Pathways aims to keep industry strong

Utah state government and an industry association have joined to create an IT Pathways program designed to meet workforce needs and keep the state’s tech industry humming.

At the recent Silicon Slopes Tech Summit, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) and Silicon Slopes announced the new program, patterned after earlier state career pathways programs established in the fields of aerospece, diesel technology and medical innovation.

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The IT program, part of the state’s Talent Ready Utah initiative, will have three pilot regions and an industry-led board providing oversight. The regions are the Nebo, Provo and Alpine school districts in partnership with Mountainland Tech College and Utah Valley University, the Canyons School District with Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah, and the Davis School District with Davis Tech College and Weber State University.

Cathy Donohoe, vice president of human resources at Domo, and Jeff Weber, senior vice president of people and places at Instructure, will lead the advisory board.

“The IT Pathways program is an important step toward advancing Utah’s tech industry,” Gov. Gary Herbert said. “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.”

Starting this fall, students in participating 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, GOED’s executive director. “Industry knows best of current needs and future demands. The next generation will have the opportunity to learn firsthand what it takes to be successful in the rapidly changing tech industry.”

Utah in 2016 had more than 68,000 jobs at more than 4,000 software and IT firms. The state also led the nation that year with 7.69 percent tech job growth. But industry executives for several years have bemoaned the lack of skilled workers, saying that the state’s universities are unable to keep up with demand for engineers, technicians and other specialists.

Early last year, Herbert challenged the Talent Ready Utah team to create the IT Pathways program, and a partnership with Silicon Slopes was announced last August.

Details about the program are at www.talentreadyutah.com.{/mprestriction}