Industry sign banking georgia job offer free
hey everyone welcome to the cyber hub engaged podcast James azar here your loyal host today's episode is our journey to RSA and talking cybersecurity I've brought my friends and we all love Randall but I brought a better version of Randall Randall Randall we do love you but thank you so much for just skipping this this year Christie instead Christie Birdman welcome thank you I'm so happy to be here senior project manager to Georgia Department of Economic Development now for those who go to RSA there's always one booth that has free coca-cola peanuts and no one's scanning your badge that's the Georgia booth that is the best booth everywhere else you go they got like the popcorn like last year yeah they had they had like these popcorn machines remember Micah and you smell the popcorn because they start popping it and and and the smell brings you in because you want to go get popcorn but then to get a bag of popcorn want to scan your badge and you're like I don't watch your spam yeah so free peanuts coca-cola those things yeah free peanuts coca-cola what else do we have for Fred the Georgia booth well if you come by we'd love to talk to you about some of the benefits that the state of Georgia has to offer yeah but do we have like free giveaways I need to find out what else we have I mean at peanuts in coca-cola not good enough I mean packs a Georgia peanuts on them they do and they're great and during every Georgia senators office no matter where you go and all over our office come on right come by indeed I was at senator Purdue's office and the senator to just it's that Isakson when I was in DC and they had like these huge things of Georgia peanuts in their office and I just grabbed like a handful stick him in my pocket cuz that's we're going other offices like California they don't put California almonds they should but they know yeah that's true but dear RSA from yours truly let's move to San Diego please San Diego we can have night parties and TJ in Mexico we'd all like to go to Mexico it's a fun place all right now we get to talk about Georgia a little bit Augusta for Gordon yeah lots of cyber going on here why does the state of Georgia have a booth yes so we have a booth because the cyber industry has become huge for the state of Georgia you mentioned Augusta and you've had a whole show on Augusta so I won't touch too much on it but I do want to point out yes we have the US Army Cyber Command headquarters announced in 2013 that they're going to Fort Gordon and Fort Gordon is a huge base there's 47 hundred active-duty military there it's mainly a training base for cyber security there's a six hundred thousand square foot NSA facility there for good prajak studies only so there's a really good amount of active-duty talent there so we also have the Georgia cyber center there again you've gone into this but with the with that announcement and really in 2013 it really created a focus for the state of Georgia to building the cyber industry and so that's happened in Atlanta and then also in Augusta and through our university system overall so but military isn't just a big thing because there's a lot of private cyber enterprise here we have a lot of big vendors that come out of Georgia exactly some huge ones that are locating and a Gustin to be take part of the Cyber Command in the future of that base but we already have 100 over 115 just cybersecurity companies alone in the state of Georgia I'm sure you know we have a huge fin tech industry there's obviously a lot of cyber security that comes up around that you know two-thirds of all transactions are processed through the state of Georgia so that's a really big number and you can imagine what kind of security goes into the companies that are making that happen you know where Georgia natives we do a lot of Georgia content and so we do enjoy promoting the the state we live in we were also ranked the best state to do business six years that is one of our favorite things to bring up it's actually seven seven seven by two different magazines site selection and Area Development magazine so both magazines have rated Georgia the best place to do business seven years in a row it's huge nobody's ever had that and that's for a lot of reasons we have great workforce we have great representatives who want to make this happen our universities love working with our companies here to make sure that we have the talent that the companies are looking for just a lot of reasons that George is a really good place to start a business so a lot of our audience are this cyber security practitioners cyber security vendors one of the biggest challenges we all face is workforce tell me a little bit about some of the workforce opportunities that exist in Georgia yeah that's a great question so workforce by far the biggest reason that companies are locating in the state of Georgia so it used to be the incentives were a big deal that the correct locations and buildings and that kind of thing was a big deal companies just want talent now our education system has been really fantastic and it was specifically for cyber industries we have 30 I won't have this number written down it's 41 thousand students enrolled in the Technical College System and the University System of Georgia right now in cyber cyber related programs and that can be like mis things I said those are a two to four year degrees exactly so meaning within two to four years there's going to be 41,000 new employees in the job market in the state of Georgia exactly wow that's a it's you just a really big number you know that exactly and we have eight universities as part of the university system that have the NSA DHS designation as an academic center of excellence means they have the CIE are or CIA DC certification so those mean they have rigorous cybersecurity programs you know University of North Georgia is a great example they're a pipeline of talent and the NSA they just won Danis a codebreaker challenge exactly it hasn't even a contest yeah I don't