AlbanyCanCode Workforce Training

In the Capital Region of New York, as in most of the country, there is a major disconnect when it comes to the technology sector: 1) our technology employers have a difficult time hiring qualified employees, and 2) many of our citizens continue to struggle to find quality jobs that would allow them to achieve financial stability.

AlbanyCanCode works to solve both of these problems by training people in our community to fill the vacant jobs within local technology companies. We work with employers to ensure the skills we are providing will lead to increased employability for our students.

Based on all students reporting salary data, the median salary increase for our students is $15,000, while students who begin under the median individual salary report a median increase of over $25,000. We expect our students’ opportunities will continue to grow as their levels of experience increase as well.

We hear consistently from local technology employers that they find difficulty hiring web and software developers in the Greater Capital region of NY, and a search of job listings for either “web developer” or “software developer” bears this out – over 400 job listings for “software developer” alone, many of which have been open for 30 days or more. As of the end of 2019, there were over 450,000 people unemployed in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy metro area.

With a team that has recently grown to four full-time employees, AlbanyCanCode has provided educational opportunities, job coaching, and mentorship to nearly 200 adult workforce students in under four years.

Our work has shown us that there are many people in our community who have never had the opportunity to build basic computer literacy because these skills have historically not been taught consistently in public schools. Adults with little computer experience are the most likely to struggle in our classes, and so we began working with other local organizations to provide basic digital literacy classes to help prepare students for our entry level web and software development classes, which has helped us to reach and train more people from under-resourced backgrounds and communities.

While our classes are open to anyone, our recruitment efforts are focused on underserved and under-resourced populations. We work with other local government and non-profit agencies to identify people who may benefit from the educational programs and support services we offer, often providing digital literacy classes to help bridge the gap between novice students and more advanced learning opportunities.

Out of 182 students, 43% have identified as women, 35% have identified as people of color, 21% were unemployed on course entry, and 32% were employed but making under the median salary for our area. Each student has their own individual needs, but the most consistent barriers we’ve seen are a lack of transportation, a lack of childcare, and the need for educational accommodations. To clear these barriers, we create support relationships with our students and provide frequent check ins and mentorship from our team, our employer community, and our alumni community, as well as funding for non-tuition support like transportation and childcare.

Many of our former students continue to come to us looking for ways to support our new students, and they are helping us a build a community around coding that helps everyone succeed.

Our adult workforce classes provide instruction in a number of different technology platforms, including Front End Web Development, JavaScript Fundamentals, JavaScript Frameworks, Python for Data Analytics, Automated Web Testing, SQL/ETL, and Salesforce Applications. Courses are 12-weeks long, and held two evenings per week in various locations, in partnership with local community colleges and BOCES organizations. Our classes focus on project-based learning and include a collaborative final project that offers students the chance to work with their peers to create a project that they can then exhibit to local employers at our graduation ceremonies.

Our course curricula are developed cooperatively with local employers to ensure that the concepts and skills we are teaching match the needs of the workforce, which increases the likelihood that our students will be able to find jobs and succeed in their new careers. In addition to classroom instruction, we provide additional support, including (but not limited to) scholarships for transportation or childcare, coordinating of tutoring with former student volunteers, resume and interview coaching, job search counseling, networking events, and in-class mentorship by members of the employer community.

Beyond our workforce class, we are also actively working to address the educational opportunity gap that has left many older adults with a lack of digital literacy skills. To this end, we coordinate with government and non-profit organizations to deliver digital literacy classes that will prepare these students to succeed in our workforce classes. Many of our digital literacy students have moved on to workforce classes and been successful in learning marketable coding skills!

We are also continually working with the local employer community to shift expectations about who can work in technology, and what technology employees need to be successful. Due to the lack of qualified candidates to fill job vacancies, we’ve found that employers are now more likely to hire people without a traditional college background. One of our organization’s goals is to support this change by hosting employer roundtables where employers with more flexible hiring practices can speak about the successes they’ve had hiring students who do not possess a college degree.

Our solution to the skills gap in technology and lack of employment opportunities in our area relies on relationships with other non-profit and government organizations to connect with the populations in our area that are most in need of training opportunities to secure good jobs with a real change of financial stability. We also partner with local community colleges and BOCES organizations to host our programs and provide our students with the optimal level of student support services.

Our solution is already addressing the solution. With 38% of our former students reporting, the median salary increase for students who've been through our programs is $15,000. We also expect these students' earning potential to increase as they build more employment experience in the technology sector. 

We currently have 63 students registered for our Spring 2020 classes. While our student population is growing, we anticipate we will serve at least 150 students in 2020.

We are currently working on an expansion project that will allow us to begin delivering workforce training opportunities in the Ulster County/Kingston area of New York State. We also have community members from regions around the state asking us to run programs in their areas, so we anticipate expanding into other regions of New York State in the coming years. 

Like any non-profit organization, the biggest challenge is finding the funding we need to support and expand our programs. Our program provides both classroom instruction and out-of-class support to students, which is both time and resource intensive. The community building and mentorship activities that will produce long-term change for people in under-resourced communities take a lot of work and funding to build, but over time, these activities will help ensure our programs impact not only our students' lives, but also the lives of the people around them who will follow in their footsteps. 

In our programs in the Albany area, we've found that our former students are invested in continuing to support our current and future students as they take their first steps toward careers in technology. Some of our first students are now reaching back looking for candidates to work within their companies! Building these mentorship relationships and fostering connections between the people most in need of training and support, our former students, and members of the employer community will help create a well-travelled pathway into technology and ensure that the people in our community can access the jobs that our employers currently struggle to fill. 

We provide workforce training classes in Albany, NY, Troy, NY, Schenectady, NY, and Saratoga, NY.

We have four full-time staff members, as well as seven contract workforce instructors.