Well, I hope all of you are doing well in your place of isolation. I'm starting to have a bit of trouble in separating my days, which led me to include my first two tips. And since job searching is top of mind for many readers, I've included links to job boards with high activity. And I've also been fascinated to see the shifts in tech usage. As the saying goes, "nature abhors a vacuum" and so tech usage has simply shifted to other areas.
#techtopic
Tech niches with high activity due to COVID19 response
Gaming
Consumer video game spend is WAY up. I also saw a really encouraging trend in video game companies making $ and PPE donations for COVID19 relief efforts and adding 'stay-at-home' ads in the games themselves as a public service initiative. And Google just made Stadia free.
Streaming services
A not surprising corollary to the gaming increase: Disney+ is posting increased stock prices as they surged above 50 million subscriptions. And Netflix usage is at an all-time high.
Personal finance
Coronavirus drives 72% increase in use of fintech apps according to a study in Europe, and I expect to see similar usage in the US as individuals want to know how to manage their personal finances in the wake of shaky stock markets & looming layoffs.
Cybersecurity
From cloud migration to securing supply chains to identity & access management, cybersecurity-related work is increasing in leaps and bounds.
HealthTech
Probably the most obvious area to have immediate impact, this GeekWire HealthTech podcast also discussed future implications from a more permanent usage of telemedicine to privacy issues with usage of location data for disease tracking
Much of what is mentioned above is also reflected in the various job boards below in visible trends related to who is actively hiring.
#speechifying
On Tue Apr 8, I was invited to give some brief remarks to my fellow Princeton classmates on the outlook for hiring/career/education/tech (alongside some other amazing folks, including a nonprofit founder/mountain climber, a food/CPG VC who worked with Michelle Obama & a senior writer for Time magazine). It was a great way to come together to get updates on each other, as well as hear what was happening in the world around us. And for those of us invited to give some short remarks, it felt good to share stories, advice, and hope.
#Shoutout
Thanks to this author for giving me hope that humans didn't hoard TP - explaining TP supply chains & human behavior: What Everyone's Getting Wrong about the Toilet Paper Shortage.
