Mississippi’s tech sector grows as state works to keep skilled workers

HATTIESBURG — Mississippi is attracting billions of dollars in new technology investment, but research and technology professionals point to a longer-term challenge: creating enough career opportunities to keep skilled workers in the state.

Amazon announced plans to invest $25 billion in Mississippi and create 2,000 highly skilled jobs through data center operations in Madison, Hinds and Warren counties. Compass Datacentersalso plans a $10 billion data center campus in Meridian that is expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs.

The investments come as Mississippi has struggled for years to retain college graduates. A Mississippi State University research center found the state already produces graduates qualified for many fast-growing occupations but needs more knowledge-based jobs to improve retention.

Keeping workers Nathaniel McDaniel, a professional software engineer who has worked in the industry since 2014, has experience across health care, pharmaceuticals, payment processing and retirement management. He said Mississippi has technology companies but not enough opportunities for workers to advance their careers.

"Mississippi is great as a small tech hub. There are software companies out here in Mississippi, especially in the Hattiesburg area," McDaniel said. “But as far as people who have talent staying here, there’s no place for them to go.”

State data show many Mississippi university graduates initially remain in the state, but retention declines over time.

About 70% of Mississippi bachelor's degree graduates enter the state's workforce in the year after graduation, according to the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning.

An earlier analysis conducted by Mississippi State University's National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center found that about half of Mississippi public university graduates were working in the state three years after leaving college. Among graduates from 2008 to 2010, about 47% were still working in Mississippi a decade later.

Hub City Hackers members gather for a meetup at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. The group organizes meetups and builder nights to connect technology professionals, entrepreneurs, students and others interested in developing projects and sharing technical skills. (Mitch Edwards) A separate NSPARC analysis concluded that Mississippi's public universities produce graduates whose degrees align with many of the nation's fastest-growing occupations. The researchers said creating more knowledge-based jobs would likely improve retention of university graduates and could encourage some former residents to return to Mississippi.

Kollin Napier, chief artificial intelligence officer for the Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network, or MAIN, and chairman of the Mississippi AI Workforce Readiness Council, said Mississippi's challenge of retaining skilled workers predates the growth of artificial intelligence.

“We produce a lot of talented people,” Napier said. “The challenge is really giving them enough reasons to stay.”

MAIN connects colleges and universities with government, workforce and industry partners as part of the state's effort to prepare workers and organizations for increased use of artificial intelligence.

Napier said AI skills will increasingly be used outside traditional technology occupations, including agriculture, manufacturing and health care.

“The way I am trying to get people to see this is AI is a capability layer across all jobs,” Napier said. “The same way that cybersecurity has become a capability layer, the same thing as data analytics or cloud computing.”

Building community Mitch Edwards, a software engineer and cybersecurity professional, said his experience trying to build a technology startup in Hattiesburg exposed another challenge: finding a community of other local entrepreneurs.

Edwards spent about a year building SketchyReq, a cybersecurity startup, while working nights and weekends. The company ultimately gained one customer.

"There weren't really people who were talking about building in Hattiesburg, and the startup ended up failing," Edwards said.

That experience led Edwards to create Hub City Hackers, a group connecting experienced Hattiesburg founders with first-time entrepreneurs, undergraduates and people new to the technology industry.

Edwards said about 25 people attended the group's first meeting in August, 20 more than he expected.

“The early focus that we’re going to have is community,” Edwards said. "I've gathered a group of 25 people with very little marketing and very little kind of buzz on social media. That's how excited people were to get in the same room as other people who are also in tech."

Hub City Hackers plans monthly meetups and weekly builder nights. Edwards works with James Wilcox, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at The University of Southern Mississippi, which provides meeting space and representatives for events. The organizations are also discussing mentorship on fundraising and business development.

Creating opportunities Federal labor data illustrate another part of the challenge: Technology jobs in Mississippi can pay substantially less than the same occupations nationally.

Mississippi had about 1,880 software developers in May 2025, with a mean annual wage of $99,840, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nationwide, software developers earned an average of $148,100.

Mississippi also had about 440 data scientists earning an average of $79,290 annually, compared with a national average of $126,800.

Napier said the state is working to connect workforce development with economic development through organizations including Accelerate Mississippi, the state's Office of Workforce Development.

“Economic development cannot happen if we don’t have the workforce development and vice versa,” Napier said.

Napier said the success of those efforts should ultimately be judged by what happens after people receive training.

"We should measure it, whether those skills translate into better jobs, newer jobs, stronger companies, and really new economic activity within the state of Mississippi," Napier said. “This is a new era for the state of Mississippi, a new opportunity, and I don't want to be left behind.”

This article first appeared on RHCJC and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Mississippi’s tech sector grows as state works to keep skilled workers

Comments