If you or your spouse are looking for a technology job in Portland, we're happy to report the opportunities are diverse and plentiful.
As Portland IT Recruiters, we're proud to be a part of a vibrant technology community in Portland. Thanks to a growing start-up scene and the expansion of well-established tech companies in the Portland area, the Silicon Forest is thriving. With the low cost of commercial rents compared to other technology hubs, high quality of life, cheap electricity, and a DIY culture, it's easy to see why.
High-tech manufacturing, software development and renewable energy companies have all taken root in and around the City of Roses. Let us give you a glimpse into some of the most exciting technology industries in Portland.
Portland high-tech manufacturing companies are world-class
FEI Company - (NASDAQ: FEIC) Ever wonder who makes electron microscopes? (We're technical recruiters - electron microscopes push out geek buttons!) FEI is a leader in electron microscope and focused ion beam technologies for nanoscale researchers. If you know what those are, we applaud you. FEI's global headquarters are right outside of Portland in Hillsboro, about a 20-minute drive from downtown Portland.
Intel Corporation - (NASDAQ: INTC) If you own a computer, chances are pretty high it has an Intel microprocessor in it. While Intel's headquarters are in Santa Clara, California, the semiconductor development and manufacturing facility in Hillsboro, just outside of Portland, is Intel's largest, employing nearly 16,000 Oregonians. With seven campuses and on-site amenities that rival those of a small city, Intel Oregon is the largest private-sector employer in the Portland metro area.
Portland software companies - varied and successful
Jama Software - Privately held, locally-grown Jama builds software for managing complex projects that have many requirements - for example, devices must pass the Food and Drug Administration approval process. Jama has won many recognitions since its founding in 2007, and is regarded as one of Portland's most promising technology companies. It has about 50 employees.
Jive Software Inc. - (NASDAQ: JIVE) We've been keeping an eye on this rapidly growing business. Now headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Jive has 200 employees in Portland, where it was headquartered for a few years. Jive's social business platform has been so popular, the company executed a successful IPO in December 2011 raising more than $160 million.
the CLYMB-For those who find their passion in the outdoors, The Clymb inspires human-powered adventure by delivering member-exclusive 72-hour sales on premium brands and experiences, hand-picked by our team of fellow enthusiasts and experts. Membership is free, allowing users to shape the community by inviting like-minded friends. The company is based in Portland, Ore., and was founded in 2009 by a seasoned team of outdoor and sport industry veterans.
Urban Airship - Mobile technology company Urban Airship creates tools for app developers. One of the beneficiaries of Wieden+Kennedy's Portland Incubator Experiment, Urban Airship has received more than $20 million in venture funding since its genesis in 2009. True to the start-up stereotype, the company has in part been so successful due to its emphasis on creating a fun environment to attract and retain talent.
Webtrends - One of the first players in web analytics, Webtrends is privately held and headquartered in downtown Portland. Its analytics software is used by companies that have large, complex websites, including The New York Times and Microsoft. Webtrends employs nearly 400 people worldwide, with about half in Portland.
Renewable energy companies abound in Portland
ClearEdge Power - ClearEdge Power manufactures fuel cells that efficiently transform natural gas into electricity and heat. Think miniature, refrigerator-sized power plants. The start-up recently signed a $500 million, 50-megawatt deal with Austrian company Gussing Renewable Energy GmbH - the biggest deal yet for a fuel cell company.
SolarWorld - (FWB: SWV) German solar panel manufacturer SolarWorld has its U.S. headquarters 20 minutes west of Portland in Hillsboro, Oregon, where it employs about 1,000 Oregonians. Its Hillsboro location is the largest solar cell manufacturing facility in North America.
If you want to learn more about technology jobs in Portland, Oregon, we highly recommend you visit the Silicon Florist blog to get updates on the latest technology jobs and news in Portland. Or, search our job listings here.
New offering recognizes outdoor industry's need for exec-level IT talent
Portland, Ore. - Generator Group, a leading executive recruitment and talent management firm for the outdoor sports industry, today announced a new service offering that focuses on the outdoor industry's growing need for senior-level IT talent. The new service is an extension of Generator Group's SureHire Search program - an innovative search and selection process designed to identify high quality candidates. SureHire Search IT services announement coincides with the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market event taking place this week in Salt Lake City, UT.
