Houston Workforce Radar

Inspiration

Houston's economy is changing fast. New sectors are emerging in energy, digital infrastructure, technology, construction, and healthcare, yet many mid-career professionals with years of experience don't know these sectors exist, or that their skills could fit. Houston doesn't have a talent problem. It has a visibility problem. I wanted to build a free, public tool that puts these emerging sectors in front of every Houstonian.

What it does

The Houston Emerging Sector Radar is an interactive radar of Houston's emerging industries. Users can tap any sector to learn what it is, and how fast it's growing. They can also select the skills they've built and see what emerging careers they match with. Anyone can follow a sector to get updates as it grows, and each sector shows how many Houstonians are following it.

How we built it

I built the Radar in Replit as a web app, with a Node.js and Express backend and an animated SVG radar on the front end. Sector information is stored on the server, and the tool records following and anonymous skill selections, with a clear data notice and consent before anyone signs up. I approached the hackathon differently because I wasn't starting with a new idea. I took one concept from the larger technology I've already developed and created a standalone web experience around Houston's evolving workforce. I used publicly available industry and workforce information to inform the experience while intentionally keeping the demonstration focused and separate from the larger technology.

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest challenges was deciding how to take complex workforce and industry information and make it useful to the person actually experiencing change. For this project, I had to be intentional about simplifying the experience while still making the information meaningful.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

This was my first hackathon. I built a condensed interactive prototype as a solo founder. The Radar turns a complex topic, Houston's changing economy, into something anyone can explore in under a minute, and it's designed to be free and public from day one.

What we learned

I learned that awareness is the first barrier to opportunity: people can't search for something they don't know exists. I also learned how important local industry voices are, since the people working inside these sectors are the most trusted source of information about them.

What's next for Houston Emerging Sectors Radar

Next, I'll continue seeking industry leaders willing to participate in my "Future of Work" LinkedIn Live series, bringing firsthand perspectives on how their industries are evolving, where workforce demand is growing, and what professionals need to understand about what's ahead. My goal is to partner with an organization to pilot a Technology & Digital Infrastructure pathway experience in Houston in January 2027, with 25 Houston-area professionals participating. This next phase is about bringing together real industry demand, real industry intelligence, and experienced professionals to begin validating the solution in the real world.

This demonstration represents only one piece of a much larger workforce intelligence technology I've already developed. It is not the interface or full experience of the larger technology. It was intentionally created for this hackathon to make one part of the intelligence tangible, interactive, and specific to Houston.