Sneak peek

Tomorrow, Technical.ly will be announcing its 2022 editorial calendar themes for the year. But I'm excited to offer you, dear newsletter reader, a sneak peek of the themes, as well as some of the related questions we'll be asking in our reporting about them.

If you have ideas for people, companies or trends we should cover this or any month of the year, please do reply to this email to let us know.

January — Startup Health

• When should a founder become the CEO? What alternative methods of funding new companies, such as equity crowdfunding, contribute to longevity? How have companies that received Paycheck Protection Program funding fared since the 2020 recession?

February — What Local Means Now

• Does where we work still matter? How are city centers recovering from pandemic-prompted economic setbacks — or not? How have tech meetups changed? Is every all-remote tech company a loss for other residents?

March — Future of the Internet

• How are we building a connective, social, decentralized web? What aspects of Web3 (including NFTs, DeFi and cryptocurrency) are here to stay? How real will the metaverse become?

April — Cybersecurity

• What's driving the nationwide need for cyber professionals? What are the latest security skills being demanded by local employers — and how can technologists develop them? How can data care be better adopted by technologists and non-technologists alike?

May — Tech Mafias

• What founders have started influential companies that spawned others by going public and creating employee wealth, spinning off new technology, or otherwise encouraging entrepreneurship within its own ranks? How can local economies support startup flywheels? When's the best time for an employee to become a founder, and how should they do it?

June — Racial Equity in Tech

• What work is being done to increase access and representation for people who have been historically left out of local tech economies? What progress has been made on the many public funding or diversity pledges made by companies in the last two years? Who are the hidden figures who have been doing the work all along?

July — Tech Education

• What local computer science, bootcamps and other such programs are best preparing junior devs for successful tech careers? How are employers considering minimum requirements for tech candidates? What entry points should, but don't yet exist for entry-level roles?

August — Digital Infrastructure

• What have been the effects of federal legislature intended to expand digital access locally? What's the future of the Internet of Things and 5G? What physical infrastructure is still needed to bring access to nearby rural areas?

September — Software Trends

• What programming languages are most popular, needed and anticipated? What's the future of the cloud, app building, no-code software development? What cool dev projects are local pros working on?

October — Tech + Government

• As we approach the midterm elections, how are local, state and federal governments using technology to better serve their constituents? How are they engaging entrepreneurs in public-private partnerships? What are the latest trends in civic hacking?

November — How I Got Here

• What nontraditional paths led to successful tech careers? What are the latest skill and salary trends? How can junior devs secure mentorship from more experienced technologists?

December — Technology of the Future

• Who locally is developing the next wave of robotics, climate tech, artificial intelligence, ecommerce and technology we haven't even heard of yet? What does increased automation mean for tech jobs? What do futurists say our collective 2023 looks like?

In addition to our focus on startup health, this month, we'll be publishing the 2022 editions of our annual RealLIST Startups — our predictions on which promising young companies are poised to make the biggest moves in the coming year. There's no formal nomination process, so if you have a startup in mind that you think we should know about, reply directly to this email to share.

— Technical.ly Managing Editor Julie Zeglen (julie@technical.ly)