Pioneer Valley Regional IT Workforce Roundtable Presented by the Western Mass Information Technology...

1

Pioneer Valley Regional IT Workforce RoundtablePresented by the Western Mass Information Technology Partnership

Your Connection to Workforce Development


2

Our Mission

The Western Mass Information Technology Partnership is dedicated to providing a forum to develop and implement a strategy to align business IT skills requirements with regional training resources to fill current and future workforce needs that will support business growth.


3

The Challenge

• Identify specific IT Occupational skill gaps that employers have identified as problematic

• Identify the misalignment in the workforce training system, or

• Define the new skills competency requirements

• Revise curriculum and build new capacity into the workforce training system


4

IT Sector Initiative Goals

Creation of a definitive IT workforce collaborative for the Pioneer Valley

To develop and identify key areas of IT focus To identify and agree on key occupations and the

skills during the beginning phase of this initiativeTo recognize that detailed employer job profiling

will be required to recommend workforce training curriculum and capacity expansion, revisions or additions


5

The REB’s have been here before!

Information and Telecommunication Technology Training Alliance (IT²)

• Two Rounds of USDOL ETE H-1B grant Funds: $4.5M 2000-2005• National recognition by the National Alliance of Workforce Boards for the

impact we've had in our collective regions

Upgraded the skills of 1,604 employed, unemployed and under-employed workers, in high-end, specialized training to meet the skills shortage of workers in our regions’ information and telecommunications industries. Training was accomplished through a demand and customer-choice driven program design that included Employer-Based training grants to 39 corporate partners for 1448 workers, and Individual-based training via ITA/Vouchers to 156 unemployed and under-employed individuals


6

IT² Results

Skills Attainments(Individuals can attain multiple skills)

Total Enrolled:

1,604

Degrees and Technical Certifications 880

Other Employer-Recognized Skills (i.e., Non-Credit Computer Programming and Other Technical Courses) 937

Total Number of Skill Attained: 1817

Both Grants: Corporate Individuals Total

New or Upgraded Job 269 75 344

Wage Increased 1100 78 1178

% of Wage Increase 9% 11% 10%


7

IT Initiative Background/Timeline2013-present

Three IT symposiums were convened in 2014 with subject matter experts from business and academia to provide information on research and business occupational skills requirements.


8

IT Partnership Development Steps

1. Define regional workforce challenges (completed)2. Confirm workforce solution framework (completed)3. Assess Regional IT Workforce Needs (completed)4. Inventory IT programs in the region (Completed)5. Define Regional IT Workforce Focus Areas

(Completed)6. Launch pilot programs (Fall 2014, tentative)7. Secure resources to scale programs (Fall 2014,

Spring 2015)


9

Western Mass RegionalIT Workforce Competitiveness Challenges

Aging Workforce

Limited Population Growth

Young Worker Flight

Further Cultural Diversity

Growing Sophistication of Job Tasks and Roles

Increased Pace of Innovation in Technology and Equipment

Lack of Career Opportunity Awareness

Evolving Industry Base with new IT needs


10

How would you describe the impact of the shortage of qualified IT candidates has on business growth and success?

– Can’t grow if you cant hire new people– Growth is stunted due to lack of qualified employees– Lack of candidates impacts growth & speed to grow– Elongates projects– Takes longer to fill jobs– Automation abilities fuel increased productivity– Companies delay bringing equipment because they have to

spend money on IT salaries– Impairs Innovation– Keeps Pioneer Valley area "behind the rest of the world"

technologically, affects the general knowledge of the area on IT– New business, especially high tech, will not relocated to the

area because of the lack of technically trained workforce.


11

How do you see the region’s demand for IT services expanding or contracting over the next three to five years?

• All aspects of businesses require it, younger generation born with computer

• Cloud based services across multiple scenes (Smartphone, tablet, PC, TV, etc); IT is in all industries (Manufacturing, Insurance, Banking, Medical)

• Combination of community development & continuing growth of dependence in technology

• Data Analytics, Hosting Services Information Security, Networking (Wireless Fiber) Regulatory Compliance Mobility

• Digital and mobile media and services will be in greater demand


12

• Communication• Problem Solving• Customer Service

What are the top three soft skills that are lacking in existing IT employees?

