Local IT companies seem to always be in need of more professionals for development work, and now they have new resource that could fill their IT departments in the future.
The
IT-Ready Apprentice Program is launching in Minneapolis and St. Paul, with an eye toward other cities in the future. The non-profit program covers the cost of recruitment, training, and certification for employees taking on help-desk, call-center, and technical duties.
"With unemployment at the level it is, we feel this is important for giving individuals what they need to succeed in what might be a new profession," says Charles Eaton, executive director of the
Creating IT Futures Foundation, the group leading the IT-Ready effort.
Eaton notes that the manufacturing and construction industries have been hit hard locally, and that skills from those careers are difficult to bring to other fields.
The apprenticeship program is unique, Eaton added, because it doesn't involve time off from work in order to attend community college. He says, "There aren't many resources for individuals who need to stay in the workforce. Not everyone can afford to take a couple years off to get a different type of training."
Minneapolis-St. Paul was supposed to be just one of five urban areas that would feature the IT-Ready program, but the decision was made to focus on the Twin Cities exclusively for the pilot.
Currently, apprentice program staff members are recruiting local companies to join the effort, and Eaton says the results are encouraging. They expect that the first class of apprentices should number about 15 and will start work in July.
"We think of ourselves as a startup in some ways," Eaton says. "We're coming in without preconceived notions of how this is going to work, but we're hopeful that it will grow and become an incredibly useful resource."
Source: Charles Eaton, IT-Ready Apprentice Program
Writer: Elizabeth Millard