Per Scholas targets Northern Kentucky’s growing demand for IT workers

Northern Kentucky needs more IT workers. At least, that’s the opinion of BE NKY, the region’s foremost economic development organization.

BE NKY identifies four key industry clusters for regional growth in the coming years, with information technology among them. During the organization’s quarterly economic development briefing last November, Jung Kim, a research director at Ernst & Young’s Economic Development Advisory Services Practice, told the audience that IT will remain a critical component of the regional economy, referring to the industry sector as a backbone of innovation.

“Information technology has been and will continue to be a target industry for Northern Kentucky, but it is not a standalone sector,” Kim said. “It’s become a backbone of innovation across the other target industries, advanced manufacturing and logistics. It connects talent, equipment, data management to the plant floor.”

To sustain growth in Northern Kentucky’s IT sector, employers require a skilled pool of prospective workers, as well as competent educational institutions to train them. This is where Per Scholas can help.

Per Scholas is a nonprofit that offers tuition-free IT career training and job placement services. It has offices in 25 cities across the country, including Cincinnati. The phrase “per scholas” directly translates to “for schools” in Latin.

Last April, Per Scholas opened a satellite campus at the Kentucky Career Center at 1234 Madison Ave. in Covington. During the ribbon-cutting event, officials from Covington and the NKY Chamber of Commerce highlighted the organization’s role in preparing the next generation of IT workers for the region.

Dr. Roger Burns, the managing director of Per Scholas Greater Cincinnati, told LINK nky that the organization opened the office to better satiate the demand for affordable IT training in Northern Kentucky.

“We needed to demonstrate to residents and businesses in Northern Kentucky that were as interested in and invested in Northern Kentucky as we are in Cincinnati,” Burns said. “So we needed to be physically present there.”

Per Scholas offers individuals interested in pursuing careers in technology an affordable option to gain hands-on experience in critical IT fields such as cybersecurity, software engineering, cloud computing, data engineering, network engineering, and helpdesk support. By taking Per Scholas courses and training, students can earn certifications that make them more valuable candidates for IT jobs. Typically, these programs can last anywhere from 13 to 15 weeks.

In addition, Per Scholas offers various professional services, such as career coaching, resume and interview preparation and job placement assistance.

Burns noted that Per Scholas is a solid choice for mid- or late-career individuals seeking a career switch, or for those interested in an IT career without committing to a two- or four-year degree.

“I think it’s for individuals that want to get careers in tech, but going to a two or four-year degree program just isn’t something that life is going to make possible for them,” he said. “It has nothing to do with intelligence. A lot of it has to do with just the expense and the time that it takes to get that degree.”

With the continued adoption of artificial intelligence in the IT space, Burns said it remains critical for Per Scholas to continually update its curriculum to better equip students for the changing demands of the job market.

“We are constantly evaluating our curriculum for all of our training courses based on feedback we get from employer partners, because our whole thing is we want people to go to work, so if they don’t have the skills they need to go to work and be able to do the work, then we’ve missed the mark,” Burns said.

For more information, visit the Per Scholas website.