Best Classes Inland Empire, CA

The Inland Empire is the colloquial name given to the region of Southern California centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County and Orange County to the west and San Diego County to the south. Relative to the other major economic areas of California, the Inland Empire MSA is defined by its sprawling, massive landscapes and relatively cheap real estate, making it an ideal place for companies looking for massive amounts of space to build things like warehouses, factories, and distribution centers. This has a unique impact on its economic relationship with neighboring counties, especially Los Angeles, and it creates a fertile landscape for job opportunities that are fewer and farther between in the more densely packed cities on the California coast.

Major Industries in the Inland Empire for Tech Professionals

• Manufacturing: The ample real estate and open land that dominate the Inland Empire make it an attractive location for manufacturing companies looking to build factories that are incredibly space-intensive. Some of the nation's largest manufacturing companies have chosen the Inland Empire for their facilities, including Toyota Motor Corporation's North American Parts, Logistics and Distribution (NAPLD) center in Ontario and APL Logistics in Rancho Cucamonga. It is not uncommon to see a company leasing millions of square feet of land in the area to build factories where they assemble everything from cars to hot tubs. These factories require significant information and data infrastructure to run smoothly, and they often rely upon machines and software specifically developed with these manufacturing roles in mind, opening up job opportunities for software engineers and product designers.
• Shipping: More than 80 percent of California’s imported cargo is shipped through the Los Angeles/Inland Empire Corridor, which amounts to a massive percentage of all imported goods to the western coast of the United States. This means that the Inland Empire is home to some of the largest shipping and distribution centers in the nation, particularly those associated with multinational retail and shipping companies like Amazon. The plentiful, cheap land makes it affordable for companies to construct sprawling distribution centers that service the entire western portion of the United States, and billions of dollars of goods move through the Inland Empire on a daily basis. These companies hire project managers and data analytics specialists to oversee the logistics of this shipping and distribution to ensure that goods are moving quickly, do not get snarled or delayed, and reach their destination when they are expected to arrive.
• Agriculture: Historically, the Inland Empire has been one of the breadbaskets of America, serving as a major agricultural hub and producing billions of pounds of citrus, dairy, and vegetables a year and housing a thriving winemaking industry (though not nearly as famous as its northern California cousin). While the agricultural industry has been in steady decline in terms of raw acreage for decades, it is still a major economic player in the region and there are plenty of jobs for professionals who can oversee farming practices or who can work alongside suppliers and distributors to see that supply chains are stable and that food is getting where it needs to be. They also hire experts in agricultural data science to help ensure that growing seasons are stable and that shifts in the climate do not have a negative impact on the year-to-year productivity of major farms and wineries.
• Real Estate Development: Given that its major selling point is cheap land, it should come as no surprise that real estate development and construction also play a major role in the region’s economy. If you are looking for a job in construction, architecture, or real estate law, you may want to consider the Inland Empire as an ideal place to start looking. It is also a diverse industry, since the population of the region continues to grow and the demand for more housing increases alongside this growth. Thus, there are plenty of residential construction and real estate development projects for professionals to seek out if they are more interested in that aspect of the architectural field.

Jobs and Wages for Tech Professionals in the Inland Empire

Due to the nature of its economy, the Inland Empire is fairly distinct from its neighboring counties in terms of wages and job opportunities. The employment rate and wages are meaningfully lower than in Los Angeles and San Diego, but the cost of living is significantly lower. These rates will also vary within the region, since Riverside is going to offer higher wages than some of the outlying rural areas that house major factories. Some of the major tech jobs available in the Inland Empire and their mean annual salaries include:

• Data Analyst: $76,000
• Architect: $113,000
• Software Engineer: $135,000
• Real Estate Manager: $77,000
• Project Manager: $101,000
• Financial Analyst: $98,000
• Shipping Clerk: $46,000

Learning Tech Skills in the Inland Empire

If you are looking for job training or further career development training in the Inland Empire, it is likely that you’ll need to look towards one of the adjoining counties, if that is at all possible. The vastness of the Inland Empire, combined with its economic and educational demographics, doesn’t leave much room for major tech training firms to set up shop. While this isn’t to say they don’t exist, it is to say that they are going to be fewer and farther between than they might be somewhere like Los Angeles.

That said, there is no need to worry because you no longer need to travel to find high-quality education in a wide range of tech-related fields. Live online training options are plentiful, and these courses will help you develop in-demand career skills from the comfort of your own home. There is no need to travel to an in-person course to learn skills like Excel, Python, data science, machine learning, and even graphic design when you can learn from skilled instructors using hands-on, practical exercises from your home office.