"More and more companies in the outdor industry are adopting sophisticated technology solutions in order to efficiently integrate product design, operations and supply chain management," notes Enrique Washington, CEO of Generator Group. "SureHire Search IT is tailored to deliver against the increasing need to find high caliber IT Talent."
The Outdoor Industry Association 2011 Manufacturer Benchmark Report published by the Profit Planning Group is a proof point to the growing need for IT talent in the industry. The report indicates more than 40% of surveyed companies plan to implement a new CRM system and appoximately 80% either already have or plan to adopt ERP systems. This means that a third of the companies in the outdoor industry are moving to sophisticated technology solutions for mission critical operations.
The SureHire Search model delivers the highest level of resources to predict a great hire. The innovative search and selection process provides qualitative assessments based on accountability, performance and results and is designed to identify candidates who will become high performance employees. The proven methodology can increase talent selection accuracy by as much as 50 percent over standard interviews.
SureHire Search IT represents the integration between Generator Group and its subsidiary EnGn LLC. Founded in 2011, EnGn provides executive search and technical recruiting services for a wide range of software, hardware and IT professionals for fulltime, part-time and contract positions.
About Generator Group
Founded in January 2000 by three former Nike recruiters, Generator Group was created to fulfill a single, unique vision: To take the successful talent-acquisition skills used by Fortune 100 businesses and develop them for small and medium businesses. Headed by talent-management experts who understand the needs of organizations with limited resources, Generator Group's goal is to increase the hiring success rate for growing businesses while providing them with the talent-management skills needed to survive and thrive.
For more information contact:
Jeremy Barnaby, President, EnGn
Enrique Washington, CEO, Generator Group
You’re considering an awesome Ruby programmer job in Portland, and you’re wondering what the city has to offer for families with kids.
You’re in luck, especially if you’re flying into Portland with the family for your interview. We’re here to tell you that kids and summer go together in Portland like bacon and doughnuts. You might wonder what a Portland technical staffing agency knows about summer activities for kids…but we’re family people, too! We’ve tried almost every family summer activity option in and around Portland, and we’re happy to share some of our favorites.
Head downtown to Director Park 
Portland is full of great parks. This urban park is a win-win for the whole family: kids get to play and parents get to eat and have an actual conversation. You’ll often see people focused on their laptops in Director Park – evidence that many Portland tech jobs offer leeway on working outside the office. (Yes, Portland technical staffing people like to work outside, too!)
Located in the heart of downtown Portland, Director Park boasts a fountain, plus Portland gourmet deli Elephants Delicatessen just a hop, skip and a jump away. Grab a table, grab some delicious, healthy grub, and let the kids play. Then head down the street to Tartberry a Portland frozen yogurt shop with toppings galore.
Pick berries on Sauvie Island 
Sauvie Island is a little piece of rural life, located in the Willamette River at the northern edge of Portland. It’s a perfect day trip and a one-stop shop for all the delicacies of summer. Head to Sauvie Island every summer month for something new: in June for melt-in-your-mouth Hood strawberries; July for raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries; and August for peaches. Be sure to seek out Sauvie Island’s sandy beaches along the Columbia River to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labors. You can even catch an evening concert at Kruger Farm if everyone’s not too tired. Note of caution: There is a clothing-optional beach on Sauvie Island – something for parents to keep in mind when choosing where to settle for the afternoon.
Splash in the Jamison Square Fountain
Kill an afternoon, Portland style. Located in the Pearl District of Northwest Portland, Jamison Square Fountain is all about relaxation and location. Small children love the fountain’s wading pool, and older ones enjoy climbing on the water-spewing rock wall. The grassy area next to fountain is a great place for parents to relax while keeping an eye on the kids.
