Software engineers wanted from the Caribbean

Automattic Inc, the San Francisco, California, US-based company behind blogging platforms WordPress.com , Tumblr and others, is seeking data scientists based in the Caribbean to onboard, with the promise that relocation is not necessary in order to earn top dollar.

In a press notice, the company said it is partnering with regional tech ecosystem and workforce developer Tech Beach Retreat to recruit candidates in the Caribbean.

Automattic will tap Tech Beach’s network to identify the best talent in the region for varied engineering roles, it said. The company joins other international companies on the hunt for talent desiring to work from home under COVID-conditions.

Global research source Gartner has indicated its assessment that, by the end of 2021, 51 per cent of all knowledge workers worldwide are expected to be working remotely, up from 27 per cent of knowledge workers in 2019, according to Gartner.

Gartner defines knowledge workers as those employed in knowledge-intensive occupations, such as writers, accountants and engineers.

The research firm calculates that remote workers will represent 32 per cent of all employees worldwide by the end of 2021, up from 17 per cent of employees in 2019.

Automattic said in its release on the hunt for Caribbean IT engineers, “The normalisation of remote work as a result of the global pandemic is creating a shift in employment patterns for many international companies as they adjust their workflow to facilitate team members working from home.”

However, this has been the business model of the company even before 2020. Automattic has over 1,700 employees based in 90 countries around the world.

The company has so far hired two Jamaican software engineers through Tech Beach and is inviting others to come on board.

Source: Jamaica Observer