The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) and Silicon Slopes today announced the official kick-off of the IT Pathways program, including three pilot regions and the creation of an industry-led board to oversee the program.
IT Pathways is part of the state’s Talent Ready Utah initiative and is designed to fill critical workforce needs and ensure the continued success of Utah’s tech industry.
The three regions piloting the program include Nebo, Provo and Alpine School Districts in partnership with Mountainland Tech College and Utah Valley University; Canyons School District with Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah; and Davis School District with Davis Tech College and Weber State University.
Cathy Donohoe, vice president of HR at DOMO and Jeff Weber, senior vice president of people and places at Instructure, will lead the advisory board overseeing IT Pathways.
“The IT Pathways program is an important step toward advancing Utah’s tech industry,” said Gov. Gary R. Herbert.“The IT Pathways program will more effectively align education with pressing workforce needs to ensure the growth and success of the state’s tech industry for generations to come.”
In 2016 Utah had the greatest percentage of tech job growth in the nation at 7.69 percent and careers in software and IT represented more than 68,000 jobs among more than 4,000 companies
Early in 2017, Gov. Herbert issued a challenge to the Talent Ready Utah team to create an IT Pathways program. On August 23, 2017 GOED and Silicon Slopes announced a partnership to create IT Pathways.
Since August, several education and industry partners have come forward to pilot the program. Starting fall 2018, students in these school districts will be able to enroll in courses that will lead to additional training in the IT industry.
Students will have the opportunity to participate in job shadows and other opportunities with industry partners including Dell EMC, DOMO, Instructure, Pluralsight, Workfront, Xactware, Banyan, Nuvi, Microsoft, Qualtrics, Vivint and InsideSales. Industry partners will work with education to train Utah’s tech workforce and help students get excited about an IT career earlier.
“IT Pathways program will expand beyond coders and software engineers making it possible for people to enter the tech workforce at various stages of their careers,” said Val Hale, executive director of GOED. “Industry knows best of current needs and future demands. The next generation will have the opportunity to learn first-hand what it takes to be successful in the rapidly changing tech industry.”
For more information about the IT Pathways program, visit www.talentreadyutah.com.