What are the greatest weaknesses you see in supervisory-level IT employees?

• Performance Management

• Building Effective Teams

• Project Management

• Conflict Management

• Staff Development Skills


13

All

Tier 1 Help Desk

IT Management

Systems Engineers

Web Programmers

Tier 2/ Tier 3 Help Desk

Software Engineers

Networking Engineers

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Which specific IT specialties do you feel there is currently a shortage of qualified candidates in:

Number of Organizations Responding


14

Draft of IT Workforce Focus Areas Identified

• Expand K-12 IT curriculum program adoption efforts

• Grow K-12 after school programs • Launch regional IT incumbent

training collaborative• Build a partnership of 20+

organizations for IT internship experience and/or placement

• Develop Career Ladders for Hardware, Software, and Networking

• Increase career awareness outreach and leveraging regional colleges more effectively

• Conduct skill gap assessment for IT occupations and launch 2 new credentials to support Manufacturing and/or Healthcare IT Needs– Data Analyst?– Big Data Management?– Advanced Hospital Coding?– Medical Analytics?

• Increase and accelerate community college IT program enrollment and credentials awarded and


15

IT Workforce Training Inventory

• Inventory of all Schools and colleges providing IT training programs in the Pioneer ValleyAnalysis of the specific IT programs and curriculumAnalysis of regional graduation totalsAnalysis on where “in-demand” skills are presently

being taught or are availableFor 2014, it is not a labor force quantity issue, it is

a quality issue


16

IT Roundtable Open Discussion

• Supply and Demand (Quantity and Quality)

• Key occupations and competencies

• Emphasis tends to be more software driven for skills gap

challenges

• Specific employer challenges

- Incumbent workforce

- New pipeline workers


17

Needs, Skills & Occupations• Security (Cyber Security)- a leading topic for all employers • Open Source- lively discussion on the benefits and challenges on focusing

on providing primary product training (Microsoft, Oracle, etc.) to the exclusion of open source. The dominant use of Drupal (open source) for web design was the example used in support of some open source training

• Web programming Responsive Design Scaling

ComputerApple productsWindows-based

• Database Administration SQL

18

Needs, Skills & Occupations

• Business Analysts• Network Support Analyst• Project Management

Foundational and Agile Skills• Developer Skills

Java Software Development Life Cycle Application Programming Interfacing (API)



19

Outreach and Recruiting

Self-Employed/Hidden Tech• Freelancers• Consultants• A component of the

workforce that needs to be targeted

• Social media will play an important role in marketing campaign to possible trainees

Trainee Pool Sources• Career Centers• Unemployed college

graduates• College career centers• Employer Partner

Recommendations


20

Examples of Specific Company IT Needs

Yankee Candle• Business/ Program Analysts Development in Vendor

Management competencies

Baystate Health Systems• Integration challenge• Linkages between medical devices

Peoples Bank• Leadership• Strategic Planning


21

Employer Recommended Areas of Schools/ College Focus

• Utilization of Software and Applications used in real-time business processes

• Development of relevant problem solving/ critical thinking

• More comprehensive development of Project Managers


22

Next Steps

• Compile the information from this roundtable and follow-up with individual employers for more detailed job profiling to drive program development

• Reviewing funding opportunities• Set selection parameters for trainees• The development of a strategic outreach and marketing process for

appropriate applicants• Occupational concentrations will initially be in five (5) focus areas

1. Web Development2. Business Analysis3. Strategic Project Management4. Database Administration5. Cyber Security

Specific skills and competencies will fall under these five core areasSmaller workgroups will be created to guide development of workforce strategies in each of these five key areas.

Pioneer Valley Regional IT Workforce Roundtable Presented by the Western Mass Information Technology...

Documents

Transcript of Pioneer Valley Regional IT Workforce Roundtable Presented by the Western Mass Information Technology...