As more tech companies establish themselves in the Wilmington area, the city joins a broader shift away from the big cities that served as traditional hubs for tech workers.
Wilmington, in particular, is home to a growing fintech or fintech sector, which includes giant Live Oak Bank and its spin-offs nCino and Apiture. In September, Live Oak Bank announced a $25 million expansion with plans to create more than 200 new jobs.
Nationally, the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent remote work has pushed workers to smaller cities with a lower cost of living and better quality of life. A study by researchers at Vanderbilt University and the Georgia Institute of Technology found that 12% of moves between April 2020 and December 2021 were influenced by COVID-19. They also found a significant shift to smaller towns.
Cloud-based banking software company nCino, for example, has hired transplants from across the United States who come to Wilmington from cities large and small to work for the company.
The StarNews spoke to three nCino employees about why they moved to Wilmington. Here are four highlights of the conversations:
The pandemic as an “inflection point”
Nicole Haverly, nCino’s director of support engineering, said the COVID-19 pandemic served as an “inflection point” in her family’s decision to move from Wisconsin to Wilmington. Haverly, who worked remotely for nCino, had been offered a higher position at the company and said she felt like it was now or never to move closer to corporate headquarters. company.
Moving would mean being further away from family in Wisconsin, but Wilmington ticked a lot of boxes for Haverly. It was on the coast, but the cost of living was lower and the atmosphere of a small town.
“All of those boxes were checked where it was really hard to consider staying in Wisconsin,” she said, “when those pros really outweighed the cons of leaving.”
Haverly, her husband and three children moved to Wilmington last year.
Remote work appears to be accelerating the trend
Ryan Maxson, who works in human resources at nCino, was working remotely for another company when he moved to Wilmington in August 2021 from Syracuse, NY
Maxson said he was drawn to the Wilmington area because of the warmer weather, affordable cost of living and opportunities to meet new people. After moving, Maxson started applying for other jobs and was hired by nCino.
Maxson said he believes the pandemic has forced companies to recognize the abilities of remote workers to meet with customers and stay productive even without the face-to-face interaction that has traditionally taken place in large tech hubs.
“Companies are really starting to realize that there’s really no need to be in these big cities for our customers,” Maxson said.
View Wilmington Holistically
Before moving his family across the country from Dallas to Wilmington, Zedrick Applin, head of diversity, equity and inclusion at nCino, knew next to nothing about Wilmington. And his initial Google searches for his potential new home were not promising, as he saw links to articles about the 1898 coup in the city.
“We were like, ‘Oh wait, do we really want to move to a town like this? It has that kind of history,’ he said.
Applin flew twice to Wilmington to interview at nCino, and that’s when he got a feel for the community. Although the city’s history is at the forefront of his mind, Applin said his family decided a move to Wilmington would be a good choice. Another advantage for Applin is the lack of highways and tolls in the area, which he encountered on his daily travels while living in Dallas.
“It’s really been a day-to-night big-city to small-town experience,” he said.
Changing affordability?
Part of the shift to smaller cities for tech companies and their workers is lower operating and living costs. Haverly, Maxson and Applin all said affordability played a role in their decision to move to Wilmington.
Even so, Applin acknowledged that attracting tech workers with wages that are often above the area’s median income can have the effect of driving up rental prices, which could help drive long-time residents out of the market. .
This summer, some tenants have faced rent increases of up to $700 as Wilmington’s rental market continues to heat up.
Changing Conversations in the Tech World
Before the pandemic, the rise of remote work and the shift to smaller towns, it seemed obvious that getting a “dream job” meant moving to a big city, Haverly said.
“It was always like, ‘Well, if you want to be big, you gotta go to the big city.’ And it was almost deflating,” she said.
“These conversations over the last couple of years have pivoted to say it’s really anywhere. Throw a dart at a map, and there’s usually a tech company starting there or starting to grow. implant there.
Applin said the move to remote working is something tech companies initially resisted because of the industry’s traditionally collaborative style. But, he said, remote work has helped give tech workers more freedom to choose where they want to live.
“It really allows workers to have more control over their careers,” he said, “and they don’t feel like they’re always beholden to ‘If you want to do this, and that’ is where you should be.'”
Journalist Emma Dill can be reached at edill@gannett.com.