The Milwaukee Tech Hub Coalition, an alliance designed to attract and retain technology professionals and companies in the Milwaukee region, has announced a partnership that will help it build technology apprenticeships in the Milwaukee area.
The coalition has partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development's Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards and Seattle-based apprenticeship program Apprenti to help increase the region's tech labor force. Apprenti is launching operations in greater Milwaukee as part of its partnership with the coalition. Apprenti will provide training for the apprentices before transitioning to local employers for on-the-job training.
The DWD’s Registered Apprenticeship program allows people to earn a wage while learning a trade. Those apprenticeships can be for plumbing, broadband technician jobs or information technology positions. DWD also offers a youth apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship, which help prepare people for the process.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded DWD a $9 million grant to fund its Registered Apprenticeship program.
“Building capacity for registered technology apprenticeships is a critical strategy for increasing the diversity of our tech workforce and demonstrates a collective commitment to develop local tech talent,” said Laura Schmidt, chief talent development officer at the Milwaukee Tech Hub Coalition. “We are especially grateful to member employers, many of whom have already signed the MMAC Region of Choice pledge, for being a part of building this program together. We are simply unable to advance key talent development strategies without employer support."
The coalition launched in October 2019, with Northwestern Mutual, Kohl's Corp., Rockwell Automation, Johnson Controls, Advocate Aurora Health and Accenture, which is incorporated in Dublin, Ireland, but has an office in Milwaukee, as the six founding companies. The companies pledged a two-year commitment to contribute a combined $5 million to fund the not-for-profit coalition.
The coalition has since grown to 57 members, including We Energies, Milwaukee Tool, American Family Insurance and Molson Coors.
According to 2019 data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual mean wage for all computer occupations in the Milwaukee region is $73,600. Between 2010 and 2019, tech-related jobs in Wisconsin grew by 25.6%, according to a report by Downers Grove, Illinois-based Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).
See highest-paying computer jobs in Milwaukee below.
