According to a recent FedScoop article, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports that (at the current pace) there will be approximately 1.4 million IT jobs by 2020, with only 400,000 computer science graduates to fill them. With the rise in cyber attacks and data breaches, this comes as no surprise.
To help provide more students with a chance to secure more IT jobs, the White House has announced a series of job-driven training grants for college IT programs, totaling over $450 million. The Presidential Memorandum on Job-Driven Training for Workers called for an action plan within 180 days to make federal employment and training programs more job-driven. Led by Vice President Biden, federal agencies and the White House have responded to this call to action by offering these grants.
FedScoop reports:
“According to a fact sheet from the White House, $15 million will go to the Maryland Cyber-Technology Job Pathways Consortium, which taps into the more than 130,000 IT jobs in the state. Maryland, according to the White House, has 49 percent more IT jobs than the national average, boasting thousands of “family-sustaining, entry-level cybersecurity jobs” available for an applicant with a professional certificate or associates degree.
The Maryland consortium consists of fourteen community colleges that will partner with IBM, Lockheed Martin, Rockwell Collins, Booz Allen and a number of other IT companies and hospitals.
In order to increase a student’s success rate, the two-year program offered at the community colleges will be aligned with the National Security Agency’s guidelines for Security & Information Assurance programs. The program will graduate close to 2,000 students in the next three years.”
To see a full list of grant recipients by State, consult the White House Fact Sheet. The full FedScoop article is also available.
