The need for a bold initiative like TechHire couldn’t be clearer. Technology jobs are being created faster than they can be filled, and that growth comes on top of the half million existing positions waiting to be filled.
Employers are desperate—to hire job-ready developers and technologists, and to move faster. The TechHire plan explicitly calls for training options that produce results in months, not years, and singles out code schools for their ability to do just that.
Along with many of our peers in the industry, we are whole-heartedly behind this initiative—not only because it validates so much of what we’ve been practicing (and preaching) for the last two years, but because with the additional support and attention it will provide, we can help even more individuals transform their careers and futures, and we can help even more businesses transform their companies through supplying them with amazingly talented and diverse developers that bring innovation, collaboration,growth-mindset and passion to their products and services.
Over the next few months, we’ll announce several programs, some of which have been in the works for some time already, that align with the president’s vision:
We have already given our support to NESTA, a recently-chartered organization of educators that will set standards and develop best practices, and we’ll support its plan to increase transparency by having key enrollment, graduation, and placement metrics audited by an independent third party.
Later this spring we’ll introduce details of several new scholarship programs that will seek to increase the enrollment of women, minorities, and veterans in our programs. We’re incredibly excited about the potential the scholarships will have for bringing in much of the talent that today is sitting on the sidelines.
We’ll also continue to deepen our partnerships with groups committed to career development, bridging gaps and providing access, career transitioning, and retraining.
And, as always, we’ll continue to build amaizng curriculum that meets the needs of employers, pushes forward innovation and creates highly talented developers that transform the tech landscape.
The White House program’s agenda is bold, not just because its scope is big, but because it’s grounded so firmly in new ideas and approaches to education and job training—addressing instititutionalized thinking that has long been outdated. Improving access to education that leads to rewarding careers by reducing the amount of itme it takes, decreasing the cost, increasing retention and creating life-long learners.
Rarely does the government put the values and approaches of a grass-roots movement like ours at the center of such a sweeping initiative, and on a personal level it’s so gratifying to see. We’re excited to be a part of this movement and look forward to the acceleration and learning that TechHire will drive.