think any other university should have just like gone in they should have just seceded right away there should just been like a it was like 175 point difference did you know that I didn't realize it was that large they had like two they score two hundred and thirty five thousand points second place school also a Georgia school squirt on like fifty six thousand points difference but I like to point to to Georgia schools right to Georgia schools in the top ten great academic feat for for Georgia to begin with yeah but good job to dr. Payne and his team at ung yeah yeah and again the NSA has a direct pipeline it's a fantastic University they're pulling from that talent all the time that's a great they have a great military focus for the students there so again people are coming to Georgia for the talent mean we have a ton of university system focus on cyber and cyber related programs and I think that a lot of companies are coming because that's really hard to find now I think you Angie's program has a cyber operation piece to it as well so just beyond the military school to have a cyber operation peace Kennesaw State has a very hands-on like level one like an analyst and pentester they're probably the best in the state for that they graduate more kids than any other school like every six months they're turning out like 200 kids their career first I went to one of their career first like we had an intern here from Kennesaw State oh yeah and he finished with us Chris finished with us and within 30 days he already had a job 30 days oh yeah I believe it I mean yeah these kids are getting snapped up left him right one of the things we do and when companies come to the state and want to sort of get a taste of what it's like to operate in the state we'll set up University panels for them we will set up HR panels with them so they can discuss you know what it's like to hire what is the talent pipeline like in the state so one of the things that's that they love and we get really positive feedback about is the universities really want to work with the companies they want to know what do you need what are the gaps in your talent and they love to sit down and work through like how can we make sure the programs that we're creating are meeting the needs that you have and I think that that's why you see so many companies coming here you know we got norfolk southern headquarters coming here in CRS headquartered here why serve yep aye sir Global Payments he says there's a lot of companies in the state those are our FinTech companies like right not to mention Southern Company coca-cola yeah Home Depot Carter's Carter is graphic packaging there's a ton of companies that all have technology related jobs actually so it is a huge hub for I think we have 18 fortune 500 companies and 30 fortune 1000 companies that are based out of Georgia but also our startup scene is really really unique because there's a ton of incubators around the state there are is there's a lot of entrepreneurship so there's always that ability for organizations that come here to really find different innovations and different centers to connect with all over the city too right I mean it's just yeah it's it's not it's clustered everywhere so no matter where you are I mean we're in Alpharetta mm-hmm right and Alpharetta has like six hundred and some-odd companies in Alpharetta yeah just not for that yes you're exactly right um yeah I mean we can you know a TTC Atlanta tech village these are you know great incubators really important access to Atlanta tech Park your your city laughs hey Troy corners I mean the stuff that's going on here from a cyber perspective you know we often talk about Talent cyber security companies that are out there working to ensure that we have the latest technologies in order to protect against the latest latest threats they're always looking for four different partnerships and different places and that's why it's important to highlight these different curiosity labs the tsys cyber security center in Columbus there's just so many of them right now yeah you're exactly right uh and curiosity lab I just want to point out they have a one and a half miles of autonomous vehicle Road testing space and that's open to anybody right and that's like ten minutes from here yeah exactly I Drive there sometimes on a Saturday like because there's a really really really nice location across the street from curiosity labs that's used in a lot of different movies here at Jones birch Park have you been there I haven't been there no amazing Park and the the river the flowed that's right like if you enjoyed fishing just go stand there and just hook it into the stream you'll you'll you'll catch fish it's it's really cool but the other aspect of this is we're going to San Francisco for are saying yes very expensive place like for what we spend in San Francisco and Georgia would buy a house and we have companies that will come from San Francisco with regularity though either looking to move or they have outgrown the talent that they can get in San Francisco and need talent outside of San Francisco and we are a fantastic value yeah you know leading engineers any type of talent you need and for you know twenty five percent less than it cost generally to have this talent in San Francisco or New York so we're a great place to grow you know we had a company from San Francisco here about two weeks ago that was looking to open up another thousand person location in another office and they've been in San Francisco for a while they have a New York office they have some people in a third office but we are about fantastic value proposition we have all the talent they could need and and so we're hopeful that I mean we're getting coming is like that all the time and we're hopeful that we'll be able to make that announcement in a few months and that'll be another one that we can add to the list so yes company another a win from California yeah I mean I mean it's just so expensive to you know have the talent here you also have not you know you