Engineering in the Midwest, Particularly Indiana

[irelandcarter]

any engineers care to weigh in how they find the midwest tech/startup scene? i've got a funded startup in palo alto, but looking to create a team in or around south bend, indiana since part of my team is there, along with one of our key investors and fortune 500 clients. i was also thinking about st. louis...

[derrick_jensen]

I go to UIUC (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign). The engineering startup scene is very active in Champaign and Chicago. ACM@UIUC hosts the largest student-ran tech convention in the Midwest (Reflections Projections), and it is a very nice place to recruit for talent. Having grown up near STL, I don't think the startup scene there is nearly as large. I'd recommend basing yourself around Chicago and recruiting from UIUC if you are looking for new employees.

[irelandcarter]

thanks for sharing! a few of the folks i know well here in silicon valley studied engineering at UIUC and grew up in Clayton, MO. they say a lot of positive things about UIUC too. maybe i'll take a look at their network and see if i can spread the word about the position.

[jtcond13]

Yeah I'm familiar with the area (about to move from South Bend to Chicago). There's a lot of effort going into building a startup scene in South Bend, both around the Innovation and Ignition Park developments and at Notre Dame. At least a few of the companies that I'm familiar with (Vennli, Carextech) have gotten traction; the existing economy there is pretty manufacturing-heavy, especially around auto, appliances (Whirlpool) and medical devices (J&J has pretty big presence in Warsaw).

I might try and work through the area colleges (St. Mary's, Notre Dame, IU South Bend) if you're looking to recruit there.

[irelandcarter]

awesome. just curious, are you moving to chicago because south bend didn't offer what you wanted or just a great opportunity in chicago?

familiar with vennli and other startups/folks working in the innovation space and we're set to get a small office at innovation park actually. we're making a bit that the area will continue to grow and we're happy to test hiring more of our team there who will be in close touch with palo alto hq. we're hitting up notre dame alumni to fill a lead engineer role, but we'll take a look at surrounding schools as well.