City prime$ tech pipeline
THE CITY is expanding a program that connects students to tech jobs, with a $1 million investment and new partnerships, Mayor de Blasio said Tuesday.
The NYC Tech Talent Pipeline — which de Blasio created in 2014 — links schools and students with the city’s booming tech sector. The city’s Small Business Services Department operates the initiative, which has already placed more than 750 students in internships and tech training programs.
Now the city is expanding the program by offering new tech apprenticeships and internships at companies including IBM, Verizon and Accenture. That brings the total number of companies working in various aspects of the initiative to 175.
Pipeline also works with 15 city colleges, including Columbia University, the City University of New York and Cornell Tech. Lehman College recently joined the program that’s geared toward younger New Yorkers who are trying to break into the middle class.
“The NYC Tech Talent Pipeline is centered on providing new opportunities,” de Blasio said. “Those impacted by this initiative will gain the skills and experiences they need to be a part of one of the fastest-growing sectors of our economy.”
People who have completed a pipeline training program have seen an average 34% increase in their wages, a spokesman for the Small Business Services Department said. The initiative’s 10 programs target various demographics, including college students and underemployed or unemployed New Yorkers.
Lois Tatis, 24, of Brooklyn, participated in a pipeline training program at Manhattan’s Flatiron school. After finishing in December 2015, the former sales rep landed a coding job at Manhattan startup LearnVest.
“I never saw tech as a viable career,” said Tatis, who’s tripled his old salary at his new job. “These programs are huge because they bring awareness that technology is a path.”
The city’s tech sector is one of the fastest-growing aspects of the local economy, with more than twice as many New Yorkers employed in it over the past decade, according to Manhattan-based Center for an Urban Future.
Tech is one of five economic sectors de Blasio has targeted for an infusion of local workers with the small-business department. The others are construction, food service and hospitality, industry and health care.
The project is part of de Blasio’s larger effort to provide more middle class jobs to New Yorkers, a spokesman for the Small Business Services Department said.