PORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After a
successful pilot class last spring, Creating IT Futures will bring
its free IT-Ready career program back to Portland, OR, this fall, allowing adults to
get trained for their first jobs in tech. The eight-week IT-Ready
class funded by Worksystems and the Urban League of Portland will
be hosted at CENTRL Office on NW Everett in Portland starting October 23. Applications will be accepted through
September 27 at www.ITReady.com.
"Across the country, we're helping adults get their foot in the
door for a tech career," said Charles
Eaton, CEO, Creating IT Futures. "We plan to make
Portland one of our main locations
for tech training. Beyond this fall class, we're already planning
to hold classes in the winter and spring of 2018."
At no cost to students, IT-Ready assesses, trains, certifies and
places unemployed and under-employed adults in entry-level tech
jobs. Since Creating IT Futures launched IT-Ready in 2012, 85
percent of its students have earned their CompTIA A+ certification
and more than 80 percent have landed paid IT jobs.
One-third of the spring Portland IT-Ready class were veterans,
and one of those veterans, Zachary
Chandler, who had retired from the Navy in February,
received his CompTIA A+ certification and landed a job as a
government contractor immediately upon graduation. He now is
traveling for the Navy handling desktop support and deploying the
Navy's Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN).
Fellow Navy veteran Brittian
McIntosh said during his IT-Ready graduation, "I was looking
for something to give me hope. I found IT-Ready." McIntosh had been
unemployed for 18 months prior to seeing an ad for IT-Ready. After
getting his CompTIA A+ certification and graduating in June, he
accepted a job with ACI Federal working at the Naval Air Station on
the Patuxent River.
Looking for a stable career, Sean
Murphy learned about IT-Ready through the Urban League.
During the spring class, he passed his CompTIA A+ certification and
then accepted an eight-week internship through the Urban Tech Jobs
Program with CHR Creative, an IT consulting firm. After the
internship period is done, Murphy expects to enter CHR Creative as
a full-time level 1 technician.
IT-Ready graduate Pepper Urbaniak is excited to get back to work
after getting his CompTIA A+ certification. Last week he started
working for Scan One as a quality and process management
specialist.
What Do IT-Ready Students Learn?
In the IT-Ready program, students get hands-on labs taking apart
and building desktop computers and other hardware; learn to
configure, troubleshoot, and secure operating systems, computer
networks, and peripherals. Students also receive targeted
professional development in key business "soft" skills such as
professional communication and presentation, teamwork and
collaboration, and critical thinking and problem solving. IT-Ready
graduates are grounded in these key skills and prepared to apply
them on day one of their new jobs. After completing their training,
the students sit for the CompTIA A+ certification exam which covers
desktop and help-desk technical support duties and skills.
IT-Ready students receive free tuition, books and learning
materials, more than 240 hours of classroom and hands-on tech and
soft skills training, and certification vouchers toward the CompTIA
A+ exam. To demonstrate their commitment to the training and
pursuing an IT career, IT-Ready students are allowed only one
absence and two late days during the program. The next Portland class starts October 23 and runs through December 15, and is held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. every weekday.
Beyond recruiting for participants for IT-Ready training,
Creating IT Futures is looking for Portland businesses to consider the resumes of
CompTIA A+ certified IT-Ready graduates and interview qualified
candidates for entry-level IT positions. Dozens of participating
IT-Ready employers in other cities include such recognized names as
HealthPartners, JPMorgan Chase, TEKsystems, Time Warner Cable and
US Bank. These companies have received the benefits of skilled
workers and simultaneously helped their communities. Interested
employers should contact Tom Pinger
at tpinger@comptia.org.
IT-Ready in Portland is made
possible through funding from the US Department of Labor. To
qualify for training, applicants must complete a screening process
through WorkSource Portland Metro to determine eligibility for
funding.
Potential employers, mentors, students and community partners
can learn more at www.ITReady.com.
About Creating IT Futures
Founded in 1998 by CompTIA, Creating IT Futures is a 501(c)(3)
charity with the mission of helping populations under-represented
in the information technology industry and individuals who are
lacking in opportunity to prepare for, secure, and be successful in
IT careers. Learn more at www.creatingITfutures.org.
About Worksystems
Worksystems is a nonprofit
agency that accelerates economic growth in the City of Portland, Multnomah and Washington counties by pursuing and investing
resources to improve the quality of the workforce. They design
and coordinate workforce development programs and services
delivered through a network of local partners to help people get
the skills, training and education they need to go to work or to
advance in their careers. Learn more at
www.worksystems.org.
About Urban League of Portland
Established in 1945, the Urban
League of Portland is one of the
oldest African American service, civil rights and advocacy
organizations in the area. They are part of a network of more than
90 National Urban League Affiliates across the country
and are recognized as one of the leading voices for African
Americans and other people of color in the region. The Urban League
of Portland's mission is to
empower African Americans and others to achieve equality in
education, employment, health, economic security and quality of
life. Learn more at https://ulpdx.org/who-we-are/.
Media Contact:
Lisa Fasold
Creating IT Futures
630-678-8558
lfasold@comptia.org
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SOURCE Creating IT Futures