Access to Tech Hardware May Just Turn a Relocating Staff into an Inventor

Imagine having all the tools to create your own robot? Perhaps you know how you can make a VR headset, say, less conspicuous? What if you simply wanted to create, say, a simple solution for uncluttering your power outlets? Having all the tools within reach would be great. If you are a startup in Silicon Valley, imagine having to access to all the tools you will need to build something?

If you’re relocating global talents to San Francisco and they like to work with their hands, they may like to know there’s Techshop, a workshop and studio stocked with manufacturing and software equipment for inventors, artists and engineers.

Global talents will not need to break their budget building their own workshop in their corporate rental (if they are even allowed to build a workshop) when they may not be staying permanently. Techshop has workshops in San Francisco, Detroit, Austin, and Washington, D.C.

For those who don’t know where to begin, it would not hurt to offer him membership to the shop, when it could help him with his current job, especially if he is in the IoT or hardware business.

The opportunity to innovate powers Techshop and elevates it from just being another do-it-yourself workshop. Members who are entrepreneurs, scientists, academicians, and artists share their knowledge and collaborate as they progress in their studies.

Tech newbies find a comfort zone where they can study the basics without fear of failure. Meanwhile, the more tech savvy will discover a treasure house of education, IT, and business from where they can possibly lay down the foundation for their startups.

If your assignee thinks he is technologically challenged, or perhaps genuinely curious on how he can build on his tech skills, a visit to Techshop might be useful. Companies that help in the relocation of your assignee such as California Corporate Housing might be able to help.

Whatever he learns, your assignee would at least be exposed to physical objects where his other talents, software development, may help him think of tweaking or adding a feature to cutting-edge tech products in the VR and AI world. If he can build a product to complement, say, the Amazon Echo he might just blaze new trails and reprogram them to better suit his entertainment needs.

For sure, though, his exposure in the physical world can help him connect with the right people. If his expertise is in product development, he could help them take their concepts all the way to execution. There’s nothing like someone who can egg them on, streamline work processes, reduce time, and keeping everyone focused on projects.  

Training people in software development is no longer enough. Exposing talents to some hardware technology, even as manager, could help them and their teams generate new ideas for their company. One study said that an average American employee spends 444 minutes a day working on some kind of screen — desktop, laptop, tablet, possibly a smartphone — as part of his workday. Exposing him to hardware challenges every now and then would be a nice clean break to make him see there’s a world beyond software; there’s the physical world.