Coding Academy Grant is a Key Win in Closing Tech-Skills Gap

A chronic challenge for the Sarasota County area is the gap between the skills many companies in our growing technology sectors need and the skills of the employees available. This challenge is only expected to get worse in the next five years with the creation of an estimated 2,700 new local technology jobs.

Which is why it was such a huge win when State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota was awarded a $3.6 million grant by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity to create a Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation in the old SCF library on the Bradenton campus and a regional coding academy that will include a location in downtown Sarasota. The coding academy is aimed specifically to address this skills gap.

“This is an incredibly important initiative to make the workforce competitive while offering students an alternative path with real-world application,” said Anand Pallegar, CEO of atLarge, which is located in downtown Sarasota and was one of several players critical to the success of SCF’s grant application. “This will be an integral part of building a competitive workforce. We’ll definitely be drawing from the coding academy.”

SCF’s plans have many exciting elements that will benefit the area, but the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County was particularly focused on the visioning, vetting, planning and advocacy of the coding academy as the key to filling business-skills gaps and positioning the grant for approval.

It was important to make sure that the private sector was engaged and enthusiastically supportive — and it really stepped up. Dozens of local companies participated at some level in the grant process. Civic leaders like the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and the Barancik Foundation also provided support, as did Sarasota County government. There was tremendous regional cooperation with the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp. and our local legislative delegation leader, Sen. Joe Gruters, provided key support.

“We are proud to partner with our region’s economic development leaders through the SCF Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation to deliver market-responsive training and education to meet the needs of our community and industry,” said Dr. Carol Probstfeld, president of State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota.

The Florida Job Growth Grant Fund application was submitted several months ago and there was enormous competition for limited funding. Our community’s vision and regional cooperation, along with the tech-job creation opportunity, put us over the top.

“We need to make Sarasota more tech-focused, and we need to build a pipeline, and traditional school systems are not really set up to get these kids trained,” said Pete Petersen, CEO and managing partner of Dealers United.

In part, coding academies provide the solution by being short but very intensive training sessions.

“A lot of people like this region and want to support it by hiring here — not offshoring it,” Petersen said. “This is a great way to bring high-paying jobs to the region.”

Petersen, another important player in getting the grant, frequently travels to Silicon Valley; Austin, Texas; and New York for business, all of which have multiple coding academies in operation.

Many high-tech positions are no longer found only at tech companies. Petersen points out that most companies of any size now have developers and IT staff, increasing demand and further broadening the skills gap.

With the grant application and award announcement behind us, now the real work begins.

“It’s an awesome opportunity for our community,” said Pallegar, who has been helping determine how the coding academy should be established and run. “But we have to get it right.”

Most of these coding academies’ programs last for about 16 weeks. They jump-start intensive training, sort of like binge-watching on Netflix, and offer many types of instruction, from front-end designers for a basic user interface to more full-stack training in databases and logic.

“In one semester, a coding academy can get people from knowing nothing to being totally ready,” Petersen said.

And that is the promise that SCF, the EDC, tech community leaders and all the partners are committed to realizing.