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Technology boot camps and training programs are springing up around Montana to address the #1 barrier to growth for the state’s high tech and manufacturing firms: finding skilled technology workers.

Montana High Tech Business Alliance members have a starring role in the summer issue of the Montana Business Quarterly out this month. T

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Employing some 250 people, Zoot Enterprises is a cornerstone of Bozeman, Montana’s high tech sector. Its headquarters, built in 2001, sit on the edge of town in Four Corners with panoramic views of the Bridger, Gallatin, and Madison mountains.

A Montana company with leading edge technology has spent the past two years working on a project involving 2 million students (most of whom are girls) and 30,000 school buses to ensure that these young women have the opportunity to get an education.

When Workiva (WK) had its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2014, Jeff Trom had been there before. The Chief Technology Officer and six members of Workiva’s founding management team took a previous company, Engineering Animation, public in the 1990s.But the second time around, the IPO was easier and less costly thanks to Workiva’s proprietary Wdesk platform, which automated the process of filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Recruiting skilled workers is the #1 barrier to growth for Montana high tech and manufacturing firms. Whether hiring software developers, machinists, or lawyers, Montana employers face similar challenges. Based on conversations with members around the state, here are a dozen ways to attract the best talent.

Last summer, Tom Stergios sat on the deck of Finn and Porter in Missoula with some of his clients, watching people fly fishing on the Clark Fork River and listening to the legendary Paul McCartney who was performing across the river at the University of Montana Washington-Grizzly stadium.

From the shop in rural Lewistown, Allied Steel workers are busily manufacturing structural steel for malls, schools, hospitals, sports arenas, power plants, and other buildings in places as far away as Alaska or Hawaii.

A little over 25 years ago, Tim Robertson, came to Montana on a business trip and “fell in love with Central Montana, Lewistown in particular,” he said. “When the opportunity arose in 2003 to move my family here to Lewistown and take the reins of Century, I took it.”

In December 2014, the Alliance Board met for an extended strategy session to set our mission and goals for 2015. Our mission for Montana's High Tech and Manufacturing companies is summed up in three verbs: Connect. Promote. Accelerate. Here are some of the ways the Montana High Tech Business Alliance is delivering on that mission so far this year.

In November 2014, the Alliance commissioned a survey from the UM Bureau of Business and Economic Research of 101 members with high tech and manufacturing operations in Montana. The results are in!Member responses allowed us to capture - for the first time ever - data measuring the size and growth potential of Montana's high tech sector.

What started out as a two-person shop on a family farm has grown into a multi-million dollar company, which employs 50 people in the heart of Montana.Spika Welding and Manufacturing specializes in designing and manufacturing industrial work platforms and ground support equipment for people working on military aircraft, tactical vehicles, and satellites. Last year, Spika Welding was named “Manufacturing Exporter of the Year."

Situated in the geographic center of Montana in the midst of rolling hills, farms, and ranches is something a little unexpected: one of the most vibrant manufacturing communities in the state. With a population of about 6,500, Lewistown, Mont. has a cluster of companies that design, engineer, and manufacture products for airports, oil companies, federal agencies, food distribution centers, sports arenas, hospitals, banks, schools, the military, and the aerospace industry, to name a few.