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White House Green-lights Tech Apprenticeship Program
theodp writes: The Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) says a $3.5 million U.S. Dept. of Labor grant will help it create a registered apprenticeship program that aims to train 600 people over the next five years. Participants would pay tuition for 3-4 months of pre-apprenticeship training and then be placed with an employer such as Microsoft, Accenture, F5 Networks, or Impinj for a paid apprenticeship lasting 12-18 month, which organizers hope will lead to a permanent position. Candidates will begin with a series of assessments to gauge their potential to learn computer science fundamentals. For those who pass the WTIA's tech skills assessment, next is a pre-apprenticeship training, which is estimated to cost between $5,000 and $10,000 per person. The training will follow existing certificate programs, such as those developed by Microsoft for military veterans transitioning to new careers in tech. The Get in I.T. Apprenticeship program, the White House explains, "will target recruiting women, people of color, and transitioning military members."
People demanded that we stop letting prisons put people into solitary for months at a time, and now they use this as a replacement. Think things through, sheeple!!!
As a white guy with a minor disability that kept me out of the military (minor cerebral palsy, enough to close doors; but not enough for SSI Disability) I am essentially locked out.
Thanks
Microsoft Software & Systems Academy: Certificate Cost: $3040.00
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Tuition? Back in my day we called that training and the company paid you.
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Let me guess: theodp is against this, because dey are gonna take his jerb?
WTIA leaders believe an apprenticeship program can contribute quickly, providing a non-traditional route into the technology industry, specifically to the high-paying jobs at its heart: software development engineers and technical project managers.
(WTIA CEO Michael Schutzler says) ...“When you graduate from college—even if you graduate from UW or MIT or Stanford—basically what you know is some mechanics about coding,”
Really? Someone with a degree from MIT or Stanford is no more qualified for a software development engineer or technical project manager role than an apprentice who just finished a 16 month internship? He really thinks that?
Pronounced: "Ass-Enter"
Who wants to work for "Microsoft, Accenture, F5 Networks"???? Accenture is right down the street from me, but screw that.
120 people per year for five years.
Hardly worth mentioning.
It's well know that job training programs organized by the US Federal Government are largely wasteful failures as the record over the past 50 years can amply attest. Even if the companies listed do end up hiring a few of these trainees it will largely be to curry political favor and they will be sure to get rid of the non-performers in six months to a year once the spotlight has moved on. Meanwhile the taxpayer gets stuck with the bill. Thanks, but no thanks.
The program puts out roughly 60,000 per person, for 600 people to be 'apprenticed'. I'm not sure how much the precursors are, or if it will weed anything out (does not sound like it). Start writing those Congress Critters though, because this is pure shit.
Why this sucks should be painfully obvious. This is Public funding to pay for Private company workers. I guess that the H1-B free-for-all they have not been able to get means that they won't pay for people in a slightly different way. Federal Tax dollars will be used to put employees into Microsoft, and a couple other much smaller companies. Meaning Microsoft will be reaping the benefit of free employees on the tax payer dime.
Here is the thing that I repeatedly see that pisses me off.
The state’s booming tech industry needs an estimated 3,500 new employees each year with a computer science degree, but Washington’s higher education system turns out only about 500.
Good grief, if you want graduates in a field you PAY THEM A GOOD WAGE! We have ass loads of Business degrees because the only way to have a reasonable chance of hitting the business lottery is in either the financial services or executive fields. If you want more welders, pay people to learn the trade. This is such a basic solution to the problem I get infuriated every time I see complaints like above.
How many people heading to college want to spend 4+ years in school (probably a good pile of debt) to make low middle class income with a STEM degree? NONE! Because on average after 20 years experience you have a chance for medium to higher middle class income, but you are not going higher than this without moving into management.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
This is really gone to the perverse.
US Taxpayers monies being used by the White House and DoL to support sex slaves to Silicon Valley CEOs.
I thought we were past giving advantages based on race or gender. Is the government OK with racism and sexism again? WTF
All these people paying 5'000-10'000 USD for 3 months only to be told afterwards that they do not have what it takes? Excellent. And in addition, the few ones that are really good can be exploited at low "apprentice" wages for years afterwards. A big win, except for all those participating in this.
This is an excellent scam! Impressive. Of course, any halfway ethical person would not participate in the establishment of something like this, ever.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
...for the Employers: public funding and when the apprenticeship is finished you just boot them out and get the next ones.
I have seen this stuff going on here for a long time, to promote job creation the state provides the funding and the employers
get free or cheaper workers that they'll terminate when the program is over and then just get the next ones...
In the meanwhile, salaries go down and of course to finance these programs they need to cut funding somewhere else: health, education, etc.
Apprenticeship programs are exactly what is needed as the tech industry matures, for the following reasons:
- Companies have an insatiable appetite for lower labor costs. Apprentices could provide this while being trained and staffing low level positions. Right now, the preferred method to get cheap labor is abuse of visa programs, where companies take advantage of foreign workers.
- As a result of offshoring and outsourcing, a lot of low level positions in IT aren't as abundant as they once were, meaning that fewer opportunities exist for new entrants to learn and grow. When I started 20 years ago, I started at the help desk and moved into system admin work, then got an architect job. If you chop out the lower rungs of the ladder, no one can follow, and we're going to be relying on offshoring/outsourcing forever.
- If the program is expanded industry-wide, this would _finally_ standardize entry requirements and education. This would be something that would need to be carefully researched, but limiting the supply of crap IT people ensures quality.
- Something like this could ensure wage progression throughout a career. I know it's not exactly sexy to think about as a 20-something rockstar coder ninja, but older workers with experience employers like (but hate paying for) also have grown-up responsibilities to take care of.
I think the education and entry requirements are the most important. Especially in my subfields (end user computing and systems management,) the industry is loaded with snake oil "consultants", magic bullet products that get sold to CIOs, and total BS artists that jump from job to job undetected. Making sure someone knows what they're talking about and has experience is a good thing for everyone.
This does not take into consideration autodidacts. Those 3-4 months are WASTED. They need to have a KLEP test for those who believe they have the necessary skills to enter the program as is but do not have a degree OR the experience.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
The plan is to spend $3.5M to train 600 people over 5 years. So that's roughly $1,167/person/year. These tech companies can't spend that per year to do their own talent search, the US Department of Labor has to subsidize their hiring practices in their HR departments? Honestly, this sounds like the cost of finding good candidates that fit your organization.
Spending the money up front to find the right person to fit the company, means you train them up, apprentice them if you will, and because they're the right fit, they stay longer, work harder, are overall happier with the organization and are more productive.
This isn't rocket science.
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
Well if you want to see more Americans trained and hired, it's simple - just stop the H1B programs, companies will be compelled to train and hire. If theres such a big need companies will foot the bill and provide the training.
"Enjoy what you're doing! If it becomes drudgery, you're doing it wrong!" - Jim Butterfield