How TechHire is Helping IT Employees and Employers
In March 2015, President Obama launched the TechHire initiative based on the idea of building a pipeline of tech talent to bring new jobs to local economies, facilitate business growth, and give local residents a pathway into the middle class. To build this pipeline, TechHire was established as a nationwide, community-based movement that helps underrepresented and overlooked job seekers start technology careers. Within this framework, TechHire addresses employers’ need for technology talent with emerging models for quickly training people with limited ingoing technology skills to be job-ready in months, not years. The initiative is powered by Opportunity@Work in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education.
Today, there are nearly 600,000 open IT jobs across all sectors—more than two-thirds of which are in fields outside the tech sector, such as manufacturing, financial services, and healthcare. These jobs pay one and a half times more than the average private-sector job, and training takes less than a year with emerging programs like “coding bootcamps,” free open data trainings, and online courses like the Department of Commerce’s Data Usability Project and massive open online courses (MOOCs) by the Federal government, academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and the private sector. Since its launch, TechHire communities across the country have piloted fast-track training programs designed to give people skills that are in high demand by employers. So far, over 4,000 people have been trained and connected to work opportunities with local employers, earning average salaries of well over median income.
The TechHire initiative began with 21 communities, and today it has grown to over 70 communities working with 1,500 employers on three key actions:
- Opening recruiting and hiring pathways for people without traditional credentials who can demonstrate that they have the skills to succeed in a tech job regardless of where those skills were attained.
- Recruiting, incubating, and expanding accelerated tech learning programs—such as high quality coding bootcamps and innovative online training—which enable interested, unexperienced students to rapidly gain tech skills.
- Connecting people to jobs by investing in and working with organizations that can vouch for those who have the skills to do the job but who may lack the typical profile of education and experience.
Just last month two counties in Maryland joined the TechHire initiative including Carroll and Howard Counties. According to a White House press release:
Carroll County employers, training providers, and community organizations are uniting to train and employ more than 200 local tech workers by 2020. Led by Carroll Community College, the Carroll Technology Council, and the Mid-Atlantic Gigabit Innovation Collaboratory, Inc. (MAGIC), a broad group of partnering organizations will connect local participants in leading-edge tech training programs to a network of over 520 county employers.
Howard Community College and the Howard Tech Council will come together to train individuals for jobs in tech fields including computer science, information technology, cybersecurity, and computer forensics. Howard County’s TechHire initiative will leverage an apprenticeship model, whereby trainees can participate in on-the-job learning with the over 200 regional employers that participate in Howard Tech Council. By 2020, the Howard County TechHire initiative aims to train and place 800 individuals, with an emphasis on the long-term unemployed, minorities, and the military.
If you would like to learn more about the initiative and how you can find qualified talent in your area, visit www.techhire.org.
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