Resilience and Relationships – A Cloud Operations Apprentice Success Story
Registered apprenticeship can be a great tool for reskilling or upskilling employees. Ismael Murillo learned that first hand when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2019 while working as a Shift Manager for the Amazon Logistics team. Ismael loved serving Amazon customers and worked hard to ensure that every single package was successfully delivered. However, the cancer diagnosis came with a multitude of changes and it quickly became evident that he would not be able to keep up with the demands of his job. In a season filled with unknowns, Ismael connected with Nick Curry, Amazon’s Director of Apprenticeship Programs, and learned about opportunities to explore other roles through the pathway of apprenticeship. While Ismael lacked the confidence to pursue a career in tech when he was younger, he seized the opportunity to join a large cohort of Cloud Operations Specialists and Solutions Architects apprentices in November 2021.
From the beginning, Ismael enjoyed the rigor and community of his apprenticeship program. Despite needing to take time off part way through the program to receive chemotherapy treatment, the apprenticeship model enabled him to easily take a temporary pause and return to on-the-job training when recovered. The pause afforded Ismael time for doctors appointments and rest. Even though Ismael’s health was significantly better when he returned to work several months later, he continued to experience heavy fatigue and “chemo brain,” making it difficult to retain information. Ultimately, Ismael requested and received accommodation to work from home and have flexible working hours. This made it feasible for Ismael to keep pace with the intense workload and high volume of medical appointments.
Ismael attributes his success to the support he received from managers and the personal relationships he formed during his apprenticeship. For example, during technical training he created a study group with other apprentices, and if he missed a lesson due to a doctor’s appointment, Ismael would reach out to the group for notes and guidance. The support from those in his study group continued when the cohort transitioned into on-the-job training. Despite being placed on different teams, the group remained connected, offering technical and emotional support to each other via Slack. Ismael also established a strong relationship with his mentor and onboarding buddy – helping him translate classroom learning into application.
Ismael recognizes that he received strong support from colleagues because he was open about his cancer journey. Ismael stands by his decision to share his cancer diagnosis with others because he believes that his experience may help others who have received a difficult medical diagnosis or disability feel more comfortable disclosing to a manager. Disclosing his diagnosis opened doors to an apprenticeship opportunity that he hadn’t previously known was available.
The throughline of Ismael’s experience at Amazon has been the leadership principle: customer obsessed. From his start in a warehouse role to ultimately his position as Solutions Architect, the customers are the reason that he gets up in the morning to do his work. He is grateful that the apprenticeship opportunity gave him a new way to create innovative solutions to meet customer needs.
Advice to employers: Picking good mentors can be instrumental in the success of an apprenticeship. Look for people who have strong soft skills and are able to give and receive feedback.
Advice to other apprentices: You need to figure out your “why” for your apprenticeship. Inevitably, at some point in your apprenticeship their will be challenges and your why can help you get through. Each person is unique, so you need to find what motivates you.
Building a 21st-Century Workforce: Why Registered Apprenticeship Programs Will Bridge the Digital Skills Divide
Half of the global workforce will require reskilling or upskilling by 2025, according to the 2020 Citrix Talent Accelerator report. The outsized demand for talent and the resulting skills shortage is a trend that will persist without rapid and lasting change. Employers have no alternative but to invest in alternative pathways to create talent, rather than simply consuming it via the traditional routes of college, visas, and recruiting from peers. Working independently will not scale a solution. Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) are an effective public/private partnership that provide a viable solution for creating standardized and portable talent while building a consistent pipeline of qualified candidates.
Apprenticeship is a significant topic in the national public policy spotlight at present as legislators consider ways to address workforce development and reduce unemployment in America. There’s no question that apprenticeship is seen as a viable and valuable pathway to higher-paying careers for Americans who might not otherwise have access to the necessary education and training to acquire the skills they need to be successful. At issue, however, is the approach our nation should adopt as the so-called “gold standard”: Registered Apprenticeship Programs vs. Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAPs).
Apprenti is a Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) that empowers employers to bridge the pervasive talent and digital skills shortages by building their own pipeline of highly skilled, highly motivated, and diverse tech talent. We believe RAPs are a better solution because they can scale across companies and industries and produce more consistent employment outcomes.
