How Tech Is Elevating People, Companies and Communities [PODCAST]

With all that has changed over the past two years, it’s hard to believe there was a time before Covid-19. One thing that has remained consistent, however, is the increasing demand for tech talent. In a recent episode of The Tech Talks Daily Podcast, Tech Elevator Co-Founder and CEO, Anthony Hughes, sat down with show host Neil Hughes to discuss how Tech Elevator is solving for soaring demand for tech talent—plus the effects of the pandemic on the job market.

In case you haven’t tuned into the show, keep reading for a few highlights (with timestamps) from Anthony’s conversation. Or click below to listen to the full show!

[Show Highlights] Why Now Is the Best Time to Make a Career Change to Tech

The Growing Need for Tech Talent (4:48)

With the onset of Covid-19, the need for a digital workforce became more apparent than ever before. Every industry desperately needed to transform to meet new challenges. Consequently, the need for Software Developers skyrocketed; every company quickly became a “tech” company.

Traditional avenues of higher education and the standard, four-year computer science degrees weren’t meeting market needs fast enough–in fact, they aren’t needed. This is where coding bootcamps like Tech Elevator came in as a solution. Not only are graduates of Tech Elevator able to complete the program in either a 14 or 30-week course, but 90% found jobs in the tech industry within six months of graduating.

The Tech Elevator Solution (10:00)

If you’re not familiar, Tech Elevator is an intensive in-person and online education provider helping individuals and companies acquire in-demand technology skills for the modern workforce. With a full-time,  part-time, in-person, and online option, Tech Elevator is expanding its ability to elevate people, companies and communities.

Running in parallel with its technical curriculum, Tech Elevator also offers career coaching through the Pathway Program, which is the most developed program of its kind in any coding bootcamp. Tech Elevator understood that it’s not just about the technical skills; there needed to be more support for graduates as they looked for a job in tech. With a 90% job placement rate of its graduates, Tech Elevator is leading the way for coding bootcamps in developing high-quality tech talent.

As Anthony mentioned during the podcast, it’s becoming more about “skills not degrees.”

Exploring the Impact of Covid-19 on the Workforce (6:58)

By supercharging the demand for quality tech talent, traditional avenues for acquiring the necessary talent weren’t cutting it. There needed to be a better solution. This made for a very exciting time in tech and the creation of coding bootcamps.

So many opportunities in the space have emerged, and there are many more to come. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected employment of software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers will grow 22% from 2020 to 2030, which is much faster than the average for all occupations.

With no pre-existing experience in tech, can you get a job in the tech industry? The simple answer is, yes!

Increasing Diversity in the Tech Industry (30:24)

As tech talent grows and access to jobs becomes more available, the opportunity to make tech more inclusive is also following this trend.

“Just 18% of the output of computer science programs are female. 5% are African American,” said Anthony.

As Tech Elevator grows, another aspect of this growth which Anthony finds exciting is the ability to diversify tech by creating a more representative output of graduates. Where higher education and traditional education routes are failing, Tech Elevator can contribute to the tech industry that is “starving for diversity.”

With technology being consumed by everyone, why shouldn’t it be built by and representative of everyone?

Click below to listen to the full show!

1989: How Tech is Elevating People, Companies, and Communities.

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Written by Kalyn Breneman, Tech Elevator’s Director of Admissions