By George C, Ford, correspondent

Iowans who have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic have an opportunity to train for new careers in computer technology.

DeltaV, a Cedar Rapids code, digital marketing and computer operations school, has started a new curriculum with fully paid tuition costs — due to a grant from the Future Ready Iowa Employer Innovation Fund.

The one-week Ops 102: Intro to Computer Operations, will begin in November and will be offered online. Ops 201: Foundations of Computer Operations will be a four-week course that will prepare students for a career as a user support/help desk technician.

Funding from Future Ready Iowa is available for 10 students to take the Ops 102 and 201 courses. Additional funding is available for five of those students to take a four-week Ops 301 course covering network and systems administration.

Students successfully completing the initial five-week program will be qualified to begin a career in information technology as a computer user support specialist, a position that is in demand at many Iowa employers.

The full nine-week program will fully prepare students to be network and systems administrators, another position in high-demand, according to a news release from the New Bohemian Innovation Collaborative, or NewBoCo, the Cedar Rapids not-for-profit-parent of DeltaV.

The classes will teach students to support technology operations for employers by resolving issues with hardware, software and virtual or cloud systems. Students will deploy and troubleshoot Windows and Linux operating systems in various virtual and cloud environments.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENT

Key skills such as customer service, knowledge and process documentation, performance monitoring, system process management, issue handling, backup/imaging/recovery tools, and software application installation, maintenance, and removal will be taught.

The course also includes a career-coaching curriculum to prepare students for their job search.

The Future Ready Iowa funding covers 100 percent of tuition — a $5,000 to $10,000 value. It provides a laptop computer and an “ops kit” — a PC, router and some IT tools.

“People who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic are looking for new opportunities, and with the right training, there are high-demand careers currently available to them right here in Iowa,” Aaron Horn, chief operating officer of NewBoCo, said in the release.

“If you are unemployed, you can’t exactly spend the money to get that training. These awards help to make it possible.”

More details are available at deltav.school.com




By George C, Ford, correspondent

Give us feedback

We value your trust and work hard to provide fair, accurate coverage. If you have found an error or omission in our reporting, tell us here.

Or if you have a story idea we should look into? Tell us here.