Solving for the Digital Skills Shortage
Employers who’ve engaged in hiring tech talent are aware of the talent shortage plaguing the United States. Particularly when it comes to digital skills, such as software developers, cybersecurity analysts, and Cloud operations, there simply aren’t enough skilled workers to fill these roles. In 2021, 900,000 tech jobs in the U.S. went unfilled.
College and high-skilled worker visas are the primary pathways to high-paying careers, but neither produce enough talent to meet market demand. Higher education produced only 325,000 graduates in all STEM fields, most of which are not directly related to the skills required; and Congress grants just 85,000 H-1B visas annually, a program that allows U.S. employers to hire workers from other countries on a temporary basis. Though these are meant to serve all industries, the tech industry consumes the lion’s share of those visas each year. However, the program is highly competitive, rendering it unreliable. It is also cost-prohibitive for many employers: A recent study showed a 20% premium paid for H-1B workers, making it an expensive solution even if it were expanded.
Additionally, there are millions of tech-related vacancies across industries and sectors that can’t be filled with people who are skilled enough to do the work. This presents an opportunity for companies to invest in reskilling, which is teaching Americans new skills unrelated to their current job or career so they can advance to a new job or industry. For instance, a service worker can be trained and receive accelerated classroom training combined with mentorship and on-the-job experience via the Registered Apprenticeship system and become a software developer at a Fortune 500 company.
Comparing Registered Apprenticeship and IRAPs
Apprenticeship has existed since the Middle Ages; it is a time-tested method for employers to recruit, build, and retain a highly skilled workforce. Workers gain paid, relevant, on-the-job work experience while acquiring real-world skills and credentials employers value. Despite their longevity, when most Americans think about apprenticeship, they relate it to trade vocations such as masonry, construction, and plumbing. However, the apprenticeship model is broadly applicable in all sectors, including technology, healthcare (residency), legal (clerking), and financial services, as demonstrated globally.
While some have advocated for a “non-registered” approach to apprenticeship (IRAP) to reduce perceived barriers like compliance, government engagement, and paperwork, RAPs are both nimble, because they are defined by industry, and provide national consistency, credentials, and portability of our joint investment. In addition, RAPs have significant, fundamental and systemic benefits that impact companies’ ability to recruit, train, reskill, and retain qualified candidates.
RAPs were created under the National Apprenticeship Act of 1937 (also known as the Fitzgerald Act). Previously, apprenticeship programs were largely unregulated; the National Apprenticeship Act put control of apprenticeship and on-the-job training programs under the Secretary of Labor, created an Office of Apprenticeship within the Department of Labor (DOL), and established a proven model for the DOL to support workforce development in highly skilled occupations. RAPs also offer incentives such as technical assistance, tax credits, and federal resources to enable employer-based mentorship for apprentices.
For their part, IRAPs were established in 2019 via a DOL-proposed amendment to the Labor Standards for the Registration of Apprenticeship Programs. The DOL announced the final rule on IRAPs in March 2020. However, new IRAP programs were rendered defunct in 2021. IRAPs were created to provide flexibility in how each company structured and administered apprenticeships individually. IRAPs would have been overseen by third party accreditors known as Standard Recognition Entities (SREs), which evaluated and recognized these programs, and were still governed and documented by DOL regulations.
Employers who participate as hiring partners in a RAP have the advantage of being able to pay their apprentices a federally protected training wage and benefit from state and federal subsidies and investment. In contrast, employers who go the IRAP route would still be subject to state and local laws and cannot benefit from any tax incentives or government investment.
Here’s how that works in practice. Let’s say an employer recruits two individuals, a college graduate and an apprentice, to do the same job. The apprentice signs on for a year of apprenticeship and learns that the college graduate is earning 30% more for the same role. Under a RAP, the employer is protected from being sued for wage discrimination because the apprentice has agreed to be paid a training wage while they’re earning and learning. In an IRAP, however, those protections wouldn’t exist. In states where salaries must be disclosed legally, an apprentice could challenge the pay disparity in court.
Funding variances are another noteworthy difference. In a Registered Apprenticeship system, Congress grants money to states to support training costs. In many cases, that means the company subsidizes the cost of training for the apprentice to ensure the individual is ready to do the job. In an IRAP, it wouldn’t work that way. Either the company would pay 100% for the training, or be forced to search the open market and hope they could find people to do the work. Additionally, the company would still have to do more onboarding when the candidate got there. Operating the apprenticeship would fall exclusively on the company staff; in addition, there’s no incentive provided to the company to offset or support talent creation internally. This applies to all apprentices, industries, and sectors.
