Will The Last IT Person Out The Door Please Turn Out The Lights…….

This may only be a reflection of the vacuum I have been living in for the last year , but I just became aware of something really disturbing. A new IT company came on my radar screen called 323  Technology Solutions.  They whimsically characterize themselves as “the best technology company you never heard of.” I thought , “Yeah Right!” since they had not appeared to me previously. As I perused the company profile I noticed a common denominator in the employees, they all used to work in IT at Ready Mix USA. ALL TEN OF THEM! WOW….so the IT department at Ready Mix just emptied out in 2011. Which coincides with the buyout of Ready Mix by CEMEX, a Mexican company that says it is the largest concrete maker in the world, in 2011. Once again , some may say DUH where have you been, but I was shocked. Over the years, I have had some dealings with Ready Mix and I had no idea.

The formation of 323 Technology also makes me think of another thing, none of these folks has been able to find suitable employment here in Birmingham so they started a company of their own. Being somewhat familiar , that really resonates with me.
So what does the future of IT in Birmingham look like? With the number of large corporation headquarters in Alabama shrinking and Regions as the only Fortune 500 company in the state , will we see the kind of corporate IT jobs represented by Ready Mix USA continue to go away?
On the bright side, the other thing that this kind of shift does is make IT talent available to more small companies. The expertise formerly contained in Ready Mix’s IT department is now available to many smaller companies.
Best of luck 323!