16 Weeks to Prepare For Your IT Career
Tech Foundry offers a high-touch competency-based 16-week IT Support training program. The program delivers an integrated learning experience that combines professional development, career readiness, and technical skills. Progress is measured through our badge system, allowing members to iterate on their work until proficiency is achieved. Through this journey, members will become part of a tight-knit community and have the opportunity to engage in various projects, participate in professional development workshops, meet professionals in the field, complete a capstone project, and intern with one of our employer partners. A lot of emphasis is placed in career readiness. We assist in preparing our members for lifelong learning in IT and other workplace industries and position candidates to be more successful in competing for marketplace IT jobs. Each participant leaves the Tech Foundry program with individualized career products they can use to promote themselves in their IT career and land jobs in the IT field. The 400 hour TF experience results in the following outcomes:
- Essential Technical Skills
- IT Resume
- IT Cover Letter Template
- Elevator Pitch
- Real Time Interviewing with Employers
- IT Career Mapping Plan
- Thank you letter template
- Career Readiness Plan
- Oral and Written Business Writing Proficiencies
- Career Coaching
The Badge Process
Students complete three components in order to receive a badge in a specific skill:
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LEARN
Students learn a skill through a combination of lectures and hands-on tasks. At the end of this step students should be able to replicate what they learned on their own.
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DEMONSTRATE
Students demonstrate their ability to work through a series of tasks by setting up and managing systems found on regular IT companies.
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Documentation
In order to show their mastery of the skill, students document and share their new knowledge. All projects are delivered through a ticketing system where students detail the scope of the problem and resolution. Students also deliver weekly status reports detailing the progress of their projects.
Tech Foundry Badges Show You’re Ready for a Career in IT
Badges:
IT Fundamentals
- Office365
- IT Customer Service
- Hardware Fundamentals – Desktop and Server
- Operating Systems
- Fundamentals of Networking
Professional Development and Work Readiness
- Leadership Style and Planning
- Goal Setting
- Communication
- Teams and Collaboration
- Interviewing
- Resume
- Cover letter
- Feedback
- Problem-solving and Creativity
System Administration
- Network services – DHCP & DNS
- Active Directory
- Imaging and Deployment
- Project Management
- End Point Security
- Virtualization
Capstone
- Final project leveraging prior skills gained in the program.
- AWS Educate provides the infrastructure to deploy the project.
FAQ
How long is the program?
This program meets five days a week, Monday-Friday, and requires a minimum time commitment of 22.5 hours per week from 12:30-5:00pm.
How often do you host the program?
For the past two years we have delivered the program in the Fall and Winter-Spring.
What does the program consist of?
16 weeks (400 hours) of combined experiences:
- Career coaching
- Career readiness courses
- Leadership courses
- Technical courses
- Internship
What is a capstone project?
All TF members will be engaged in a final project during their 12th week. The project can be proposed by the member or they could engage with one we would recommend. The goal is to deploy a server that can provide a service to one or multiple users. In the past year we have leveraged our partnership with AWS to deploy the projects in the cloud.
When should I apply?
We currently do not have rolling applications but encourage prospective applicants to check during the summer (June) for the fall class and fall (November-January) for the spring class.
How much does the program cost?
There are no fees associated with participation in this program. However, members will have to invest an incredible amount of energy and time into the program.
Do I need prior technical experience?
We recommend that members have some technical proficiency that will help them navigate comfortable around a Windows computer.
How can I prepare for class? Do I need any tools or equipment?
Before starting the program we recommend to read anything regarding software and hardware troubleshooting. You will be taught these skills during the program but it may serve well to know what to expect coming in. Tech Foundry will supply the equipment necessary to succeed in the program.