Understanding the Value of RAPs
Considering all of this, what is the value of the Registered Apprenticeship model for employers? First, it provides national standardization, as roles and expectations are defined by a consortium of companies that define the skills needed to be retained, which are then “approved” by the U.S. DOL. This applies to the documentation process used to determine core competencies for apprentices, to the classroom training that prepares them, to the industry language used in job descriptions and interviews, and to the work being done on the job.
Additionally, Registered Apprentices receive a credential at the end of their training that lets employers know they are fully competent in a given role, and they can perform that set of skills at most companies. This makes the apprentice easier to recruit for future positions because they’re able to do the work and understand the universal language and industry standards that apply to that role. They can easily demonstrate that knowledge during the interview process. It also makes Registered Apprentices more retainable, because they’ve invested their time and effort into learning the skills required to provide maximum value to the employer. In this way, Registered Apprenticeship creates a holistic ecosystem of talent that is scalable, sustainable, and portable—across state lines, industry verticals, and companies.
By contrast, non-registered programs, such as internships and IRAPs, lack standardized structure, paperwork, training, and language. Therefore, individuals in those programs don’t have the same learnings and credentials to ensure they meet the minimum requirements to stay in the job and keep doing it long term. That means they are not sustainable and that HR departments have no discernable way of qualifying non-college educated, non-traditional candidates against the applicant pool. Thus, it actually creates more work for companies, not less.
The case for RAPs vs. Degrees
At Apprenti, 11% of our apprentices graduate early—they complete the program and are retained ahead of schedule, meaning under one year of work experience. This means 89% still need the full term of a year on the job to assimilate fully into the role and be retained. Most IRAPs are considerably shorter, and with lower retention. RAPs are a long-term talent development pipeline—not a short-term solution meant for appearances.
Additionally, not everyone has access to a college education. With only 30% of Americans going to college and 25% graduating, what happens to the other 75%? Europe and Asia have it figured out—the answer is apprenticeship. America has been a little slow to adopt that proposition, and there is still this prevailing belief that college is THE pathway to a successful career.
However, it’s important to consider the capacity of the college system—STEM degree programs aren’t lacking in enrollments. There is no way financially or systematically to quadruple the output of the college system without eroding fidelity in the outcomes, and if we are learning anything right now from the student loan system, there is less and less appetite by the American public to sink into debt to attain a degree—so investing in that capacity may not yield the results we claim to need.
The time has come to meet the talent on the field and negotiate a way forward together. Not all jobs require a degree. We need to stop treating all jobs equally and allow for alternative training to support our systems. We need to invest in a system that can scale with the industry’s growing tech needs. For those who are serious about creating robust work environments, the apprenticeship system is the best opportunity we can create to knock out two birds with one stone.
Apprenti Supports Apprentices and Employers Every Step of the Way
A supportive learning and working environment can provide apprentices with the necessary skills they need to have long, successful careers. But where does that support come from? Are employers responsible for supporting apprentices on their own?
Employers that partner with Apprenti, which delivers Registered Apprenticeship Programs to bridge the digital skills gap in tech, don’t have to support apprentices alone. Apprenti provides support and guidance for apprentices in three key areas:
- Financial
- Training and mentorship
- Retention
Financial
As a Registered Apprenticeship Program, Apprenti obtains funding from the Department of Labor and through grants to cover the cost of delivering apprenticeship programs. This benefits employers in that they may be eligible for federal incentives, funding from state and local governments, and tax credits for recruiting apprentices. By contrast, employers who hire individuals through traditional pathways such as higher education or visa programs generally don’t receive these benefits.
For apprentices, the benefits are equally powerful. Apprenti’s ability to access funding enables individuals to participate in the program who might not otherwise have the opportunity. On average, career training programs cost between $10,000 and $20,000 per person. The average price tag for a private four-year college degree is around $150,000. These costs are often prohibitive for individuals from lower-income families and underrepresented populations, which limits their access to higher education, training, and reskilling opportunities. Apprenti ensures apprentices don’t have to seek funds themselves to pursue technical training. This means Apprenti brings those costs to zero for the apprentices we work with while providing economic mobility and pathways to new, higher-paying career opportunities.
