Note: copy edits made 02/10/22 at 12:33 pm
In 2019, WCPO ran a story about a special event that took place just outside of the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. Sponsored by Proctor & Gamble, the event drew female STEM students from schools around the tri-state to compete in a rocketry competition. Celietta Beamon, who was the career technical educator at the Robert A. Taft Information Technology School at the time of publication, described her hopes for the event this way:
She said the workshop will spark an interest in technology, and is especially excited for the possibilities for girls.
“We are the minority in technology. It’s a man’s world, and it’s still a man’s world,” Beamon said. “A lot of fields in career tech are asking for more women.”
Events and institutions like these provide training programs for students at a young age. As Beamon points out, IT as an industry is famously--or perhaps infamously--over-saturated with men. Competitions like this are just one way to bring training and knowledge to people who may otherwise struggle to break into the industry.
That's all well and good, you might be thinking. But how does it affect my business? Let's explore some of the ways that you can keep your own workforce ready for the changing world of IT.
Investing in People
As we've discussed in previous posts, one of the best measures you can take to protect your assets and establish security is to ensure that your employees are educated on common IT issues, even if those employees' roles isn't related to IT. Plus, implementing well-developed training programs is good for business generally, as any expert will tell you. Good training helps attract and retain workers, makes your firm better able to adapt to changing market conditions, and reduces costs related to turnover.
Fortunately, for Cincinnati firms there are numerous resources out there, which can provide your employees with the tools they need to keep up with the ever-fluid IT landscape. The University of Cincinnati's Talent Acceleration Program offers a variety of free training programs for low-income adults, who are either looking to build skills for future employment or re-skill for their current jobs. These include GED and ESL programs, as well as tech literacy and job hunting courses.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati State's Workforce Development Center has courses in manufacturing technology, medical technology, and industrial maintenance tech, not to mention a variety of professional development courses.
Last but not least, private firms, such as Tech Elevator and Per Scholas, offer courses for people who are new to IT. They also provide people who are currently employed with opportunities to re-skill, enabling them to stay up to date with the latest developments in information technology.
Having an effective IT infrastructure isn't simply about using the latest gadgets and gizmos. You also need to ensure that your workforce is properly trained so that they have, at the very least, a cursory knowledge of how computers work. In addition, they need to be aware of how your system might be breached and what practices they need to implement into their routines to prevent cyber crime. Titan Tech can help you set up an IT security infrastructure, help you develop a training program for your people, and advise on which third-parties to connect your employees to if they need to re-skill or gain additional professional development. Drop them a line today for more information.
And join us later this week for more tech news.