Code The Dream’s Co-Executive Directors Daisy Magnus-Aryitey and Dan Rearick, and CTD Labs Director Tom Rau discussed the Tandem Apprenticeship model with partners Cisco and SAS during a webinar on September 14th. The online panel, presented by NC TECH, highlighted the benefits of the innovative employment model.
Panelists discussed their experiences working with Code the Dream apprentices, who gain real-world experience in a corporate environment while giving potential employers a chance to support a diverse and talented pool of developers, with the option to hire.
Chris O’Rourke, vice president of wireless and engineering at Cisco said the Tandem Apprenticeship model could help to address “inertia around the talent pipeline that is not really solving some of the diversity challenges we’re having in tech.”
“We’ve come to the conclusion that we really need to think outside of the box to infuse Cisco with a diverse pipeline,” O’Rourke said.
Amy Dull, senior manager for FrontEnd UI Development/Design at SAS said that the apprentices who are working with SAS were able to benefit from the environment and training, and from the opportunity to present their work to SAS executives. In turn, she said, the apprentices benefited SAS with the quality of their work.
“They came in with an amazing foundation but seeing them grow even further is just fantastic,” Dull said.
