017). Developer Survey Results: 2017. Retrieved from: [Link]
survey/2017

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Endnotes
1
C. Lamb & M. Seddon, (2016), The State of Canada’s Tech Sector, p. 4 -6.
2
P. D’Arcy, (2018), “The Best Jobs in 2018.”
3
A. Gupta, (2018), “Talent Development for the Tech Sector - Transition Briefing.”
4
C. Lamb & M. Seddon, (2016), The State of Canada’s Tech Sector, p. 54
5
McKinsey Global Institute (2015), “Digital America: The Tale of the Haves and Have-mores,” p. 31
6
David H. Autor (2013), “The task approach to labour markets: an overview,” p. 3.
7
C. Lamb (2016), “The Talented Mr. Robot: The Impact of Automation on Canada’s workforce,” p. 3.
8
RBC (2018), “Human Wanted: How Canadian youth can thrive in the age of disruption,” p. 11.
9
ICTC (2017), The Next Talent Wave: Navigating the Digital Shift - Outlook 2021, p. 8.
10
A. Huynh and N. Malli (2018), “Levelling Up: The Quest for Digital Literacy” P. 4
11
ICTC (2017), The Next Talent Wave: Navigating the Digital Shift - Outlook 2021, p. 13
12
Business Council of Canada (2018), “Navigating change: 2018 Business Council Skills Survey,” p .
13
Mark Muro et al. (2017), “Digitization and the American Workforce,” p. 15
14
David Deming (2017), “The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labour Market”
15
Business Council of Canada (2018), “Navigating Change: 2018 Business Council Skills Survey,” p. 10
16
C. Lamb and D. Rubinger , (2017), Stacking Up: A Snapshot of Canada’s Developer Talent, p. 45
17
A. Do and AJ Tibando (2018), “Understanding the Talent Gap: Lessons + Opportunities for Canada” p. 7
18
Ibid, p. 8-9
19
Stack Overflow (2017), Developer Survey Results: 2017.
20
MaRS (2018), “Talent Fuels Tech: Connecting the GTA’s tech sector with top talent,” p. 5
21
McKinsey Global Institute (2018), “Skill Shift: Automation and the Future of the Workforce,” p. 41
22
Advisory Council on Economic Growth (2017), “Learning Nation: Equipping Canada’s Workforce with Skills for the Future,” p 14.
23
Career field refers to a category of distinct job roles. For our purposes, we are referring to category of job roles that are found within technology companies.
24
A. Do and AJ Tibando (2018), “Understanding the Talent Gap: Lessons + Opportunities for Canada,” p. 8.
25
Stack Overflow (2017), “ Developer Survey Results: 2017.”

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Government of Ontario and the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development
for their financial support for this research through the Skills Catalyst Fund. We would also like to thank the employers
who participated in this research and provided such thoughtful and candid insight.

Please note, the views expressed in the publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Government of Ontario.

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