Enterprise expectations. Startup-sized teams. And zero margin for failure.

Across museums, national parks, retail stores, and nonprofit organizations, mid-market IT leaders are being asked to do more than ever—with fewer people, tighter budgets, and growing complexity. Most burn out. Some figure it out.

In this episode, The Catalyst brings together two leaders navigating that reality from different sides of the work:

• Scott Gagon, Network Security Engineer, Event Network
• Tariq Chaudhri, VP of Technology, Goodwill of Northwest North Carolina

Together, they explore what it takes for small IT teams to support enterprise-scale environments—and why trusted partnerships are often the difference between survival and real progress.

You’ll hear:

• How small IT teams manage massive, distributed operations
• Why empathy, mission, and decisiveness matter as much as tools
• How partners like Softchoice become force multipliers—not vendors

The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.

When mid-market IT leaders call about AI, most ask the wrong question. Instead of “What problem are we solving?” they jump straight to “Which LLM should we use?” — a mindset that helps explain why 95% of AI pilots fail to deliver measurable business returns.

In this episode, two of Softchoice’s leading AI experts — Sean Larkin, AI Principal Architect, and Ron Espinosa, Director, Google Cloud Category — break down why technology-first thinking derails AI initiatives before they start. From market validation to crawl-walk-run design, they reveal how organizations can escape the hype cycle and build AI solutions that actually work.

Key takeaways:

• Why “What LLM should we use?” is the wrong first question
• How market validation prevents multimillion-dollar failures
• Why data hygiene is still the most overlooked risk
• What crawl-walk-run actually means in AI deployments
• How executive alignment eliminates costly blind spots between IT and business teams

Guests

• Sean Larkin, AI Principal Architect, Softchoice
• Ron Espinosa, Director, Google Cloud Category, Softchoice

This episode is packed with field stories, hard truths, and practical frameworks mid-market organizations can apply immediately.

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Take the first step in your AI journey

Book your Executive Alignment Session today: https://www.softchoice.com/solutions/ai-and-data/executive-alignment-session

The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.

937 applications. 42 interviews. 80 days. That's what it took one experienced data scientist to land a job in 2025—and he's one of the lucky ones.

In this episode of The Catalyst, we follow two tech professionals through what they call "the worst job market ever." Emily, a software developer with 10 years of experience and a degree from University of Waterloo's prestigious computer science program, gets laid off on a Tuesday and was interviewing the next day. Santiago, a data scientist and former manager at Deloitte, launches what he calls a "denial of service attack" on the job market—bombarding it with nearly a thousand applications while tracking every rejection in a dashboard styled like Super Mario.

Both land jobs. Both consider themselves fortunate. And both say the system is fundamentally broken.

Meanwhile, over 700 tech workers are being laid off every day while companies claim they can't find talent. Something doesn't add up. Through their stories and expert analysis from Bobby Burns, Vice President of R&D at Indeed, we uncover what's really happening: applicant tracking systems filtering out 75% of qualified candidates, AI conducting first-round interviews before humans ever get involved, and a catch-22 nobody can solve—where will senior developers come from in 2030 if we're not hiring junior developers in 2025?

Key Takeaways:

• Why the "talent shortage" exists alongside mass tech layoffs
• How applicant tracking systems reject 75% of resumes due to formatting issues
• The psychological toll of sending hundreds of applications into the void
• What AI tools might (and might not) fix about hiring and fighting bias
• Why even graduates from top programs can't get entry-level roles

Read about Emily's experience on her Medium: https://emilyxiong.medium.com/my-experience-of-finding-a-tech-job-in-2025-6830297c5197

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This episode is brought to you by Softchoice, a World Wide Technology company. We work with mid-market IT leaders on their biggest challenges, including how to build and retain great teams in a market that makes it harder than ever. Visit softchoice.com to learn more.

Listen now at: softchoice.com/podcast

#TechJobs #Hiring #ITCareers #JobSearch #TechLayoffs #TheCatalyst #Softchoice

The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.