The park is a perfect urban picnic spot, with pizza, burritos, and microbrews available just a few steps away from locally-owned Laughing Planet and Hot Lips Pizza. They’re located in the beautifully restored historic Ecotrust building, a well-known Portland landmark that’s also a popular wedding spot. Note: Hot Lips has an awesome happy hour with specials on pizza and delicious beer. Technical recruiters love beer, too ;-)
Concerts in Mt. Tabor Park
Pack a picnic supper and get ready to boogie! Mt. Tabor Park is just one of several Portland parks that host free summer concerts –
but it’s a special one. What other park can boast a natural amphitheater created by volcanic eruption? Yes, Mt. Tabor really is an extinct volcano – you can throw your picnic blanket on the ground, right next to the cinder cone.
Before or after the show, climb to the top of Mt. Tabor. It’s an easy hike for anyone of any age, and you can watch catch the sun setting behind downtown. For more excitement, take a spin on the merry-go- round beneath the mature-growth Douglas firs.
This is just a short list of all the great things you and your family can enjoy during a mild Portland summer. Want to know more about living in Portland? Please email us – we’re happy to answer your questions, and who knows? We may even have the perfect tech job for you.
On July 7th we (my wife Heidi and I )participated in the Hagg Lake Tri-athalon. This was a return to the event we did as a company for our 10 yr anniversary. It was an absolutely incredible day with crystal clear skies and water temperature that were close to 70. 
We did the sprint this year which turned out to be a good distance for us:
Sprint Triathlon*
- .5mi swim
-12.5mi bike ride
-3.2mi run
Both of us felt great during the race and other than wasting time swimming in the wrong direction while blinded by the sun we finished without a hiccup.
The best part was bumping into my friend Steve Dunn who I met 8 years ago when I recruited him to Hanna Andersson for their CIO executive search. Steve and his wife were racking their bikes
just across from me as we got settled before the start of the race. With some pre-race butterflies we did not get much of chance to connect until after the race. When we did we learned that this was their fourth or fifth tri already this year. Both him and his wife have grown to love the Portland area and are thriving in the outdoor/active culture. It was so great to see Steve and to know that he really had found a home in Portland and with Hanna after 8 yrs.
One of the many wonderful things about our field is that we do get to introduce people to this great area and all that it offers. For our client they got a great executive for the last eight years and I have to say after chasing Steve the entire race I think his acclimation process is complete!
As I left I began to ponder whether or not I should send my technical recruiters out to local
tri-athalons to find good talent, maybe so. Great running into you Steve! :-)
We are excited to be going as a team to the FriendsRaiser tonight. Should be a great evening of good food, wine, and company. We hope FOTC raises a bunch of $$ for the kids! Thank you to all of our clients and contractors that help give to this great organization through their business and hard work respectively!
More than 750 of Portland’s business and community leaders gathered together on Thursday, May 12, 2011 for the 2011 Friend Raiser presented by KeyBank. Last year’s event raised more than $1.4 million!
Thanks to the continued success of this event, Friends of the Children has been able to provide professional mentors to more of our community’s most vulnerable children. We have increased the number of youth we serve to over 375 children in over 100 schools in the Portland metropolitan area. We extend a heartfelt thank you to all sponsors, donors, guests, volunteers and everyone involved in making each Friend Raiser a huge success!
The Quest Foundation is offering a generous Challenge Match of $132,000 at this year’s Friend Raiser. This funding will support 4 Friends and 32 youth in our program. We hope you will help us to reach our goal! Make a donation now.
We hope you’ll join us this year! For additional questions please contact Allison Pauletto at apauletto@friendsofthechildren.org.
Corporate sponsorship opportunities are still available. Benefits and levels are outlined here. Purchase your corporate sponsorship here.
Parking is available under the medical building and the open-air lots on 2800 N Graham Street. A shuttle driver will be available.
At Generator Group and EnGn we have much to be thankful for. 2011 brought so many things. We certainly got to see the market and economy capitulate significantly with many businesses still unclear on new regulations and policy coming from Congress and the current administration. Healthcare reform still remains a significant question mark for businesses and HR, and as if recruiting technical talent (java, C#, Salesforce, visualforce, cloud, .net, systems, networking) wasn't hard enough, OFCCP hiring audits have been and will continue to rise. 
