RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Two years ago, Brandi Apetsi was a single stay-at-home mother of four, with no college degree, living in Bethel, North Carolina.
“My marriage ended, and I found myself without many options,” she recalled.
Fast-forward to today: Fresh from completing IBM’s “earn-and-learn” apprenticeship program, she is now employed full-time as a technical support engineer at the tech giant’s RTP campus.
“Every day I wake up, I still feel amazed and where I’ve gotten in such a short period of time.”
In the Triangle and the nation, there is a growing skills gap in the tech industry.
Even with the ongoing pandemic, more than 27,000 tech jobs were available in August – nearly the same as in July – says the trade group NC Technology Association in its monthly Tech Talent Trends Alert.
However, experts say many of those openings go unfilled because there are not enough trained professionals for the job.
In 2017, IBM launched its paid apprenticeship program caters to both students and mid-career professionals taking a new track — its answer to the skills gap.
It offers paid training as cybersecurity analysts, mainframe system administrators, project managers, digital designers, software developers, and more — no degree acquired.
Apetsi’s story
Originally from Washington, D.C., Apetsi completed a few semesters of college before enrolling in the US Army where she served as an HVAC specialist.
A few years later, she returned to civilian life to stay at home and raise a family. But when her marriage ended, she needed a new plan.
At one point, she worked night shifts at a factory making car parts.
“The conditions weren’t really that great,” she said. “I’d work until 3am, come home, sleep for a couple of hours, homeschool my kids, get enough sleep to go back. I needed my time back.”
Brandi Apetsi
Ultimately, she decided that she wanted a job in technology. However, she didn’t want to incur student debt.
Her first move: enrolling in Lambda, an online coding school that offers a training course to become a web developer or a data scientist.
There’s also no down payment. Lambda covers costs until student is employed and making at least $50,000 a year. At that point, graduates pay back 17 percent for two years.
“It’s about a nine month [course]. I actually didn’t finish because when the apprenticeship came up, I transitioned into that,” said Apetsi.
‘New collar worker’
Since its launch in 2017, more than 500-plus people nationwide – including Apetsi — have been hired directly from the program.
She is an example of what IBM likes to call a “new collar employee” – meaning those that don’t require a traditional four-year degree, but instead have “the right mix of skills.”
Almost half (43 percent) of IBM’s current U.S. job openings in the US are for “new collar” roles, just like the role that Apetsi is now in.
“Never in my wildest dreams that I think I was going to be here,” she said.
“I went from zero income, to a coding boot camp and not really knowing what was going to happen, to being very comfortable. But I had to shoot my shot, and it paid off.”
This is one of several training opportunities that IBM offers. Others include tech re-entry programs, and P-TECH education.
“In the wake of COVID-19 when more than 13 million Americans are unemployed, IBM believes new collar jobs and training opportunities are imperative for the U.S. workforce,” an IBM spokesperson said.