For those who are unemployed prior to joining the apprenticeship program, Apprenti works with state unemployment agencies to ensure those individuals receive the maximum benefits they are entitled to. This includes extending benefits for the duration of their technical training, when applicable.
Apprenti is also an approved program under the GI Bill, which means eligible Veterans can receive Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) during their on-the-job training (OJT). Eligible apprentices can also enroll and claim monthly GI Bill Benefits with Apprenti during on-the-job training.
We can also connect individuals who require housing and childcare subsidies with local and state government agencies that can help them get access to these benefits. These services not only help apprentices get the financial and social support they need, they also eliminate external stressors, enabling them to be more focused and productive on the job.
Training and mentorship
All apprentices participate in an orientation before their classroom, or related technical instruction (RTI), begins. During orientation, they have an opportunity to learn about the support services Apprenti offers throughout their apprenticeship. One such service is our Access Team, which delivers support and accommodations primarily for individuals with disabilities. However, any apprentice who requires accommodations or assistance during the program can tap the Access Team for help.
Apprenti’s dedicated education team also has regular check-ins with training providers throughout the related technical instruction stage to ensure that the apprentices are progressing through the program as expected. The team also consults with employers to ensure that apprentices’ training curriculum is aligned with the duties they will perform on the job.
Additionally, apprentices receive regular guidance and direct support throughout the program. They can email or schedule one-on-one conversations with Apprenti teams for a variety of issues, even if it’s just needing reassurance to calm their nerves before starting their on-the-job training. We also do check-ins at regular intervals throughout the program to ensure that apprentices are having a positive experience and proactively address any issues that may arise.
Apprenti also offers ongoing support for hiring managers and mentors who are responsible for working with apprentices. From providing a dedicated manager orientation to sharing best practices, from addressing questions or concerns about performance to accessibility, we deliver ample support to help employers create a successful, encouraging environment for apprentices.
Retention
As apprentices approach the one-year mark with employers, Apprenti checks in to see how things are progressing, and to determine if there is an opportunity for the apprentice to be retained as a full-time employee. We can also work with employers to extend apprenticeships if they feel the apprentice needs more training or time to ramp up into a full-time role. This gives apprentices the flexibility to hone specific skills or competencies, and provides the employer an opportunity to deepen their professional relationship, often leading to mutually beneficial outcomes for both apprentices and employers.
To learn more about Apprenti and how we support employers and apprentices, visit https://apprenticareers.org/.
Apprenticeship and Internships: Why Employers Should Consider Both as a Means to Strategic Workforce Development
Employers often ask, what is the difference between an internship and a registered apprenticeship, and why consider the latter? It’s a good question and one that’s deserving of careful consideration.
The short answer is, that apprenticeship offers many advantages that traditional internships don’t. For this reason alone, apprenticeships are worthy of further evaluation as tech employers ponder new avenues to build the workforce of the future. It is important to note that apprenticeship isn’t intended to completely replace traditional methods of sourcing talent, such as higher education, boot camps, and referrals. Rather, it is meant to be a complementary pathway that provides employers access to high-quality candidates with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. As the first nationally registered tech apprenticeship program of its kind, Apprenti is well-versed in recruiting, vetting, and training qualified, motivated candidates who integrate seamlessly into an employer’s workforce.
Internship vs. Apprenticeship
Against the backdrop of a persistent digital skills shortage, tech employers are finding it necessary to evolve their recruiting and hiring practices beyond traditional talent acquisition pathways. Although there is undisputed value in hiring recent college graduates, U.S. higher education institutions produce just 75,000 graduates with digital skills degrees each year—not nearly the number of candidates required to meet the demand for the hundreds of thousands of domestically available tech jobs. Other sources, such as H-1B visas to hire qualified talent from overseas, and poaching from competitors, are even more limited and potentially costly.
In addition, the labor market is more competitive than it’s been in several years. While that’s nothing new for the tech sector, companies in all industries are struggling to recruit quality talent. As a result, many are looking to hire interns to boost their entry-level pipelines. Across all industries, companies are planning to hire 22.6% more interns during the 2021-22 academic year than the previous year. That’s a noteworthy difference from 2020-21 when companies cut back their intern headcount by 0.5%.
