Another Graduate Gets a Job
Tech Foundry is thrilled to learn that Michael Horton, a graduate from our spring 2016 training cohort recently accepted a job at Paragus IT in Hadley, MA. Michael came to Tech Foundry looking for a career change, and after building up his IT and soft skills he is ready to put these skills to the test as a Client Support Engineer at Paragus. Part of what makes Tech Foundry a great place to be is the opportunity to help the local economy while working with people like Michael. We wish him the best of luck in his new role.
Graduate Job Retention
A successful organization is constantly evaluating its metrics to make sure it achieves its mission. One of the most important training metrics for us is how long graduates remain in their positions after they are hired.
Realizing that we’re approaching the end of another year of IT training and job placement we started to look back at what our graduates have accomplished so far. This exercise reminded us of the strength of our program and the quality of our graduates.
Two students from our inaugural cohort, Gage Musche and Tom Beyer, have been working in their IT jobs for almost a year and a half. Since the summer of 2015, Gage Musche has been employed as a Help Desk Advisor within IT Support Services at BayState Health, fielding tech questions from across the organization. Tom Beyer has been with Paragus Strategic IT since July 2015 as a Client Support Engineer, he works directly with business customers to provide long-term solutions to everyday IT problems.
Both Gage and Tom were the first Tech Foundry students hired into the local workforce. We are proud of their success and our ability to report back to stakeholders that the Tech Foundry graduates are thriving. Our program is keeping employers happy and Gage and Tom are both good reminders of the difference we’re making for the local economy and the community we serve.
Halloween Fun: Costume Competition
Many friends of Tech Foundry know that we like to instill an authentic IT work environment for our students. While that environment is typically filled with a lot of disciplined work, it also includes a little bit of fun once in awhile.
To that end, this Halloween we decided to hold a costume contest with our class of almost 30 students. Even some of our staff got in on the fun. Among the costumes on display were a detective, gnome, firefighter, Rosie the Riveter and Happy Gilmore. But the winning costume was worn by Angelo Jackson who dressed up like a Christmas tree. Although it was a bit early to be taking out the Christmas decorations, Angelo did just that with presents for shoes and working string lights attached to his shirt, all of which he wore throughout the day.
Although we got to take a break from lessons and have a little fun this Halloween, our students are working hard to perfect their soft skills and complete the last of their badges as they go off-site to work with local employers for their four-week internships.
