---
title: 'How important was your K-12 education to your brave new world techie job of today?'
date: '2011-02-10T16:25:05-08:00'
type: post
word_count: 588
char_count: 3576
tokens: 765
categories:
  - Education
  - Oregon
  - Portland
  - Surveys
tags:
  - Education
  - Job
  - K-12
  - Technology
---

# How important was your K-12 education to your brave new world techie job of today?

Portland tends to be a town of more imports than locals. But thinking that the technical proclivity of our region isn’t affected—and buoyed—by the kids coming up through the school systems is both myopic and dangerous. Especially when it comes to assessing the strength of our community as a tech hub, both now and in the future. And yes, [I’ve ranted on the topic of K-12 education](http://siliconflorist.com/2008/03/26/oregons-k-12-tech-education-sucks-a-geek-call-to-action/ "Oregon’s K-12 tech education sucks: A geek call to action") before.

But before we can ask the City of Portland and other agencies to look into the issue, we need somewhere to start. Some data to which we can point that’s somewhere beyond “it seems like a really really good idea.” That’s where Jon Coon is hoping to help—with a really quick and really simple [survey designed to set a baseline for this discussion](https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dE1VbTJfbzkzbmZIZW52NnhOMGhmd1E6MQ "Survey Questionnaire for Software community in Portland").

I mean, how much impact did college actually have on your career today? I have to be honest, high school was probably the most influential in helping me developing my skill set for my day to day activities. At least, I think that’s why people always call me “sophomoric.”

But before I get into some form of “Everything I needed to know I learned in Kindergarten,” let’s let Jon—a software and web enthusiast, born, raised, and educated in NE Portland—take the floor.

> We all know the City of Portland and the PDC are currently [working to organize and help the software industry](http://siliconflorist.com/2010/12/02/pdc-software-summit-mayor-sam-adams-city-portland-laboratory-innovation/ "PDC Software Summit: Mayor Sam Adams wants the City of Portland to be known as a laboratory of innovation") become a beacon of economic development. (Insert article a, b, c) While a large part of the discussion has focused around [access to funds](http://portlandseedfund.com/ "Portland Seed Fund"), another significant piece is the workforce. How is the city developing the talent, the pipeline if you will, to create a thriving sector of the economy? Where do most of the people who work in the industry come from? Should we simply expect to attract the best talent from around the state? Outside of the state?

> In the interest of igniting a discussion on this issue, and as part of broader research into the access to resources and support within the community around technology tools at the k-12 level, [I have developed a survey that will take no more than 3 minutes of your time](https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dE1VbTJfbzkzbmZIZW52NnhOMGhmd1E6MQ "Survey Questionnaire for Software community in Portland"). My goal is to get 100 responses and here is to hoping the readers of Silicon Florist can blow that out of the water.

I know I ask you guys to respond all sorts of surveys. But this one could really use your attention. [So please respond](https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dE1VbTJfbzkzbmZIZW52NnhOMGhmd1E6MQ "Survey Questionnaire for Software community in Portland").

Thank you. Sincerely.

Want to discuss this issue with Jon directly? Something tells me he might be convinced to meet up with you for a beverage and some conversation. Especially at [Amnesia Brewing](http://goo.gl/maps/CnBF "Amnesia Brewing"). Comment here and let’s get the two of you talking.

*(Image courtesy Portland State University)*