Illinois Reboot: Application Now Open For Free Tech Skills Training Course
Applications have now opened for the fifth cohort of Illinois Reboot, a free virtual coding pre-academy that gives participants a strong foundation in data science literacy.
This year American Family Insurance and the University of Illinois Research Park have partnered together to fund this awesome program so that young professionals hoping to expand their tech skills can do just that. The overall goal of the program is to diversify the tech workforce and make these important skills more available to a wider population.
The hope is that the course will help create a more inclusive technical society and open up these critical skills to underrepresented populations that are hoping to break into the industry. Women, people of color, and other minority groups are encouraged to apply to the program.
Illinois Reboot is a 9-week program that educates participants on a variety of coding languages and programs such as UNIX, GitHub, SQL, and Python. Other topics introduced include image processing and statistics. The program also provides supplementary mentoring and coaching opportunities from local tech professionals that have extensive experience in the tech field.
Illinois Reboot “opened my eyes to the many different programming languages that I didn’t even know existed,” said Anita Hines, who successfully graduated as part of the spring 2021 cohort.
“This program aims help those seeking to pivot in their career path and enter the Central Illinois tech economy, which may lead to high-paying, stable careers in data science,” said Laura Appenzeller, executive director of the University of Illinois Research Park. “We were thrilled with the results of our past three cohorts and can’t wait to welcome more students as together we work toward a more equitable and innovative tech workforce.”
Corporate partners, including Carle, Caterpillar, and Wolfram Research, have been an integral part of the program by teaching topics and giving career advice.
The program is free thanks to grant funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. Additional resources from American Family Insurance will allow Illinois Reboot to fund scholarships for students to pursue more training after completing the course.
The Spring 2023 program will begin on Monday, April 10, and continue through mid-June.
A University of Illinois Research Park certificate is awarded to those that successfully finish the course.
The deadline to apply is February 27, 2023.
For any questions or to request more information, email Emily Neal at [email protected].