have the time but your employees can also buy homes more Millennials are buying homes answer than any other market in the country so we think that that's a really fantastic statistic not only so millennial it's not that Millennials don't want to buy houses they do they're just too darn expensive ownerships out of reach for it exactly and we think that also shows that there's going to be a fantastic you know that talent pipeline is committed to staying here so yeah I mean it's it's it's a great place to to grow your business and to reach that time so talk a little bit about Georgia in terms of your presence at RSA the team that's going to be with you guys at RSA what can people come and learn at the Georgia booth and you know beyond just the peanuts and the free coca-cola yeah okay well peanuts free coke all obviously huge benefit so we're here basically going to going to RSA because we want to talk to companies about the benefits of operating in Georgia so we you know whether you're a small company medium sized company or a large company interested in harnessing some of that talent so if the real estate you know opening a second office things like that come to our booth and talk to us about the ways that we can show you around the stage introduce you to people and just talk to you about some of those benefits you know not only in the talent we have fantastic tax credits and incentives that I can just talk your ear off about let's save that for RSA like I don't want to hear that right now no I'm just saying if you give all the information here no one's gonna come talk about RSA this is like a teaser okay we're just so we haven't it is Valentine's Day right yeah and so you know we just like a peat a small piece of chocolate you know like if if you enjoy like just dragging your wife on she wakes up in the morning with like just one piece of chocolate next to her and you go happy Valentine's Day honey I got you a piece of chocolate and she goes that's it you cheap skin and then throughout the day you give her more pieces make away then that the epics climax is your wife give her just the candy to Papa why not drag it on all day alright well you know here's a little piece of chocolate teaser we have fantastic listen I'm Jewish we celebrate Hanukkah it's eight nights of gifts that's all right that's true people have celebrate Christmas go there's one big present let's check Jews we've always had to like wait longer for things you're right okay so we approach all right we do the same with gift-giving yeah look as a kid in Hanukkah first night you get a dreidel next night you get crayons but no coloring book coloring book may come a night six so what do you do with crayons for three A's you're right so we're not gonna talk about tax credits and incentives yes another couple days we'll just hold off on that but know that they're there and I love to talk about that so Black Rock is coming here as well right yeah so Black Rock announced that they're going actually in this fantastic new building 7725 ponds market yeah they're gonna have a huge office that I'm doing misquote and thousand people right yeah thousand people and I think that actually in December already hired their 200th employee and that was just within the first year of being in the state so we're really excited about that those position it's gonna be for technology animation centers they're hiring a lot of Technology talent pandora has a large office here they have 250 employees in that office Honeywell is establishing a Technology Center there's gonna be over 800 people that facility Parsons I know that that's a cyber specific company they are located in the cyber Center in Augusta they are hiring over a hundred people at that location so you know whether it's private industry companies that need technology talent or cyber specific talent there's a lot of companies locating here to try to take advantage of that that's awesome mm-hmm that's so great because it's just the more you you see what Georgia has in the business environment here the people here the hmm support that we get from your department I mean for us personally a cyber hub engage like you guys have been like our number-one supporter from
he moment we started this and the movie industry I think a lot of people dismiss the opportunities that exist for cyber security companies within the movie industry because everything is so digital and it needs to be like yeah there was the hacking of the yeah Sony and that it got leaked ahead of time I mean you know every company knows HBO Game of Thrones right yeah yeah we could do a whole episode on the film industry I mean that's a fantastic Asante if I say ever in town it's amazing it's amazing and great to have them and and and some of the people out in Studio City Atlanta yeah and Asante can also talk about the eSports industry in Atlanta I mean that's huge and becoming such a focus right and that's gonna also need security yeah exactly George is one of only a few states where students and the high school system can letter any sports so if we look at major industries within Georgia mhm eSports FinTech Financial Services what would you say what would be other posters retail technology is a big one so with confidence Macy's technologies is like right right here yes it's funny you mentioned that there's an announcement that came out of our office today actually Macy's is hiring an additional six hundred and thirty people and there's a Johnson location not for Johns Creek actually 43 have you seen the t3 building in West Midtown no no I'm glad it's not here I don't want 630 people clogging up my that is just not what I want this location is staying there adding a new location in West Midtown actually in t3 which is a really cool building it's the wooden frame building so it's all it's made from wood so it smells fantastic on the inside but it's a really cool that's gonna be there that's moldy it's not good so it is six hundred and thirty people no it's all say there are it's a fantastic you know gets a moldy we need to