Originally published July 2020 at https://www.escondido.org.
Escondido Insight — Business Spotlight
‘New Collar’ Job Training Program in Escondido Pays Students to Learn
As the knowledge economy continues to grow, apprenticeship programs like the one at Escondido-based San Diego Code School will become more important to regions around the globe, sparking job growth and boosting quality of life in communities. The San Diego Code School’s apprenticeship program was recently approved by the Department of Apprenticeship Standards and received Employment Training Panel funding to support workforce development at its two locations in downtown Escondido and Southeast San Diego — both achievements of which should be celebrated!
San Diego Code School operates out of The Synergy Centre co-working space
The San Diego Code School, which opened in September 2018, has shifted gears a bit and is now tuition free and its students get paid to code. The apprenticeship program, which started in March 2020, follows many traditional trade professions giving students a chance to learn by working directly in the field. Students accepted into the program are placed in a yearlong paid technology position where they learn the process by doing it. The San Diego Code School works with partner companies throughout the county — including ServiceNow, NewRocket, BD, UCSD/PoNG, Kizen, and BrainLeap — who pay apprentices to learn software development, who in turn, get real world experiences in the industry.
Most of the students who apply for these apprenticeships are between 25-to-35 years old, and are looking to transition into technology.
“I’m trying to help people that are in the earlier parts of their professional careers, figure out what they can do to get back into a job,” said Michael Roberts, Founder of San Diego Code School.
As far as recruiting goes, Roberts’ approach is to reach out to community organizations for candidates. Here he is finding young people who may not be on the traditional college career path yet are still looking for good jobs. “By reaching out into the community, we get this much more diverse candidate pool and that ultimately results in more candidates working their way through and qualifying for this kind of role,” he said.
This recruiting technique has proven successful as recently 99 potential students applied for four open spaces.
Roberts — a software engineer who has worked in the technology space for three decades — feels the apprenticeship model works well for the technology sector. “It’s a super simple concept when you boil it down to the way we get funded.”
He went on to explain that instead of having companies ship their workload offshore, they instead send it to San Diego Code School and there, local students will work on the projects. “From the students’ perspective, it’s even simpler. You’re just getting paid to learn.”
Michael Roberts (back row, far right) with San Diego Code School students.on Demo Day
There has been such a demand for its unique program that the San Diego Code School expanded from its home base in downtown Escondido to another location in southeast San Diego. “These are both untapped areas in San Diego,” said Roberts, adding that these areas are rich in minority communities who tend to be underrepresented in technology. “We want to create that opportunity where otherwise it may not be.”
Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has shut down its physical locations, the school is operating fully remotely.
By participating in this program, students become proficient in QA (Quality Assurance), software engineering and software developer roles. These skills will give them the training and experience to find programming and junior-level software engineering roles.
Roberts calls this the “new collar” job. “I think the future of work is going to look like this,” he said. “A lot of jobs are going to be in some sort of technology and I feel like these are fundamental skills. Folks should have the basic mechanics of how to do some light coding. They really need to be able to think programmatically to break problems down and deconstruct, and communicate technology, all those things that we can teach someone to do fairly well in a year’s time.”
San Diego Code School equips students of all backgrounds with the tools and knowledge to start successful tech careers
Apprentices from San Diego Code School have been placed in several small-to-midsize technology companies throughout San Diego, and some are working with major companies such as Walmart Labs and Sony.
San Diego Code School has a nonprofit branch that helps support the mission to bring minority and underrepresented students to technology. Advancing San Diego, an initiative through San Diego EDC, has backed the school with a grant that has offered a few students internship hours through designated work they provide. “We think it’s an awesome opportunity for them to get some real-world experience,” said Roberts.
Roberts is continually seeking grants and partnership opportunities like Advancing San Diego to continue to build the school and give more students opportunities to learn and work in the regional tech industry.
San Diego Code School is also part of Innovate 78, and Roberts feels the North County is a thriving community. “Being around so many dynamic leaders in the area and seeing all the advanced manufacturing and all the great things happening up close and personal, I think has been really eye-opening for me,” he said.
Roberts added the city leaders of Escondido have welcomed his business and have offered assistance in many ways. “We’ve even had the mayor over. I spent a lot of time in this area and still did not expect the kind of warm reception that we’ve had in the City of Escondido.”
Roberts, who feels Escondido is the perfect fit for his school, added, “Anybody that wants to get involved can check out our website. We’re always looking for you; companies or sponsors. If folks want to further this cause and help create this breadth of underrepresented talent, we’re always looking for folks that are willing to help us out.”