The U.S. Economic Development Administration recently designated Tulsa a technology hub.
Experts say Tulsa is expected to add 56,000 tech jobs over the next decade.
News On 6 looked into how education programs are keeping up with the growing demand.
The Atlas School and Tulsa Innovation Lab are neighbors downtown, and both are focused on helping people land their next tech job.
They said Tulsa has all the ingredients it needs to be a technology hub.
“There's very few industries out there that don't have technology in them, and we want to be able to supply people with the tech skills to enter those fields, those different parts of the workforce,” said Cyrus Ellis, who works in career services at the Atlas School.
Atlas started with just 15 students in 2020, but now has 170 current students and 143 graduates, he said.
Garrison Shoemake completed the program at Atlas in just a year and a half.
“I do information technology project management, and the skills I learned at Atlas are what got me to this job,” Shoemake says. “I can collaborate with my team and I know what they're talking about and what they're doing.”
Other initiatives and partners, such as the Tulsa Innovation Lab, are working with the public and private sectors to develop a citywide strategy to help Tulsa become a tech hub.
“Traditional industries like energy, aerospace and of course traditional manufacturing that are the foundation of our communities are having to innovate in order to maintain their business practices and continue to thrive,” said Jennifer Hankins of the Tulsa Innovation Lab.
Hankins said Tulsa isn't trying to become the next Silicon Valley, but rather, it's trying to bring technology to Tulsa.
“This isn't about building a new Tulsa,” Hankins said, “it's about how we re-envision Tulsa and position ourselves for the future.”
The Tulsa Innovation Lab said it is creating jobs that pay an average salary of $67,000 a year, above the national average and the median income in Tulsa.
