Beyond gap years and traditional technical schools, skills-based training is available for those not interested in the traditional college pathway. Top firms such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon look to specialized schools like Flat Iron for competent individuals with skills in software engineering, data science, and cybersecurity, to name a few. These firms offer short-term skills courses from anywhere between a single month to a semester or two and provide students with the precise skills and knowledge they will need for in-demand entry level jobs in the technology sector. Qualified candidates may receive tuition funding up front and pay back their fees as a percent of their salary upon being hired under job placement guarantees offered by many of these schools. Other schools operating in this sector include Fullstack Academy, Thinkful, and Code Chicago.
Apprenticeships are an alternative for those who like to work with their hands and have the confidence that there will be the opportunity for a long-term career, up to and including owning your own business. Indeed, the US government’s Apprentiship.gov program reports that average starting wages for an apprentice graduate approaches US$72,000 per year. These figures exceed the average starting wage of college graduates for most occupations, but do seem to taper over time giving an edge to the lifetime earnings of college graduates. However, most tradespersons are invited to complete overtime work as a result of frequent worker shortages and have the ability to enhance their earnings substantially at important life junctures such as the times you are saving for a new home or welcoming a child.
Apprenticeships are not limited to the traditional trades such as plumbing, electric, or the culinary arts. Indeed, Microsoft’s Leap Program apprenticeship takes students who have achieved some measure of success such as starting their own business, having completed a data analytics project in school or independently, or completed a coding bootcamp and offers them a pathway to a long-term career in any of several high technology fields including data science, software engineering, or business program management.
