Message from the founder of Techie Factory: “My name is Baron Concors and I am the founder of Techie Factory. For the last 20 years, I’ve led technology organizations for Fortune 500 companies – including roles as Vice President of Technology for FedEx, Chief Digital Officer for Pizza Hut, and Chief Information Officer for YUM Restaurants International (Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut). Even though I achieved success in the technology space – that wasn’t always the plan.

It all began when I was six years old and my father bought one of the first personal computers for his business called a Commodore PET. I became fascinated with it. I read books and taught myself to code. My father bought more computers for his work – an Apple II, Apple IIe, the first Mac. Whenever something didn’t work at my father’s business – I was called in to fix it. However, when I turned 12 years old, I turned my attention to sports and didn’t look at the computers again until a dozen years later.

Fast forward to my college graduation, I was waiting to cross the stage and I still had no idea what I was going to do for a career. I had a degree in Anthropology but I knew there were not many jobs in that space. It turns out some big consulting firms were on campus and they were hiring. I met with one of them who put me through a series of interviews and tests. They asked me “do you know anything about technology?” and I said yes. The person handed me a test with a few dozen questions. I answered them, handed it back and they said they would be in touch if interested. I received a call the next day with a job offer. The person on the other end of the phone said “You answered every single technology question correctly. How did you learn this?” and I told her the story about my childhood learning everything I could about computers. My entire career was built on the intellectual curiosity of that first computer my father bought when I was a boy.

Here we are twenty-five years later and technology is revolutionizing entire industries and economies. How critical will technology be in 10-15 years when our kids graduate? There isn’t a profession or occupation where working with technology is not critical to success. Despite this, technology is not being taught as a core discipline in K-12 education in most schools. Our teachers are doing their best, but there just isn’t enough time or money to dedicate to this important subject area within the current education curriculum.

Here are some important facts to consider…

  • 91% of Parents want their Child to learn Computer Science (Source: 2016 Gallup Poll) yet most schools don’t teach it
  • There are currently over 500,000 open computing jobs in the US and that number is expected to grow at twice the rate of all other jobs (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)
  • Engineering and Computer science are the highest paying college degrees (Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers)

In my technology leadership roles, I’ve seen firsthand what kind of skills are needed to succeed. I’ve also seen the crisis brewing as far as finding technology talent – there just are not enough people to fill the open jobs and it will only get worse. I decided to create Techie Factory to combine two of my greatest passions – technology and teaching – and there are several things we are doing to ensure our learning experience is differentiated…

  • The learning experience will be fun – so fun that kids don’t even know they are learning.
  • Our summer camps and after school workshops are built around the best STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) products in the business. We evaluated almost all of them and only picked the ones the kids enjoyed most.
  • A state-of-the-art learning lab that is conveniently located in central Dallas and has plenty of parking for easy drop off / pick up.
  • Our advisory team is made up of educators and leaders from the technology industry to ensure our curriculum stays relevant and engaging.
  • We hand pick our instructors to ensure they love teaching. Every employee goes through a robust background check – our students safety and security is our #1 priority.

We are part of this community and you can bet our own kids will be attending Techie Factory. We are tired of them staring at the screen and now its time for them to start learning how to create and develop a growth mindset. I know if this will have them well positioned for the future with skills they can rely on their entire lives.

On behalf of my wife Leslie and I, we hope your children will enjoy Techie Factory as a destination to have fun, unleash creativity and to teach them that any idea can be brought to life through technology.

Best, Baron”