By GREGORY ZELLER //
A new program by a longtime booster of the regional technology workforce will look to get ’em while they’re young.
Website development, an impressive list of commercial software and other in-demand 21st Century workplace skills all play into UpSkill NY, a multiweek training program organized by Syosset-based STEAM engine We Connect the Dots with backing from the Suffolk County Department of Labor, Licensing and Consumer Affairs.
Launched in 2015, the not-for-profit We Connect the Dots – sister organization of the Nebula Academy, a for-profit professional tech-tutor – provides basic technology training for students. The Nebula Academy takes the baton from there, offering professional development for adult and non-traditional learners and educators, as well as professional tech consultations for corporate clients.
With UpSkill NY, the trainers are specifically targeting younger Suffolk County residents (ages 18 to 24) with a program that combines four weeks of basic training (in Salesforce, Microsoft Office 365 and other red-hot software suites) and four weeks of what We Connect/Nebula Academy founder Laurie Carey calls “workforce experience” – actual work at real companies that need ground-level IT assistance.
The work pays just $14 an hour – but the real payoff, according to Carey, is the new skillsets and professional experience program participants can then bring to bear.
“We’re giving them a really good technical foundation,” she said. “The idea is to give them everything they lack coming out of high school, and help them see the potential out there for careers in these (IT) fields.”
Rosalie Drago: Knows a good bet when she sees it.
UpSkill NY traces its roots to a comprehensive 2017 effort that delivered on-the-job technology training to 18 disadvantaged youth in Charlotte, N.C., with We Connect the Dots and other Long Island-based organizations pulling the strings.
Since that successful endeavor, Carey has been trying to replicate the program on Long Island.
“We finally got Suffolk to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got some funds – let’s do it,’” she noted.
Suffolk County’s investment will cover the costs of training 10 participants in the pilot program (UpSkill NY is basically being offered as a scholarship opportunity, valued at roughly $3,500 per participant) and their post-training, limited-time salaries. County Labor Commissioner Rosalie Drago was tightlipped about the actual investment – “Funding depends on job-seeker’s needs and availability,” she noted – but framed the UpSkill NY pilot as a good bet for the county, which recognizes the growing need for a tech-savvy workforce.
“Laurie Carey and her team have designed an industry-informed program that teaches technical skills while developing industry workplace skills,” Drago told Innovate Long Island. “Embarking on a new career, whether by chance or choice, takes courage – it’s not only about gaining a new skill, but also acclimating to a new work environment.”
The undisclosed UpSkill NY investment is not the first time Suffolk County, We Connect the Dots and the Nebula Academy – a certified Amazon Web Services Academy and Microsoft in Education Global Training Partner – have teamed up on a workforce-development initiative. The Nebula Academy already contracts with the Department of Labor on technology-focused training initiatives for mid-career and transitional professionals.
Now hiring: By training future programmers, the new partnership aims to address a growing 21st century workforce need.
UpSkill NY, Carey said, simply targets “a different age group.”
“This is about showing younger people the opportunities that are out there,” she noted. “There are so many different career paths they can follow.”
After learning the basics of the Salesforce customer-relationship management tool and the WordPress content-management system – “a very common platform used by a lot of businesses today,” Carey noted – participants will be placed with a preregistered employer for a four-week engagement.
It’s a classic win-win, according to the innovator: The students get to shake down their new skills with a good shot at longer-term employment waiting on the other side, while the employer benefits from no-cost computer services with a potential new employee off to a running start.
“They’ll learn whatever the employer might need,” Carey said. “And they’ll be able to go into these employers and get four weeks of critical experience, which will help them better understand what they might be interested in over the long term, career-wise.
“The employers will know in advance what [the students] are going to do and who their mentors will be,” she added. “It’s drag-and-drop stuff, largely, but they will be doing actual work.
“This is not an internship – they won’t be running out for coffee.”
Slated to launch in December, the pilot is still accepting applications from potential participants and employer companies, including small businesses, nonprofits and “anyone who needs help with their website or their computer systems,” according to Carey, who noted future cohorts are already on the drawing board.
“Obviously, we’re also creating employment opportunities for businesses looking for the right staff to help them grow their business,” Carey said. “But we really hope these students will become interested in software engineering, and come back to [the Nebula Academy] and sign up for longer, more comprehensive programs that lead to higher-paying jobs.
“The (employment) demand is there,” she added. “We just need to light that spark of interest in these students.”
