Guadalajara, the Mexican Silicon Valley
Guadalajara is a beautiful Mexican city with about 5 million inhabitants that combines modern infrastructure with colonial architecture. It has grown a lot since the last 3 decades and has become one of the most important cities in Mexico in terms of technology and economics.
Some media companies, like the Washington Post, has consider Guadalajara as the “Mexican Silicon Valley” for a number of reasons, here are some of the most relevant ones, in my opinion:
Big tech players in the region
Big and relevant tech companies like Oracle, HP, IBM, Intel and CISCO were attracted to Guadalajara to establish their manufacture and develpment centers due to the great business opportunity in the region for them. These companies have invest a lot in their offices and campuses and have hired a lot of people not only from Mexico but from all over the world.
The relevance of having big players like them here, resides in the opportunities generation for professionals and services companies along with the investment they made in the country.
Software Development Centers
A lot of Software Companies have been created here and others have come to the region as well, to establish their main Software development centers, creating a lot of jobs for any kind of developers and tech professionals and for administrative professionals as well.
Some of the biggest players among this companies are Softtek, Luxoft, Tacit Knowledge, Wizeline, Tiempo Development and EPAM Systems. The advantages of working for them is that you will probably will be assigned to an International client where you will be able to boost your career and learn a lot.
Universities
Guadalajara is also a city that provides a high number of options for education, the city hosts some of the best Universities in the country like ITSM, ITESO and UDG, just to mention a few. The prices of each degree varies from one university to another. Most of these Universities also offer languages courses, master’s degrees and PHDs.
Having all these Universities in the city is an advantage for companies since most of the graduates stay in the city looking for a job, even some students come to Guadalajara to make a degree so that when they finish they can stay to work.
Tech events during the whole year
Guadalajara is the headquarters for some of the most important tech events in Mexico such as Campus Party or Talent Land, where you will be able to connect and learn from highly qualified international professionals and celebrities of the industry and also network with other attendants that may have the same interests than you.
The city is also a place where a lot of tech meetups take place. Some of the biggest communities that gather monthly are the Guadalajara Java Users Group, Javascript Guadalajara and Startup Guadalajara. You can assist any of these meetups by searching in Meetup and enrolling freely in one or more.
It’s very important to mention that Guadalajara, along with Mexico City has the most tech communities in the country, even more than other developed cities such as Monterrey, Queretaro or Puebla.
Talent attraction
The economic growth of the corporates and service providers has allowed them to acquire highly qualified professionals from all over the country and the world, offering them not only better benefits and salaries but also the opportunity to work in international projects. So it is common to meet people from all over the world at the office. Advanced English speaking and writing skills are often required.
The fact that Guadalajara has high quality of living in terms transportation, entertainment, health and education is also a fact that attracts talent to the city.
Startups and coworking spaces
Recently, a lot of tech startups have been founded in Guadalajara, thanks to the opportunities that the Government of the state, the angel investment firms and the incubators are offering. Moreover, people think that just like in San Francisco if the Startup succeed in Guadalajara it will succeed in the whole country. Some Startups that have call the attention of media are listed here:
Guadalajara also offers a big amount of coworking spaces for startups, freelancers and companies all over the city and with different ranges of prices, these spaces also host most of the meetups in the city, you can find a spaces that fits you, here:
https://www.coworker.com/search/guadalajara/mexico
Accessibility and Connectivity
Guadalajara has one of the biggest airports in Mexico, with flights to all over the country at accessible prices that will take you to almost any airport in the country in a few hours.
Additionally, Guadalajara airport has direct flights to most of the cities in North America. This is a very strategic business advantage since in a few hours you are able to reach almost any part of North America with lower prices than flying from one city to another in the US.
