Tech Blueprint

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Making a Difference in our Technology Pipeline

Thursday, September 24, 2015

By Angie Beltz, Vice President, Cisco Solutions Group at Tech Data

Tech Data is excited to host the 2nd Exploratory Lab Boot Camp next week. Pat Gehant, Raquel Acuna and I can’t wait to engage with the 19 students from 5 different local colleges and universities across both technology and non-technology degrees. The Exploratory Lab Boot Camp is a collaborative program sponsored by TBTF (Tampa Bay Technology Forum), SPC (St. Petersburg College), Valpak, Tech Data and Agile Thought. The commitment of these organizations has resulted in a solution to solve local issues. The Exploratory Lab has two objectives—close the skills gap between what businesses are seeking in the technology workforce and connect students to 20,000 local technology companies looking for interns and employees to fill job openings, of which the Tampa Bay area has approximately 4,000-6,000 at any given time.

Tech Data is a finalist for the TBTF’s “Student Program of the Year” award for its collaboration with other local business and universities and its efforts to create the curriculum, lessons and facilitator guides for Exploratory Labs.  More than 42 Tech Data employees across the organization created the content, delivery method and facilitated the 22 session curriculum. Agile Thought and Valpak also contributed to the Agile and Lean development sessions of the curriculum, which is led by Agile experts about the working view the culture at Agile.

The curriculum targets three pillars: technology solutions overviews, integrated business and tools and processes to create a better user experience. Thirty percent of the sessions are activity based applications and every activity is within the student’s dedicated group. The student groups are required to deliver a business plan following the boot camp focused on wearable technology.

The first program resulted in 86% of the 22 students—from five different institutions— landed internships and/or jobs. Most of which had never even considered the technology industry as a career option. The most prominent feedback we received was the student’s ability to gain confidence through the program because it helped them better understand their career path.

For example, Rafael Murga was a Public Policy major at SPC and was advised by one of his professors to apply for the Exploratory Lab Boot Camp. It turns out, was completely enamored by the program and he found out through the Lab that had the skills required to work in the technology industry. The visibility and the access to technology companies he received also resulted in an internship at Tech Data in the Advanced Infrastructure Solutions (AIS) division on the Cisco team that I manage. Before his internship was over, we hired him on to work in our IT department with e-Business.  The Exploratory Lab Boot Camp was a big win for Rafael, but it was also a win for Tech Data because we acquired a great new hire.

Throughout the first Exploratory Lab Boot Camp and now, the importance of partnering is top of mind. Introducing students to the technology industry, preparing them with the skills needed by technology companies, and connecting them to future employers is critical to building our pipeline locally. Local business partnering with local institutions is a fantastic way to bridge the gap and influence the pipeline of available jobs. It’s up to all of us to play a part in the development and training of our future workforce.