Recruiters you better be on your game tracking every candidate source and disposition! Recently when talking with my colleagues and clients who are "in-house", seven out of ten corporate recruiters said tracking this information was over 25% of their job. For larger clients (fortune 500) it was 5 out of 5 and the percentage of time spent was higher. While we all unnanimously agree with non-discrimanatory hiring, what if our colleagues in-house could spend more time recruiting? Hmmm... perhaps I should count my blessings :-)
On to the good stuff. EnGn, LLC which used to be the Technical Services Practice of Generator Group, launched in June and revved to a 230% growth in top-line revenue from 2010 to 2011. 
This was certainly one of our highest growth years since I helped found Generator Group in 2001. Based on our goals for 2012 we hope to once again get recognized by the Portland Business Journal as one of the fastest growing private businesses.
We expect the continued focus on just software, information technology, and engineering professionals at all levels to help make this coming year another good one. It is also very apparent there is a growing title wave of demand for cloud and mobile applications development. Experience with iOS2-iOS5 or Android is skyrocketing. In addition to the focus we have invested heavily in back-office automation components of the recruiting process. This ranges from contractor time tracking, background screening, and to one of the most powerful recruiting Business Intelligence (BI) tools I have ever come across. When you marry those efficiency gains with a completely integrated suite of apps that are connected to social media, and hanging out in the cloud, we believe it enables us to do more of what we do best. That is to connect with our clients, candidates, and the community.
I also have to call out a team member on EnGn who made it happen in 2011. While we have a solid team, his performance was monumental and stood out. Michael Korn was instrumental in helping to sell, recruit, or close over $500k in revenue. It is because of this and a personal drive to grow EnGn after only 1.5 years of working at Generator Group, he is now a partner and owner in the business.
A warm appreciation must also go out tothe 20+ clients we helped fill positions with in 2011. Thank you for trusting us to help grow your companies! We greatly appreciate the opportunity to work with such a diverse group of people and organizations.
Posted by
Eric Bell on Mon, Oct 17, 2011 @ 05:33 PM
Posted on September 29, 2011: No, this is not about Mobile applications and the next Angry Bird version ;-)
Recently my father and I took what is turning out to be an annual Harley ride into Northern California. On the ride, while listening to the historical tour guide provided by my father via our headsets, it occurred to me how far the dialogue on the national theatre of economics and political rhetoric has shifted away from working hard. As we rode through the countryside, I noticed the things we often take for granted now. Incredible engineering accomplishments like aqueducts’ diverting water from northern to southern California, railroads and tunnels carved through the Feather River canyons, power-lines, and of course the very roads we were motorcycling along that help bring goods to the remote towns scattered across rural America. These accomplishments took an amazing amount of work and vision and are only a few examples of the great accomplishments people in our society made in the past and in modern times of technology with software and electronics.
Today, we constantly hear how evil business, capitalism, and the free market is. It continues with how we need to take from the rich and give to the poor. More focused on accusing others vs. how to do more for yourself and those you care about. Is it any surprise then that entrepreneurialism has been on the decline in the last 20+ years here in the U.S. and why small businesses have not helped lead the way out this time around. With this decline also goes the
job creation. 99.7% of all employers in the U.S. are small businesses (entrepreneurs exercising their freedom to take risk and pursue their dreams) and are simultaneously the biggest contributors to job creation. Most, if not all, would agree with a social safety net to catch those who stumble or hit hard times but why are we focusing on that and class warfare? Taking from someone and giving it someone else is the wrong conversation for job creation and growth. A generation of children has been taught that business, capitalism, and a free market is bad and now they are entering the workforce as the boomers begin their exodus and GenX is trying to hire motivated and engaged employees. Sadly, I believe this comes at a time when the playing-field has never been more level and ripe, historically, for citizens of all races and gender to better their human condition regardless of what the media tells you.
It made me curious whether as a society we agree anymore that having the personal freedom to do the work we want and reaping the rewards of that labor is a fundamental component of being in a free country? Today, I am often surprised how little our educators, national politicians and economists spend time talking about the free market and recognizing the wonder that it is, and what it has accomplished for our country. At the root of a free market is “freedom.” We have to remember that statistically it takes lots of small businesses to eventually grow medium and big companies. See other stats
here on small business contribution to our economy.
