Bringing Youth into Tech

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Who we are: Bringing Youth into Tech (BYIT) is Phase One of the not-for-profit, Computing For All’s, Digital Skills for All Initiative that focuses on career awareness and preparation programs. This introductory sampler class introduces underserved, opportunity youth to beginning tech skills and educational pathways to tech careers.   Our approach is modeled on interactive, basic instruction that integrates coding, computational literacy, and digital media skills with 21st century job skills, team-based project work, and career connected learning.   Our goal is to help fill the current IT skills gap between the large numbers of available tech jobs and the growing deficit of trained workers available to fill them, with youth who might not otherwise be aware of the opportunities available to them in technology.
What We Do:  This phase one program introduces youth to a broad overview of tech careers and beginning digital skills. BYIT exposes youth to information technology, computer science and math, and inspires them to engage in further exploration of tech career pathways. We teach a series of short workshops introducing students to computer science concepts and tech careers. Our experiential, hands-on approach empowers students to engage with computer science as a medium for creativity, communication, problem solving and fun. BYIT currently takes place in partnership with other Youth Serving Organizations, and will be offered at partner high schools beginning in 2020. This beginning course helps students to identify the areas of information technology that they feel the most affinity with to pursue in the next phase of our program, the Digital Skills Academy.

Short, introductory workshops include topics such as Introduction to IT, Basic Programming, Web Development, Game Development and Animation, Digital Marketing and Social Media,  Computer Network Fundamentals, Mobile Applications, an overview of tech careers, Future of IT, and more.

Career Awareness:  Our approach is modeled on basic instruction that integrates coding, computational literacy, and digital media skills with 21st century job skills, team-based project work, and career connected learning via speakers from the local tech community and on-going career preparation via curriculum aimed at the demands of the current tech job market.
Career Exploration: These sampler workshops include opportunities for students to experience basic coding exercises and participate in team projects that enable them to practically apply what they are learning. This combination of education and hands-on experience helps them begin to develop a sense of the kinds of jobs they might have an affinity for. Visiting local tech companies for tours exposes youth to what tech career paths look like in action and prepares them to select tracks to focus on when they move into the Digital Youth Academy the following quarter where they will deepen their learning and experience.

https://digitalskillsforall.azurewebsites.net/courses

The Tech Resource Directory offered by Digital Skills For All will help learners to acquire essential training to establish a tech career. It is a regional digital skill training resources directory that features classes, workshops, camps, events, as well as apprenticeships and internships. It is a cross-institutional collaboration of individuals from higher education, government, nonprofit, and industry that are working with the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) on a project to create a resource directory of available technology skills and Educational opportunities in Washington state. The audience for this tool are people who want to build skills and find appropriate training opportunities in tech, as well as providers who want to refer or recruit students. Our goal is to facilitate connections between training programs and learners through a website which features a myriad of technical education opportunities.

Registration Closed for Summer 2019