Cost-conscious tech employers may be tempted to follow this trend and onboard interns as a way to fill skills gaps in their workforce. While there is merit to relying on internships as a temporary hiring solution, there are also potential drawbacks:
- Generally, internships are a short-term arrangement. Interns often remain with an employer for summer or several months right after college before returning to school or moving on to a full-time or permanent role. They may learn four things over one month or one thing over four months.
- Internship programs typically lack structure, so interns don’t really have an opportunity to gain comprehensive knowledge or experience in the short time they spend with a company. Each intern may experience or learn different things.
- Interns tend to be in an “exploratory” phase in their careers, and as such, may or may not be interested in their role, or want to remain with the company that hired them. They may treat the internship as a “taste test,” and be less “sticky” than full-time hires or apprentices. Nonetheless, interns get the chance to gain experience in a trade or at a company for a short period of time and discover what they want and don’t want to do.
- Companies typically aren’t always able to capture the same level of rapid innovation from internships alone. Often trained in specific ways by higher education institutions, interns bring skill sets and ways of thinking that reflect current or past methods of accomplishing specific tasks and roles. They do not necessarily come to the table with the latest knowledge and capacity to think several years down the road to meet a company’s future needs.
On the other hand, a registered apprenticeship offers distinct advantages. By leveraging a workforce development program like Apprenti, employers reap several benefits:
- The average age of apprentices in the Apprenti program is 32. That means employers are able to onboard individuals who already have work experience and an aptitude for flexibility, ingenuity, and adaptability in the workplace.
- Apprentices are pursuing a career in the role they’re being trained for, which gives employers an opportunity to develop an individual who is truly invested. Retention rates are higher, too—on average, 91% of apprentices are retained.
- Apprenticeships provide thoughtful, structured classroom and on-the-job training, which means apprentices gain specific skills employers need when they need them, including knowledge of proprietary software and equipment. The average length of an apprenticeship in information technology (IT) or cyber-centric roles is a year, so tech employers also have a chance to make sure the apprentice is a good fit with their culture before deciding to retain them.
- Workers developed through a registered apprenticeship program are purposefully groomed to think long-term about a company’s needs so they can learn the skills necessary and be poised to fill those requirements from day one. This enables companies to evolve and innovate that much faster—a must in the tech industry’s fast-paced, ever-changing environment.
Registered apprenticeship is a proven model in other industries, such as aerospace and advanced manufacturing, that has enabled companies to vastly improve their profitability and ramp up their long-term sustainability and scalability. And it’s a model that translates well to the tech industry, which is one of the many reasons why it makes sense for employers to consider adopting apprenticeships now. “Apprenticeship is an effective way to bring in new fresh ideas because apprentices are learning real skills in real-time,” says Andrea Anderson, Sr. Director of Program Development and Education, Apprenti. “Once they gain an understanding from their mentors of where the company is at currently, it’s been our experience that apprentices often leverage their technical and on-the-job training to come up with new ways to innovate and help our hiring partners expand their capabilities and offerings beyond present-day scenarios.”
Stemming the Gray Tsunami
Even in tech, where the workforce traditionally skews younger, there is an older, more experienced population that will eventually retire, leaving an obvious knowledge gap. Between February and November 2020, the number of retired Baby Boomers increased by 1.1 million. Previously, the number of retired Boomers had grown by about 2 million annually since 2011. This phenomenon, known as the “gray tsunami,” will continue as older workers retire in growing numbers in the coming years.
Apprenticeship provides an opportunity to stem this gray tidal wave by giving employers a pathway to strategically and consistently create a younger, more sustainable workforce. “Bringing in 10 to 25 apprentices every six months spreads the transfer of knowledge from experienced workers to new workers in such a way that it isn’t such a huge burden on employers,” Andrea noted. “It means the more experienced employees aren’t having to train, say, 100 new recruits at a time. Having a consistent apprenticeship program makes it so the process becomes ingrained in the company’s culture and innovation, and employers are able to develop a workforce with a broad range of skills and experience at every level.”
