Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) joined employers across the state of Minnesota for a day of dialogue about technology and STEM education and talent in Minnesota.

MNIT’s Assistant HR Director, Annie Porbeni, Recruiting Director, David Berthiaume, and Chief Technology Officer, Jeff Nyberg spoke at Minnesota High Tech Association’s (MHTA) TechTalent event. TechTalent seeks to understand the influences of Minnesota’s talent pool, what skills companies require new hires to have, and what employees at all levels need to feel engaged and committed in a company.

After the event, MNIT speakers answered questions about their biggest takeaways from the conference and the future of hiring for the executive branch’s IT organization.

What were your key takeaways from your time at the TechTalent event?

Annie Porbeni: It was a refreshing event. I was inspired by the opportunity to share what we do, how we do it, and hear from others.

Jeff Nyberg: There are so many organizations that are out there for us to work with that help young people and people starting over in their careers. We need to be purposeful when engaging with our broader community, and really think about what barriers to entry might exist for starting a job at MNIT. With the new workforce in technology, there are a lot of kids coming out of high school who would be ready for our ITS Trainee Program, based on their experience with IT, that we need to provide opportunities for with our community partners.

David Berthiaume: I completely agree that recruiting talent without experience is becoming the new norm, when considering that unemployment rates are at historic lows. On the flipside, we also need to focus more energy around retaining our current talent.

What does MNIT mean to the larger technology workforce in Minnesota?

Annie Porbeni: MNIT’s participation is necessary, especially since we provide a different, government services perspective to Minnesota’s technology community. Our narrative and organizational design process is ingrained in our mission and the mission of being public servants. MNIT’s voice is important.

David Berthiaume: Our workforce is changing, alongside many other employers in the area, and we need to be an employer-of-choice to be successful as we move forward.

What can we do to improve how state technology is perceived by perspective employees and the industry?

Jeff Nyberg: We need to continue to highlight our technology innovations and the good work that government services can provide. When you think of state technology, we are doing so much more than working on a mainframe. We still have some mainframe work, but we also have access to AI, robotics process automation, cloud technology, and even autonomous vehicles.

David Berthiaume: It seems to me that people forget that level of impact that MNIT has on technology for the citizens of Minnesota, and that is something that we need to continue to address in our outreach to community partners.

Did you learn anything about how we can adjust our recruiting/hiring efforts and programs?

Annie Porbeni: Yes. We realized that the technology industry is constantly changing. The need to serve employees and focus on quality programs targeted at employee growth and development is important.

Jeff Nyberg: We can continue to work on our internship program from a recruiting standpoint, especially expanding our ability to bring in non-traditional employees and student workers. The technology and STEM community, including MNIT, can also do a better job helping people identify jobs in IT that aren’t necessarily coding. There are so many opportunities for business analysts, project managers, and much more. We have a responsibility to expand the definition of “good jobs” in technology and communicate that effectively to parents and kids in high school. The state needs amazing IT project managers and security analysts, just as much as it needs amazing cloud architects and Java developers.

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