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The Portlandia Misnomer

Blog post series by Dominic Moore, President, Flux

"A new study of migrants moving into Oregon from other states shows an unusually high number of them are young and that they tend to be well educated, especially in technical fields. That runs against the popular image of TV's "Portlandia" – a slacker who drifts into the city for a part time job slinging espresso." -- Mike Rogoway, Business Reporter, The Oregonian

Several weeks ago I sat down to discuss Oregon's influx of high tech talent with Mike Rogoway, technology reporter for The Oregonian. Mike was doing a piece on a recently released state economic study showing a majority of newcomers moving into Oregon are young and tend to be well educated – especially in the technical fields. 

This study runs counter to the popular TV show Portlandia which paints our city a destination for ultra-conscientious hipsters who don't seem to identify with particularly technical careers. Sure – it’s true Portland has its fair share of amazing espresso slingers, but Mike wanted my take on what we were seeing from the pool of new talent in the state.

Photo credit: Zachary Keimig