Apprenticeship Is One of Many Workforce Development Options
Embracing apprenticeship as a pathway to workforce development is not as challenging as employers might perceive. Nor does it preclude more traditional methods of hiring, such as recruiting from colleges and universities, boot camps, or relying on word-of-mouth referrals. Apprenticeship opens doorways to a much wider swath of the population, allowing candidates to pursue higher-paying opportunities that may not have otherwise been accessible to them.
“Apprenticeship is one of a menu of options available to employers to meet their long-term workforce needs,” Andrea noted. “Registered apprenticeship is an effective model for employers to access untapped talent—it’s by no means meant to completely replace existing hiring pathways.”
To learn more about Apprenti and our Registered Apprenticeship program and how it may help meet your company’s workforce development needs, visit https://apprenticareers.org/hire/, or contact us directly for more information on hiring.
2022 Apprentice Success Stories
Apprenti kicked off 2022 with a bang. Today, we’re looking back on some of our talented Apprenti alumni. Here, in their own words, apprentices share their career successes and how Apprenti helped them along the way.
If you are inspired by these stories to take the first step on your pathway to a new career in technology, learn more about our application process here.
Name:
Tamla Newsome
Current Occupation:
Junior Software Developer at One Magnify
What were you doing before Apprenti?
I was working as a licensed Insurance Agent training other agents in the field.
How has this apprenticeship experience impacted or changed your life?
It has shown me that if I put in the time, I can do something extraordinary, with a sense of accomplishment. I’m learning and growing daily.
What effect has Apprenti brought to your career if any? What’s your plan for your career post Apprenti?
Apprenti was a complete game-changer for me. I never would have had the opportunity to become a software engineer otherwise. The amount of impact I have at work has increased by orders of magnitude. My earning potential is now also something I never would have believed possible.
Would you recommend Apprenti? Who would you recommend it to?
I recommend Apprenti to everyone. I believe that everyone can do it. And I always phrase this question to everyone. “If not you, then who?”
Click through to read more apprentice success stories!
Name:
Trent Templet
Current Occupation:
Computer Forensic Investigator
What were you doing before Apprenti?
I did sales for 25 years and my most recent stunt was in the Automotive Sales industry.
How did you first decide to pursue an apprenticeship through Apprenti?
I ran across an article about IT apprenticeships in the state of Louisiana. The article spoke to me because I’ve always looked for a way to get into the IT industry, and this was the first opportunity that I knew I could do.
How has this apprenticeship experience impacted or changed your life?
This apprenticeship has given me a new lease on life, and has allowed me to work in a field that I love at my dream job.
Would you recommend Apprenti? Who would you recommend it to?
I have yelled Apprenti’s praise from the top mountains and will continue to do so. I recommend it to anyone who will listen; however, I specifically recommend it to anyone who is looking for a career change to IT and/or starting their career.
Name:
Roscoe Bass
Current Occupation:
Software Development Engineer 2 at Microsoft
How did you first decide to pursue an apprenticeship through Apprenti?
My girlfriend saw an ad on Facebook pointing to an article highlighting Apprenti and passed it along to me. After reading through the article, I became immediately interested in the program. In my previous job, I had no healthcare benefits or growth potential. I wanted a way to pivot into a career that would check both those boxes and potentially provide me with a brighter future while keeping me challenged all the while. I found that fit with Apprenti.
How has this apprenticeship experience impacted or changed your life?
The lessons I learned during my time in the apprenticeship are invaluable to me and I still reflect on them in my current role. The program taught me how to learn via full immersion rather than just reading or taking classes. This experience changed my perspective on making mistakes so that I now crave them and the knowledge I stand to gain from them as I continue to strive to create better results with each new iteration of my work.
Would you recommend Apprenti? Who would you recommend it to?
Yes, definitely! I would say this program is for anyone looking to start a career in technology, whether they are coming from a different career or have been trying to break into the tech field with little to no success. I highly recommend anyone with a passion for learning to consider a career in technology as there is never a shortage of new things to learn.
Apprentice Success Stories
Apprenti celebrated our five-year anniversary and placement of over 1,500 apprentices nationwide. To commemorate this milestone, we are highlighting some of our accomplished apprentice alumni. These incredible, inspiring apprentices share details about their careers in technology, how Apprenti helped them on the way, and their plans for the future.
Name:
Shane Gable
Current Occupation:
Software Development Engineer, Amazon Web Services
How did you first decide to pursue an apprenticeship through Apprenti?