The ability of citizens within a society to improve their situation is what academics and economists often reference as mobility. Do contributing members within a given society have the ability to move and improve their own economic situation based on their individual drive, skills, abilities, competencies, etc.? Our government has historically been pursuing the creation of ‘as level ‘ a playing field as is possible for people to do that. However, I fear our government as a whole has lost its way. The drum beat is wealth redistribution and closer to Marxist ideology than key attributes of individual and personal freedom espoused by our founding fathers rooted in the combination of
John Locke’s The Second Treatise of Government and Adam Smith’s
Wealth of Nations economic philosophy . We are moving in the wrong direction. That direction unfortunately is towards a massively in debt centralized government and not the mobility and job creating society we started out building so many years ago. I hope that as a society we don’t lose future mobility for our children and the next generations by losing sight of the proven values of opportunity, hard work, risk-taking, and reward.
Jeremy Barnaby
Posted by
Eric Bell on Mon, Oct 17, 2011 @ 04:08 PM
Posted on September 13, 2011: Several sweeping generalizations can be made about the culinary habits of different professional groups in society. For example, construction workers are generally pictured with a lunch pail and a cup of soup in hand (my favorite image of a construction worker meal a grilled cheese that was grilled with a butane torch, a la Tim Allen’s Home Improvement). Cowboys eat steaks and other meats out on the open prairie. Video game enthusiasts eat pizza (both warm and cold). The people we work with at EnGn are urban professionals with busy schedules and international tastes. The melding of these two characteristics brings to mind one specific cuisine: Chinese food. Chinese take-out is a staple of many households that have busy occupants. We at the EnGn decided to visit a local Chinese restaurant to sample the delicacies for lunch. The location we landed on was Golden Horse Chinese Restaurant in Downtown Portland.
Golden Horse is characteristic of many of the best authentic restaurants in town. The interior is sparsely decorated with few wall hangings and trinkets from China itself. There is no kitsch; the dining area feels like an extension of a family’s dinner table. The wait staff greets you as if you are a family member coming home for a quick lunch, and the quality of the food is just that. There are no plating gimmicks or fancy silverware; the intent is to serve you warm food that tastes good and have you out on your way. Each plate is sizable, and contains the basic ingredients in Chinese food: garlic, green onions, and sesame seeds. The food was simple, but tasty and filling. However, the restaurant does have questionable service, as I was given a scowl when I asked if a dish had egg in it. All in all, EnGn enjoyed our Chinese meal outing, as it was like heading home for lunch, if we lived in Beijing.
Golden Horse is located in the China Town district in Downtown Portland, on the corner of 4th and Everett. They serve everything from seafood, to poultry, and they have limited vegetarian options. We will continue to work hard (by eating out) to identify unique places for our candidates that we bring to Portland to enjoy while in our great little city. Ravi Parikh, Researcher/Bloat House Guide
Posted by
Eric Bell on Mon, Oct 17, 2011 @ 03:42 PM
What a difference a vintage makes!
Posted on September 7, 2011: For anyone that pays attention to wine vintages, we are in the mist of one of the greatest Oregon vintages of all time. When I first discovered Oregon Wine it was during the 2006 vintage. I was still on the east coast and although I had a limited selection I was blown away by the quality of bottles I had available to me. I thought that OR wine couldn't get ant better and I credit the 2006 vintage for my move to Oregon.
I was so compelled by the vintage I moved to Oregon to work at a vineyard. While at the vineyard we released the 2007 vintage which turned out to be less than stellar. With unfavorable weather conditions the vintage did not turn out to be as good as the 2006 leaving me to question if the 2006 vintage was just an admiration. However, when the 2008 vintage of Oregon Pinot Noir was released I realized that 2006 vintage was not the ceiling for Oregon wines. The 2008 vintage is fantastic and is widely considered one of the greatest vintages of all time and for my money I believe so. I have personally drank many bottles from a wide array of producers and have found them all to be of an elite quality. It will be my goal over the coming months to show an array of bottles and producers that might not be known by the general public but will present tremendous value and quality.
Stay Tuned,
Matthew "The Oven" Levine