“The IT world is shifting so quickly. We have to be proactive, recognizing trends and being in a position to offer new training,” says Monique Umphrey, vice president of workforce innovation and dean of the Information Technology Center of Excellence at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C). “Part of the college’s mission is to serve that workforce need. We don’t create programs just because we want to. Usually there is a demand from business for the training.”
Tri-C’s IT Center has proved a leader in educating students in current and future IT requirements. William Gary Sr., executive vice president, workforce community and economic development of Cuyahoga Community College, calls the curriculum and finding “pipelines to individuals to train” a “challenging evolution.” Outreach recruitment involves traditional students, nontraditional (adult) students, current IT personnel and those not in the workforce.
The need for training employees is critical to meet Ohio’s growing tech sector. According to the Cyberstates 2018 report by CompTIA, tech jobs account for 6.6 percent of Ohio’s workforce. Posted jobs related to emerging technologies increased by 50.4 percent between 2016 and 2017. IT reaches into every profession, especially medical and manufacturing, both important to Cleveland’s economy.
“In general, in Northeast Ohio, for every job posted, four people apply,” says Umphrey. “But for every IT graduate, there are four jobs.”
“Workforce training is critical for the state economy. Industries won’t be drawn to the state and others will leave the state if we don’t have IT-trained workers,” Gary says.
Tri-C has recently partnered with some heavy-hitters, including IBM, Apple and Microsoft, to attract talent to the IT world.
“We are one of the first community college in the nation that IBM has partnered with,” says Umphrey. “It’s called the New Collar Initiative — new jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree but do require IT skills and certification. Apple has made its application repository available to our students, and since October, Google has partnered with Tri-C to make support certification available to as many community residents as possible.”
Umphrey says she believes Tri-C has been able to attract the technology giants for several reasons. She says companies look for institutions of higher learning that have a proven track record for successful training experiences and that attract diverse students.
“We have a trusted relationship with the community,” says Umphrey. “We have been here a little more than 50 years and people feel comfortable in our environment. Nationally, when you look at IT, you see a lack of diversity — 87 percent of the IT workforce is composed of white men, 25 percent are women. We exceed the national average for both women and people of color.”
Gary says he believes Tri-C also receives corporate support because of its nationally recognized workforce development programs. In 2017, the school won its first national Bellwether Award for the workforce development programs in place at its Manufacturing Technology Center of Excellence. More than 1,300 schools competed for the award. (Tri-C is one of only three Ohio community colleges to receive a Bellwether Award since the honor debuted in 1995.)
Tri-C’s IT Center has three major tracks to accommodate IT students: short-term certificates and degree programs for career advancement; short-term, intensive boot camps to prepare an individual for a new IT career; and industry-recognized certifications for current IT professionals.
Programs include computer programming and web development; computer networking; cyber security; business solutions; data analytics; and high school programs; database administration; project management; digital marketing and design; CompTIA; computer skills and Microsoft training.
“The program that has really been getting a lot of attention locally, statewide and nationally is the Cleveland Codes Tri-C Software Developers Academy,” says Umphrey. “Students can learn fundamentals of software development in six months at this boot camp. It’s been so successful that Microsoft and other corporations have provided grant assistance so more students can enroll. The city of Chicago even has a replicated model because ours is so successful.”
The full-time, 16-week IT Fast Track Program will help students develop skills in object-oriented programming, back-end and front-end web development, Microsoft SQL Server and technical interviewing and career development.
Cyber security is another area of intense interest. Training in this specialty focuses on defensive strategies to securing networks and systems. The Tri-C cyber security program began this fall because the IT Center recognized “the shortage of talent” in this area, according to Umphrey. Several levels of training are available, including a course that prepares students to take the Securing CISCO Networks with Threat Detection and Analysis (SCYBER) exam designed for professional security analysts.
Cleveland’s first BlockLand Solutions Conference will be held Dec. 1-4, to be hosted by BlockLand Cleveland. Blockchain is an online distributed ledger technology secured by cryptography that creates growing lists of blocks or records. First used for online currencies, its applications can be used for medical, manufacturing, government, educational and financial purposes. Local promoters hope to make Cleveland a center for blockchain activity.
“We have developed a blockchain curriculum to meet the needs of Blockchain Initiative Cleveland,” says Umphrey. “BlockLand’s charge is to have 1,000 blockchain developers in the next year and 5,000 the next. We are expecting a lot of demand for this training. It’s another example of how our IT Center responds to need.” (For more information, call 216-987-6000 or visit tri-c.edu.)