I wanted to work for Amazon. So, I had been bugging recruiters on LinkedIn for about a year when I finally got a response. A recruiter invited me to apply for the SDE Military Apprenticeship. It was a no-brainer; there is nothing else like it.
What were you doing before Apprenti?
I bartended at a Mexican Restaurant near JBLM for a while. Then I was driving for Uber in Seattle, taking Amazonians from one building to another mostly.
What effect has Apprenti brought to your career if any? What’s your plan for your career post Apprenti?
Apprenti was a complete game-changer for me. I never would have had the opportunity to become a software engineer otherwise. The amount of impact I have at work has increased by orders of magnitude. My earning potential is now also something I never would have believed possible.
Would you recommend Apprenti? Who would you recommend it to?
I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to work hard. I’m not sure about the other apprenticeships but the SDE Military Apprenticeship with Amazon is hard work. You have to give it your all.
Name:
Bobby Moran
Current Occupation:
Systems Engineer
How did you first decide to pursue an apprenticeship through Apprenti?
I heard about the Systems Analysis position and it sounded like a good bridge for my communications and tech talents. I was recommended to the program by contact at Jewish Vocational Services.
What were you doing before Apprenti?
I was working for MetroParks of Butler county. Before that I was a creative brand consultant for five years.
Are you learning anything new right now?
I am learning Android development.
What effect has Apprenti brought to your career if any? What’s your plan for your career post Apprenti?
It has given me direction from a knowledge-earning perspective. I am in grad school with my employer and learning a technical skill. I’d like to own my own media company that operates to promote peace.
Would you recommend Apprenti? Who would you recommend it to?
Absolutely. Anyone willing to work hard to get into a tech career.
Name:
Levi Sylvester
Current Occupation:
Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services
How did you first decide to pursue an apprenticeship through Apprenti?
After separating from the Air Force in 2016, I spent the next few years trying to jumpstart my career on the civilian side. I found a path into the tech industry as a system administrator, where I was supporting businesses, K-12 school districts, local government agencies, and small businesses in Southwestern Colorado as a consultant.
What are you doing at your job now?
The amazing part of being a Solutions Architect is the wide variety of work you are able to accomplish. The overarching principle is to serve as a key technical member during cloud migrations and new application deployments to ensure the customer’s success in building on the AWS platform. My favorite part of this is building functioning proof of concepts based on a client’s use case to demonstrate AWS capabilities and whiteboard architectures. A recent example of this includes creating a machine learning sentiment analysis proof of concept to run sentiment analysis on media files.
How has this apprenticeship experience impacted or changed your life?
The one thing that many Veterans and entry-level workers lack when entering the workforce is a chance. This apprenticeship gave me the opportunity and the resources I needed to progress my career with one of the best cloud providers in the world. Not only did the apprenticeship provide the training needed to hit the ground running, but it also aided me in continuing my career with Amazon Web Services following the conclusion of my apprenticeship.
Name:
Michael Williams
Current Occupation:
Senior Information Security Consultant
How did you first decide to pursue an apprenticeship through Apprenti?
One of my good friends completed an Apprenti apprenticeship and had a great experience and suggested I should apply.
What effect has Apprenti brought to your career if any? What’s your plan for your career post Apprenti?
Apprenti allowed me to get the skills and certifications needed to start a career in the IT industry. After I completed my apprenticeship I worked as a Solutions Architect, and then was able to get hired at a security company because of the skills and certifications learned during my apprenticeship.
Would you recommend Apprenti? Who would you recommend it to?
Absolutely! I’d recommend Apprenti to anyone looking to start a career in the tech industry. My apprenticeship was very challenging, but 100% worth it. Be ready to work hard. You’ll be rewarded with a great career in one of the fastest-growing industries in the world.
Name:
Tony Granillo
Current Occupation:
Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services
What were you doing before Apprenti?
I was trying to find myself. I went to college and tried to get started in IT.
What effect has Apprenti brought to your career if any? What’s your plan for your career post Apprenti?
I was given an amazing opportunity to find a career path that has given me so much more than I could expect.
Would you recommend Apprenti? Who would you recommend it to?
I would recommend the program and I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to work hard to achieve success. The program isn’t a guarantee, it’s a chance to prove yourself and see if you can work hard and put in the time to have a career.
