Minnesota employers hire IT apprentices to boost minority ranks of skilled workforce

Oct 18, 20210

Jeff Wheeler | Star Tribune count

Louis King, CEO of Summit Academy, standing at left, with Andy Bingenheimer, U.S. Bancorp's senior vice president of IT. They are with two Summit Academy graduates, Dwyne Smith, seated left, and James Nogler, both of whom are software enterprise apprentices with USB.

Apprenticeships aren't just for manufacturing and other blue-collar jobs anymore.

A several-year-old apprenticeship movement, most recently in information technology, has rooted among Twin Cities employment-trainers and business partners that are rebounding from the pandemic and recession.

This has led to accelerated hiring of trained IT folks who often lack a four-year degree in computer science, something once required by employers. And it has led to more people of color hired in tech jobs.

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-employers-hire-it-apprentices-to-boost-minority-ranks-of-skilled-workforce/600107479/