The tech industry has long championed skills-based hiring, yet most entry-level jobs still require a degree. The reality? Workers need both technical skills and the critical thinking, management, and problem-solving abilities that come with a degree to succeed in tech. In The Apprenticeship Playbook, Mike Roberts, CEO and founder of Creating Coding Careers, and Dr. Eric Dunker, Founding Executive Director of NCAD, share how major tech players, like Accenture, Lockheed Martin, and Siemens Healthineers, are looking to a growing solution in health care and education to address their undercredentialed and under-skilled talent - the apprenticeship degree.
Apprenticeship Degrees combine “broad-based academic knowledge with practical, paid, skills-based training,” offering a "shared relationship between the employer and the university.”
And the results?
“With the apprenticeship degree, tech employers can train learners to navigate rapid AI-era changes, while colleges and universities simultaneously instill the durable skills of the liberal arts degree. Half of the learning of an apprenticeship degree is job-embedded; the other half is seminar-based outside the typical workday. An apprenticeship degree allows students to earn a credential without having to choose between earning income and completing coursework.
What’s more, the apprenticeship degree yields graduates significantly more likely to be loyal to their employer—studies show 34% higher retention rates for working learners. By partnering with higher ed to offer apprenticeship degrees, tech companies can save the high costs associated with replacing workers—often one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary. They can tap their own entry-level talent pools to upskill workers instead of engaging in bidding wars over a limited number of computer science graduates. Employers save money by hiring their own apprentices and land uniquely qualified employees who already know the company…opening up opportunities for family-sustaining, long-term career pathways for employees.
We’re bullish on the apprenticeship degree, and the tech sector should be too.”
Read the full op-ed on The Apprenticeship Playbook here.