Name:
Ashley Kane
Current Occupation:
Software Developer, VMware
What were you doing before Apprenti?
I served in the US Army where I worked on securing radio keys, security protocols and network troubleshooting. I tried learning Ruby on Rails on my own but felt I needed more structure and mentorship in order to successfully pivot.
Apprenti, Snohomish County Tech Training Academy Partnership Creates Opportunities for Displaced Workers
In 2020, workers across Washington state have been heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, with many losing their jobs or working reduced hours. In April, more than 645,000 Washingtonians were out of work, and the state’s unemployment rate reached a high of 16.3%. As of October, the picture had improved — the state’s unemployment rate stood at 6.0%, slightly less than the national average of 6.9%.
Nonetheless, there are still thousands of unemployed or underemployed workers in Washington who are in need of jobs or career retraining. Hospitality, retail and leisure employees are among those most widely impacted, and they are made up predominantly of women and people of color. Historically, these groups have been underrepresented in STEM occupations.
Apprenti Launches New Partnership with Snohomish County
There is a new bright spot for workers in Snohomish County whose jobs have been impacted by the pandemic. Thanks to a new partnership with Apprenti, Washington’s first registered apprenticeship program powered by Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) and run by the WTIA Workforce Institute, these displaced workers will receive free training to pursue careers in high-demand occupations in the tech industry. Called the Tech Training Academy, the partnership will also help match dislocated workers to businesses in need of talent.
Specifically, Apprenti will deliver pre-apprenticeship training to workers who are currently unemployed or underemployed due to the pandemic that will prepare them for high-wage software development jobs at small, medium and large technology companies. The Tech Training Academy will serve at least 25 Snohomish County residents who are over 18, with an emphasis on underrepresented groups in the tech sector, including women, veterans and people of color.
The partnership provides a crucial opportunity to help educate and train the next generation of diverse employees for roles at some of Washington’s largest tech companies. Some Tech Training Academy graduates may be hired locally as apprentices and employed with tech companies in Snohomish County and throughout the greater Seattle area. However, that isn’t their only option. The program opens doors for these workers to obtain remote work with tech employers all across the country — opportunities they likely would not have had otherwise.
Proven Pipeline for Evolving Work Environments
These opportunities exist because growing numbers of employers, particularly in the tech sector, are embracing the virtual work model in the wake of the pandemic. Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Zillow are among the tech giants that recently announced plans to allow employees to work from home permanently. So, with more employees able to do their jobs remotely, it’s no longer necessary for them to live and work in the same towns and cities as their employers.
In addition, Apprenti has relationships with employers in 16 U.S. markets. So conceivably, an employee living in Everett, for example, could end up working for an employer based in Dallas. That opens up a world — or rather, a nation — of opportunity for graduates of the Tech Training Academy.
Earlier this year, Apprenti was awarded a $7.5 million dollar, five-year contract from the U.S. Department of Labor to support its efforts to fill tech roles with diverse talent. Apprenti offers a proven, reliable pipeline for underrepresented groups, bridging the talent gap and giving diverse talent with non-traditional backgrounds the opportunity to apprentice at some of the top companies in the world.
To date, Apprenti has placed more than 1,000 apprentices nationwide at top companies including Microsoft, Wayfair, and JPMorgan Chase. More than 80 percent of these apprentices have been retained or hired post-apprenticeship with significantly higher salaries than previous employment. For example, apprentices in Washington state earn an average salary of $87,209 in their first year after graduation, which is a 114% increase based on their income prior to the program.
“This is a life-changing career transformation for these apprentices, and a win for tech organizations nationwide,” said Michael Schutzler, CEO, WTIA. “The Tech Training Academy gives these workers a pathway to tech jobs that they did not have access to before. And tech organizations still have an intense hunger for talent, despite the pandemic. If we create talent, they will get hired. These employers need them.”
As we look ahead to new employment landscapes in 2021, Apprenti tech apprenticeship programs like this are critical to meet the growing demand for tech workers across the state.To learn more about the Tech Training Academy and how Apprenti can assist your organization in building a readily available pipeline of quality tech talent, visit www.apprenticareers.org, or contact Jennifer Carlson, Co-Founder, Executive Director, WTIA Workforce Institute & Apprenti at jcarlson@apprenticareers.org.