MaSSSoftech

Few people realize how many Iowans have technology jobs.

If lawyers who work on intellectual property rights and others whose jobs depend on technology workers are included, the total can reach 150,000, which is one of every 10 jobs in Iowa.

There are technology clusters around Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, but nearly half of Iowa's technology jobs are spread across a rural landscape that covers roughly 150,000 square miles.

That dispersion means that most Iowa techies can't just drop into a favorite restaurant or coffee bar to talk shop and solve problems with coworkers, the way counterparts do in Silicon Valley or Seattle.
That lack of collaborative opportunities was a shortcoming, said Leann Jacobson, president of the Technology Association of Iowa.

So, the group stepped in and did the next best thing.

It has used social-networking technology to create a Web site, IowaTechLinkz, that is sort of a Facebook on steroids for Iowa techies.

The site allows a technology worker in Allamakee County, or any other location in Iowa, to share information instantly and pick the brains of peers in Des Moines or Sioux City, or anywhere else in the state.
"It's a cool thing," said John Rath, a database manager for Team Technologies in Cedar Falls, who can now go online and chat with professional peers at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines or Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids.

The technology that makes it possible is cutting-edge stuff, Jacobson said. In tech jargon, it's somewhere between Social Networking 3.0, which includes applications like Facebook, and 4.0, which is the next generation of social networking technology that doesn't even exist yet.
VerticalLinkz, a startup in Waukee, is the company that created the IowaTechLinkz Web site.

Bill Adamowski founded VerticalLinkz in 2008 as a way use social networking software to build virtual communities around specific interests, topics or geographies.

In addition to IowaTechLinkz, VerticalLinkz is also developing networking sites for mortgage bankers, called MorLinkz, and Des Moines-area professionals, called MetroLinkz. It's also experimenting with a religion-oriented site, FaithLinkz, and a site for the horse industry, EquineLinkz.
The new IowaTechLinkz site, which was launched last week and is free to users, will serve several functions, Jacobson said.

Like Facebook, it will be a way for technology workers to meet and get to know each other, because each user creates a profile that includes background information and interests.

Users can also write blogs about technology topics or experiences, share information by directing others to specific Web sites, or post photos.
The site also allows users to create their own communities and pose questions to each other in a semi-private surrounding.

"It's helpful to know others in Iowa who are working in similar technologies," said Gary Scholten, chief information officer at Principal Financial Group. "You can ask them questions about how are you dealing with this problem with this particular server system, or that type of desktop software. Or what do you know about this vendor.
"We already have user groups that are national, but sometimes it helps to be able to connect with somebody who is more local."

Other professional networking groups are not geographically based, like IowaTechLinkz is, Scholten said.

IowaTechLinkz had about 300 members at its formal launch last week, but Jacobson said membership is expected to grow quickly.

Principal has about 2,000 technology employees, Scholten said. He expects a majority of those workers to be using the online site soon.
IowaTechLinkz is a good test market for VerticalLinkz social-networking programs, Adamowski said, because the opportunity for creating smaller networks within the overall framework is substantial. The site already hosts 18 individual communities with opportunities to create dozens more. Existing communities include angel investors, data centers, intellectual property law and Web strategies.

"It's also a good opportunity for Iowa to get some recognition as a technology leader," Scholten said. "A lot of people don't know how much information technology there is in Iowa."