March
23, 2021
6 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Working in Silicon Valley is the dream of many Mexican programmers and computer scientists, because the most important technology hub in the world offers ample possibilities to develop professionally, innovate and grow economically .
“Working in the United States is a very cool experience. I know that my work will pay off and that I will have many opportunities to advance in my career. Now my life has completely changed because I am 100% independent and I have a good salary. Here we have a lot of potential, which makes it the perfect terrain to achieve development ”, says the Mexican Pedro Alejandro , Control Engineer .
Thanks to different visas and job recruitment programs such as Talentum and Ai Lab School , there are currently hundreds of programmers from Mexico working in this region of the United States , considered ” the mecca of technology and innovation .”
“Being in this area is being in the mecca of the profession, this is where more talent is developed and where we have more opportunities for our work to really impact,” reflects Laura Sánchez , a software engineer at Uber .
It was during the 80s when this territory began to show a rapid rise of companies dedicated to computing and electricity , growth that increased over the years, which turned this region into the most important “techie” pole. Worldwide.
Currently, Silicon Valley protects the headquarters of true technological giants such as: Google , Apple , HP , Oracle , Facebook , LinkedIn , among many other companies. Professionals in the area consider that the desire to constantly learn and be attentive to emerging technologies are key factors to be able to reach and succeed in this region.
“Being in Google implied greater demands, and that was a great motivation to raise my level of both knowledge and discipline, and be as productive as possible,” says David Montiel to the newspaper Milenio . The Mexican programmer also worked on LinkedIn, eBay and XING.
In Silicon Valley it is often heard that entrepreneurs and their teams want to change the world and contribute to a higher quality of life . Innovation and creativity are basic ingredients of the reality of this industry, so companies focus on finding developers with these skills for their work teams.
Endeavor Insight , the research unit of Endeavor, recently he conducted an analysis of how this technology center became a reference for the world . According to the study, Silicon Valley is what is known today for its levels of ambition, growth, commitment and reinvestment . So that you understand it better, I detail each point below.
- Ambition – Provides the security and amenities that make the place a good living space. This requires recognizing the rapid growth of early stage companies that serves to inspire new founders, along with funding programs and organizations that specifically focus on companies that are growing at this rate.
- Growth : involves reducing and / or eliminating regulations that make it difficult for new companies to emerge or gain more customers. It is also about offering loans and guarantees to growing companies, and establishing a strong public-private system that is attractive to outside investors. Commitment : it implies not only recognizing the entrepreneurs who are betting on their company and generating impact, but also those who reinvest their time in the next generation of founders acting as mentors or investors.
- Reinvestment : means creating channels that connect large company founders with those who are just starting their projects, so that they can benefit from mentoring. Another aspect to take into account in this part of the cycle is to offer tax incentives to leaders who act as angel investors, and to promote these figures as role models in the local environment.
In this region it is clear that startups have been called upon to grow and become international since their foundation. The miscegenation between races and cultures appears as another of the keys to the success of this area. One thing to keep in mind is that 30% of the engineers who work in Silicon Valley were born outside the United States , according to what was published in iProfesional . It should be noted that Mexico is the seventh country with the most highly skilled migrants in the world , according to data provided by Statista . Currently, Mexican programmers who want to work in Silicon Valley have alternatives such as job recruitment programs , such as Talentum and Ai Lab School , both created to bring together and facilitate contact between Mexican professionals and companies in the United States.
Talentum is a great platform to find a job. They help you a lot throughout the process and support you to make it easier. Performing the search alone would have been 10 times more difficult, ”says María Armendariz , Operations Analyst at Google . Along with Talentum, there is the program offered by Ai Lab School , which is the first online educational and job placement program in Mexico for Artificial Intelligence . For nine months, it provides training and the fundamentals to develop skills in AI programming and, subsequently, talent is recruited to apply to job offers in Silicon Valley. This program is exclusive for Mexican programmers .
Working in Silicon Valley gives you a lot of satisfaction, since you are working alongside people who are considered the best in the technological world, ”says Mexican Carlos Méndez , current software engineer at Lever .
Do like them! Take advantage of current possibilities and become the next Mexican programmer working in Silicon Valley.