Breaking Down Barriers in the E2C Market

Overheard at the Education to Careers (E2C) Summit today at CompTIA Breakaway in the San Antonio Hill Country…

Alan Rowland, CompTIA’s business development manager for education, spied Danny Perry in the audience and asked him to come to the front of the room.  Perry’s organization – Tech Corps Texas – is helping “students to complete their education and to compete in the global workforce.”  The program aims to reach middle and high schoolers with structured IT learning programs at an early age.  “Our goal is to create a pipeline for employers, filled with young people who understand how technology works and are ready to take their place as tomorrow’s leaders in the field,” said Perry.

CompTIA’s Gretchen Koch, senior director, workforce development, posed the question:  If companies across the country in industries from finance to healthcare, from manufacturing to entertainment are clamoring for IT workers of al sorts, then how can research indicate there are nearly half a billion open IT jobs still waiting to be filled?  The problem, she offered as an answer, is no one organization has created an end-to-end process that helps to connect job seekers, trainers and employers.  CompTIA’s Get America Back to Work portal aims to do just that, Koch explained.  Job seekers can visit the site and connect the dots on their own.  On the site, , job hunters not only can learn about CompTIA certifications, they can click to http://www.comptia.org/certifications/backtowork/place.aspx and review a list of job titles associated with those certifications. When they find one fitting their interests – such as network administrator – they can enter their zip code and see a listing of current job postings in their region.  A search of downtown Houston pulled up eight opportunities.

Chicago Public Schools have been running a pilot program using CompTIA certifications for about a year now, according to CompTIA’s Sharon Tierney, program manager, E2C.  The four-year high school program taps Strata for 9th graders and moves along a logical IT career path from there.  Sophomores work with A+, juniors focus on Network+ and seniors move into actual Cisco certification programs.  Tierney offered the CPS pilot as an example of the work happening in CompTIA’s Authorized Partner Program.

From the anonymous file… “I had 48 students register for my last IT class – and 47 were male.  Only one was female,” exclaimed one educator attending CompTIA’s E2C Summit.  Immediately the banter arose bemoaning the effect of what participants called the “Geek Factor” on IT education.  One educator in the audience offered a solution: Emphasize the logical aspects of IT work rather than the hands-on part of the job.  Working with one’s mind breaks down well-worn gender-based stereotypes, the group agreed.