Bitwise’s Roots Run Deep in California’s Central Valley

San Francisco to Los Angeles—and vice versa. If you’ve lived in California for more than five minutes, you’ve planned a trip to one of those great cities. Long gone are the days of printed maps and Mapquest (thank you, GPS!), but traveling up and down the 381-mile span separating those two Golden State cities is kinda like hopscotch: you jump over one great town to the next to reach your final destination. It’s the typical north and south pilgrimage California residents make while traveling the Highway 99 thoroughfare. One of those intermediate gems that deserves a hardy pitstop is found on the northside of the Grapevine is called Bakersfield. 

Legendary country singer Buck Owens and Triple D star Guy Fieri give travelers plenty of incentive to “stop by,” but there are some great reasons to stay awhile. One noteworthy new addition is our latest Bitwise Industries Bakersfield campus. This 15,520 sqft building is almost complete and though we’re not fully open to the public due to COVID-19 safety policies, we couldn’t be happier about our brick and mortar, our Bakersfield team and our already-budding community. Known primarily as an agriculture and oil manufacturing hub, Bakersfield is our next expansion city for Bitwise Industries. Here are some of the great happenings in downtown Bakersfield with Bitwise’s new campus and faces.

The Building

Located at 1701 18th St., directly across the street from the Merle Haggard U.S. Post Office, sits a vibrant two-story building that looks alive inside and out. Upon entering the lobby, you see the vision Carl Deese (our in-house space designer) had in mind when marrying modern decor with iconic grace. Featuring exposed bricks in the walls and the massive beams traversing the ceiling to adorn an interior vibe steeped in rich history. Massive windows surround the first floor to showcase the bustling businesses that buzz with life up and down the street while always drawing attention to the adjoining taproom. That’s right, there’s beer. Featuring local craft beers and wines, the taproom–open to the public–is poised to be a downtown hotspot with garage doors that roll up to bring more of the outside in, a large open-air patio and a stage for live music or events. 

Not that the fun has to end, but there are plenty of spaces here to get work done, too. Bitwise Bakersfield has ample private office space available, five conference rooms, tenant lounges on both floors (we can’t wait for you to experience the second-floor mezzanine), blazing-fast tech amenities, and when it’s safe for our community to return to our buildings in person, the doors will be open to tenants and Cowork members 24/7. Click here for a detailed list of features.

Meet the Team

In charge of shaping the Bitwise ecosystem and navigating the overall growth of public/private partnerships is Amy Thelen, VP of Bitwise Industries Bakersfield. Overseeing the needs of the campus for tenants and visitors is Natasha Felkins, Director of Bitwise Bakersfield. At the helm of all things delicious and delectable is our Director of Food and Beverage, Jennifer Sanderson. And our Community Catalyst is Megan Cardenas, who moves our Cowork space forward each day. If you have any questions regarding this campus or what it has to offer, please email any of our folks from this leadership team. 

The Unique Programs

In addition to being an amazing space to call your work home, Bitwise Bakersfield has two programs that garner serious attention. The first program is our Workforce Training classes that offer local residents an opportunity to learn how to code directly from practicing industry experts. Our system of teaching is hands-on and up-to-date with current practices. These six-week courses start with beginner tracks on building websites, mobile apps, and Javascript. Select students can move up into apprenticeships where invited individuals are paid to learn while working on actual project work. Click this link to find out more. 

The second program, called Ignite, launched out of a strong partnership between Bitwise, the City of Bakersfield, and the County of Kern. With a desire to uncover local innovators, this accelerator program is an innovation lab that nurtures entrepreneurs of all kinds–any product, any concept. Ignite is based on a six-month cohort that will feature 12 individuals selected after a rigorous application process. Using the shared resources found at this base of operations will allow all of these principals to interact with like-minded individuals on a daily basis to invest in great ideas, remove barriers, and potentially create more jobs within the community. If you have any questions regarding Ignite, click this link.

The City

Like Buck Owens turning to music to find his way out of the fields, Bitwise Industries uses technology to provide opportunities to all those who are underestimated and find themselves looking beyond the horizon. If you want to understand what that view has looked like, just take a drive down Panorama Drive on the north end of town and you’ll see some of those oil fields. Keep driving and you’ll see farmland. Those two industries have been the backbone of Bakersfield for generations. Bitwise Industries doesn’t want to change that. In fact, we’re looking to carve a new path for those who are yearning to try something new. Our goal is to change the lives of future generations through technology. 

Prior to us coming to town, this building at 1701 was a pink-painted, vacant block structure that had been there for almost one hundred years. Today it is a piece of art that features the hope of future beginnings for young tech careers and fledgling businesses. Like the local Bakersfield artist, Brandon Thompson, who was commissioned to create the mural inside the Bitwise building that stresses the significance of community members–famous or not–coming together as a collective group to focus on the future of Bakersfield, that’s what we yearn for as a new member of the community; unity. 

Where Are You? 

Even as this new building at 1701 is going online, Bitwise will launch a second space in the Spring of 2022. If you live in a city that doesn’t yet have a Bitwise campus, let us know! We’d love to hear why we should expand to your city next. And don’t forget, we‘re more than buildings, cowork, and classes. Bitwise Industries is a tech company, too. We develop world-class technology solutions for government and private-sector clients that want to scale quickly.

The short story? We do custom software development, managed services, and Salesforce implementation. If you’re interested in uncovering the tech possibilities available to your organization, click this link to schedule some time with one of our experts. Want to learn more about our fabulous Bitwise Real Estate team and all our leasing opportunities? Click here.

This post was written by Jeff Rickels, Technical Writer for Bitwise Industries. When he’s not writing, he’s thinking about G.I. Joe. As a kid whose impressionable years were spent racing home to watch cartoons after school, he found himself repeatedly viewing the opening sequence to G.I. Joe that touted “knowing was half the battle.” So what’s the other half? Unlimited financial resources? A strong cardio routine? Understanding that your mortal enemy was really inept when it came to tactics and execution? Maybe it was the porkchop sandwiches. 

If you’re interested in uncovering the tech possibilities available to your organization or want to find more ways to increase your ROI with technology, click this link to schedule some time with one of our experts.