Woz U

Ray Schey: “The demand for technical skills and skilled labor is growing very quickly, too. How can the Valley in particular ensure the workforce is prepared to meet those needs?”

Chris Coleman: “There ‘s been more educational options for people to get competent in some of these skills. It takes an awareness of trends happening in technology and innovation. Businesses also need to be aware of risks in over-adopting some things, particularly the small to midsize businesses. I think I ‘d like to see them move faster in adoption, but I would also caution people to not get wrapped up and excited in the hype. One of the things we say is technology moves incredibly fast, but technology news moves drastically faster. If you ‘re reading the news and saying, “Hey, my business needs to adapt to these things today,” that ‘s kind of a scary place to be. Most businesses are trying to adapt to the trends from eight years ago. In terms of training people, we have to drive an awareness that these skills need to be available. And so that starts even down in primary schools, making sure people are aware of the opportunity, of the demand, of the need, and some specificity around the specific skills.

It ‘s actually some pretty fun and exciting things to do. A lot of these technology jobs are really exciting and motivating. For me, it ‘s about driving that awareness and that motivation. Once we get over that threshold, the opportunities for education are pretty large at this point, and they ‘re continuing to grow and become more flexible and more available to more people, and more affordable….”

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