stop it or for you yeah that's the only way I like become a fan of something is when I go in for free tours okay free lunch lunch building you'll be really on board but yeah so they just announced six hundred and thirty new jobs in the state of Georgia again that's pure technology talent and these are high-paying jobs it's really exciting that's it I'm so glad it's not a search on screen that's like the major intersection outside my house yeah I would go crazy yeah and I'm not sure if the exact number and I can get that to you but I think it's over a thousand people are already employed at their technology yeah yeah I know I know we see about Whole Foods for lunch every day see George is doing well just enjoy the prosperity that at or just experience that's fine I want prosperity I just don't want to have to wait 15 minutes from my lunch I guess I like to walk in and walk out well hopefully some other lunch restaurants will pop up around in the area but we are excited 630 to stir a better lunch place than Whole Foods mmm Chipotle sure tacos I do love tacos Michael loves tacos when we were in Dallas all he wanted to do was he talking it's a lot of tacos in Texas then he had whole all guys I like guys we have one near our office actually told you they're in Georgia now they're everywhere awesome Christy what did we forget that we forget anything I don't think so I mean you just made a really nice tree yes so that sort of go along with the private companies that we have here we have a lot of data centers here one of the tricky things about marketing the cyber industry and data centers as you know is that sometimes companies don't want to know what you want it known that they have a presence here we do have a lot of data centers here well we're not calling out names but yeah people know because we've we've we work with data bank enduring downtown that's a fantastic really the first of its kind it's great innovation yes exactly housing supercomputer exactly and then the Facebook announcement of that datacenter that's a huge that's gonna be I think it's not quite operational yet but that was a great addition to the industry you know there's companies that are located here that you know don't even advertise that they're here but we do have a fantastic data center industry and not all states welcome that we are very welcoming of data centers we think that that's an important part of company's ability to do business in the future and we're very welcoming of that absolutely that's the future of essentially I love I love it because when we were in Texas we were at our live podcast and Mark was giving us a tour of their data center and he was going you guys want to see the cloud then here's the cloud some people yeah people always hear the cloud and think like it's an invisible server somewhere and you're like nope it's a data center yeah it's an it's actually not as massive yeah it's not it's the technology today we were able to see this like yeah I mean like just this one line was like four servers like four blades and you're just like wow technology has gone amazing so it's it's it's actually really really fascinating yeah yeah and just the point you made earlier that communities in Georgia really embraced new technologies and want these companies located here I think the Peachtree Corners example of opening that curiosity lab kind of is just a smaller scale example and a great example of how communities in Georgia are welcoming new technologies and want businesses to operate here so then they're one of its kind and setting up that autonomous test track on their own you know in your the companies that are testing their are interacting it's not like it just set off by itself I mean it's a track that you know has roads nearby and everything so I mean the community has to be something the community as a whole embraces and I think you see that in Georgia right I think the one thing I would point out is that you started talking about the University System of Georgia and the eight different schools we have yeah and we have some of the greatest schools your University of Georgia Georgia State and when gee Kennesaw State I mean there are no state university Columbus State Georgia Tech SCAD is a fantastic program they have some great really their user interface programs a programmers those students are just snapped up so quickly yeah that's a fantastic institution as well yeah I mean just the talent pool here like you said forty-one thousand kids in cybersecurity programs in the state of Georgia alone yep I think that should be your headline on RSA yeah employees I'm waiting to get hired in cyber yeah swoop them up yep and you just see with the number of companies that are interested in coming in the state of Georgia that they're starting to recognize that talent absolutely perfect Christy thank you can't wait for RSA yes I'll see you there Thanks you guys are next to the NSA huh you guys are next to the NSA I think so yeah yeah you guys are like right next today i'ma say yeah so go see the state of Georgia at the booth last year we had the pleasure of broadcasting from the booth this year will be at Fogo de Chao come by visit us at Fogo de Chao all week we'll be there Tuesday through Thursday with our friends at Cenac just really you know grub it up some steak talking cyber some you know Brazilian steakhouse I don't know Fogo de Chao folks nothing else come by say hello visit our friends at Georgia we'll be at their booth at one point during the week I just don't know when yet until then we'll see you guys at RSA this is an RSA exclusive episode our journey to RSA with the state of Georgia thank you all for tuning in Christine thanks for me randal next yeah or maybe we'll do a panel Oh that'll be fun yeah reality Randell and my co-workers Sonny and I all I love yeah it's only so much fun Sonny is wonderful she will be at RSA that's it for us here today we'll be back with a lot more every single day with our daily cyber briefing and our sis Atok Saturday specials enjoy the rest of your day you
