The typical requirement of four year or three year bachelor degree with over ten years of experience in the related field is not relevant in the IT industry anymore. The new wave of coders are high school graduates with technical training and on the job apprenticeship are ready for your high-tech job within an year! Here is the best part, they are already aware of the agile Scrum processes and are ready for the 60K to 75K IT Job! Quad Cities is one of the regions adapting the trend and is getting ready to manage the young coders!
Youth start coding as young as twelve through the different programs in school or local STEM institutions. They learn typing in schools and are better at organizing work with the Google Docs. Initially used for getting work done, now schools have started using computers for educating students in computers. Engineering, Nursing, Coding, and other STEM courses are popping up in the school curriculum. Robotics has become a mandatory activity for kids in and out of school. High schools have created vocational courses so that the kids can be a certified nurse after passing high school. Some local high schools have made engineering an optional course in all four years so they are ready for the vocational jobs.
Special programs for girls in coding and computer science are in place to encourage coders. The traditional mindset of limiting women to just the Business Analyst or Tester roles will not work anymore. Women in IT are now developing more programs and managing those projects as well. The next gen women coders are able to take up the challenges with more communication skills, perfection, and confidence!
Ignite Quadcities, QCESC, Career Cruising QC, and CoWorkQC in the Quad Cities and NewBoCo and Vault in Cedar Rapids are some of the latest organizations developing young coders. The next generation workforce also have founded an organization and done some consulting in their high school years. Government grants and funds to encourage STEM programs and trade schools has also added to the new trend. Some trade schools do charge some amount for the training. By partnering with local IT companies, they allow local IT managers to visit the students during the apprenticeship and teach what is required at their organizations. Some local colleges are allowing the credits from the trade school to transfer to a degree so the kids can have a Bachelors degree as well. The trade schools are also allowing the kids to work in the Scrum process under a certified Scrum Master so the kids are aware of the process in the IT organizations. In addition, the trade schools are also willing to take older workforce who are stuck in minimum wages through out their lives and are willing to work hard for the change.
The next generation coders are already learning Java (!) during their high school years and participating in the local hacking and coding marathons. Online courses from Khan academy and Udemy are paving a way to learn coding in a systematic way. We do not need the specialists (?) anymore as we can employ our local kids to work in our IT organizations. However, whether they are going to work long enough in the same organization is questionable. Also, are they ready for super stress and long working hours demanded by the Information Technology work. A trade school course can get them a job but is not a substitute for the Bachelors degree and the kids must work towards the degree while working in their dream IT job!