My colleague was struggling to find good web development talent. But he was also notoriously picky so I thought nothing of it.
That’s until I tried to find a couple of developers for a project I was trying to set up. It was a real struggle.
Around the same time I read that Tech City was having the same problem. A massive 77% of businesses surveyed said that a lack of skilled workers was stifling their growth.
And they aren’t alone. I’ve subsequently heard from friends and colleagues up and down the UK who’ve had similar hiring hassles.
Opportunity knocks
I started to think about ways our town could respond to this. We’ve got good schools, talented students and are in easy-ish reach of London and Gatwick. As a seaside town, Eastbourne is also partly reliant on seasonal employment, so if we could create a few well paid permanent local jobs it wouldn’t hurt.
I heard about the Charleston Digital Corridor, an organisation that helped to transform the South Carolina heritage resort (sounds very similar to Eastbourne!) into a tech mecca. This was definitely worth exploring further.
Eyes on the prize
For the last few years UK coastal towns have competed for a share of £40 million (ish) from the Coastal Communities Fund. I figured we were in with a shot. With the great help and advice of Adam Mc-Naught Davis, a fellow dreamer and owner of a local design firm, and Councillor Caroline Ansell, we managed to get Eastbourne’s leading organisations in a room to talk about a bid.
People brought along their ideas and I suggested a couple, including my ‘tech town’ ramblings. My tech idea won through! We put together a great first round bid, sent it off and… heard nothing.
Months later we’ve still heard nothing, so it’s safe to say we didn’t make it. But the idea and passion to do something has remained.
We now have many great partners – Eastbourne Chamber of Commerce, Eastbourne Borough Council, Sussex Downs College, The Towner Gallery, our MP, the local RSA and a host of highly talented individuals are on board.
So what next? Have a read of this.