When the dot-coms boomed in the 1990s, students flocked to computer classes like Canadians to Myrtle Beach.
But when that bubble burst in the 2000s, the number of students interested in information technology dropped by 50 percent nationally.
The jobs didn’t disappear, just the workers available to fill them.
Now many large firms with voluminous computing needs often have trouble finding qualified workers for their numerous IT positions.
And that gap could grow larger.
There are 61,400 information technology jobs in South Carolina. And seven of the 26 projected fastest-growing occupations in the state are related to IT, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
To get kids fired up about computers and computer-related technology, a large group of companies and universities has banded together to form Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management.
The Columbia-based partnership includes BlueCross, SCANA, IBM, Bank of America and many other companies in the Carolinas and Georgia which are involved in IT, as well as 15 or so universities throughout the Southeast.
The consortium has already launched a series of innovative programs, and that effort will receive a big boost in January, when the organization moves to a highly visible location on the ground floor of the Wilbur Smith building on downtown Columbia’s Gervais Street.
“IT doesn’t have cool TV shows about it like other professions such as law and medicine,” said Bob Brookshire, director of Integrated Information Technology Programs at USC, which along with 15 other universities in the Southeast partners with the consortium. “So the consortium is reaching across the board to reach kids wherever they are.”
While programs have been developed for students from kindergarten through college, middle schoolers are the consortium’s prime targets.
Because students now have to choose majors for high school, it’s important that the consortium pique their interest in the 8th grade and change the impression that people who work with computers are “geeks,” consortium executive director Lonnie Emard said.
“We want to erase the stereotypes that IT is not cool, particularly among female students,” he said.
Among the programs now being employed are:
• Create IT computer camps: Twenty high school students get to figure out how to put together a processor, hard drive, fan, wireless card, keyboard and lots of tiny screws to build their own laptop computers. Students are selected on the basis of their grade-point average, a letter of recommendation and an essay. Camps were introduced in the Upstate and Charleston last year.
• Virtual job shadows: The consortium and one of its partners, Microburst Learning, recently completed the first three of 10 IT Virtual Job Shadows, which allow K-12 students to experience jobs in the field of IT without ever having to leave their desks.
• Educator field studies: The consortium, working with the Midlands Education and Business Alliance’s IT Alliance, organizes at least two educator field studies a year. Guidance counselors and teachers are invited to tour area IT companies and departments to learn about the opportunities available for their students.
The consortium also attends career fairs, urges its members to create summer internship programs, recruits job candidates for its members and has helped establish entry-level training programs.
USC student Chris Collier, who graduates in December, applied for one of the consortium’s summer intern programs. As a result, he has already landed a job with BlueCross BlueShield in security information management.
Collier said he has “messed around” with his family’s computers since he was a kid, and through the consortium was able to translate it into a job.
“IT internship was interesting, and it worked out pretty well,” said Collier. “It was an excellent opportunity.”
Tracy Wilbur, a teacher with Lexington 1’s technology center, said the consortium also has assisted her with advice, funding, educational materials and virtual job shadows.
She said her students are particularly drawn to gaming, 3-D animation and other more flashy aspects of IT. The consortium helps her leverage that interest.
“It’s the first group of people who truly seem to be concerned about IT,” she said. “They have a good foundation and great ideas and are interested in growing the curriculum.”
Those programs will grow more in January when the consortium’s new facility opens in the Wilbur Smith building.
It will have hardware and software computer labs and a 200-seat theater among other features, allowing students to get out of the classroom and into a different and hopefully inspiring environment.
“We can provide a lot of different experiences for students,” Brookshire said. “Anything we can do to try to get them interested.”
Source:http://www.thestate.com/2010/10/31/1537966/sc-consortium-strives-to-fill.html
