By Lucas Mearian
Senior Reporter, Computerworld |
By the time she was 21, Sara Mothersil had attended college for three years — and changed her major three times. She didn’t know what she wanted to do, but did realize one thing: college wasn’t her path to a career.
“I did not like college; it was just the thing to do,” the West Palm Beach, FL native said in a recent interview. “Your parents encourage you to go to college and get an education, but my heart just wasn’t into it. I couldn’t find anything I was passionate about.”
Sara Mothersil, an apprentice with Multiverse and a fulltime analyst with Intermountain Healthcare.
Not long after graduating with an arts degree, Mothersil saw an ad on TikTok for a technology apprenticeship program. She figured it was scam, but when she saw the ad again on Instagram, she reached out to UK-based Multiverse.
Multiverse, as it turned out, was for real; it was offering 12- to 15-month apprenticeships in tech careers — and full-time employment in a number of industries. Mothersil is now five months into her apprenticeship and works as a business management analyst associate for Intermountain Healthcare, one of the largest healthcare providers in the western US.
“I love learning first and foremost,” she said. “Being able to learn from Multiverse and being able to apply what I’ve learned almost instantaneously at Intermountain has been game changing.”
Increasingly, US workers are turning to alternative credentials as a way to demonstrate and enhance their skills. Those alternatives include tech certifications, badges, and apprenticeships, which are supplanting traditional education and work experience.
The number of apprentices has been rising since 2011, and hit a high of 636,515 in 2020. Since 2014, the number of apprentices completing their training each year has grown 118%, from 44,417 eight years ago to 96,915 in 2021, according to the US Department of Labor.
Since 2012, the number of workers participating in certified apprenticeships has grown by 64%, with more than 14,000 new apprenticeship programs added since 2017. During that same five years, 484,000 workers have trained through apprenticeship programs, according to Labor Department statistics.
“Without question, we’re seeing this as a significant trend,” said Graham Waller, a vice president analyst at Gartner Research. “Not only are we seeing it as a major trend, but I’m personally passionate about it. There are so many great advantages of that [apprenticeship program] approach over the traditional computer science degree.”
One of the challenges with traditional classroom-based learning, for example, is that only a small portion of the information taught is used on the job, Graham noted.
A 2020 study by Gartner indicated that employees apply only 37% of the new skills they learn through traditional training. The same study showed skills also have a limited shelf life; 33% of the skills needed three years ago are no longer relevant today.
“The traditional degree is made up by a boatload of information you hardly ever use, and because you’re learning for three years without using those skills, you’re falling further behind as state-of-art technology is moving ahead all time,” Graham said.
When education is matched to a job where the lessons can be readily applied, both talent goals and business outcomes rise sharply, Graham said — nearly 10-fold.
Alternative credentials can highlight untapped talent and even bolster diversity when employers embrace different ways of obtaining skills, whether through in-house education or other non-traditional programs, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) funded by Walmart.
In the survey of more than 2,800 upper and mid-level managers, 81% of executives, 71% of supervisors, and 59% of HR professionals agreed alternative ways of credentialing yields a more diverse workforce.
Corporate approaches to filling tech skills gaps is increasingly to upskill or reskill current employees, some of whom have tech skills but not the ones now needed. Adding to current knowledge or completely retraining employees is known as “skills adjacency;” in practical terms, it means someone working in marketing or customer service, for instance, can be trained in specific technologies the business needs most.
For example, a business unit might need more data scientists; someone who knows how to use spreadsheets can be taught how to crunch data to provide business intelligence. Such skills adjacency can play a role in making apprenticeships the most effective method of training, Graham said.
“They have an adjacent set of skills that leads to opportunities for a career in tech; this is where we’re seeing apprenticeship programs springing up more and more,” Graham said.
Apprenticeship programs also help diversify the talent pipeline specifically in the tech industry, according to a report from the Kapor Center and the NAACP. Black students represent just 6% of those enrolled in advanced placement computer science courses despite representing 15% of the overall student population, according to the report. By contrast, 17% of apprentices from 2016 to 2021 were Black, according to US registered apprenticeship data.
In addition, the proportion of Black students receiving a bachelor’s degree in computer science from between 2016 and 2020 from 9% to 8%.
“Apprenticeships provide a path for workers in underserved communities to overcome obstacles in accessing affordable learning,” said Pierre Dubuc, founder and president of OpenClassrooms, a global education-to-employment online platform with 355,000 students in 140 countries. “Concretely, this means that apprentices are hired and paid wages by an employer, while their tuition fees are also covered by the same employer.”
Particularly for tech jobs, companies in recent years have had to re-think how they find workers, according to Dubuc, whose Paris-based firm has been expanding into the US from Europe and Africa.
“Apprenticeships, which have long been popular in Europe, are now increasingly being recognized here with public sector and private company support as a quick way to train workers for these jobs by tapping into more diverse talent pools,” Dubuc said. “Apprenticeships are becoming more popular because companies have realized it’s a great way to train workers for the jobs they need to fill.”
Beyond that, tech apprenticeships and the jobs that follow pay well and don’t carry the debt burden of a four-year degree, Dubuc noted.
For example, OpenClassrooms and global shipping enterprise Merck partnered on tech-focused apprenticeship programs where participants earn from $24 to $32 an hour, rising to $40 to $50 an hour after three months, according to Dubuc. In contrast, the average salary for an apprentice in the US. is $19.26 an hour, according to Indeed.
“When apprentices complete the…program, which includes our robust online training and mentorship platform, they receive an industry-recognized certificate from the US Department of Labor — and likely a job offer,” Dubuc said.
OpenClassrooms was recently recognized as a Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) with the US Department of Labor.
In February, the Biden administration launched an initiative to expand RAP with the Apprenticeship Building America grant program. The grant provides $113 million to modernize US-based apprenticeship programs. RAPs are industry-vetted, approved, and validated by the Department of Labor or a State Apprenticeship Agency
The Labor Department’s ApprenticeshipUSA’s website helps job seekers find prospective apprenticeship programs, each of which offers paid, full-time employment while acquiring skills and credentials employer’s want.
Ninety-three perent of apprentices who complete a program retain employment at the company and, on average, earn $77,000 a year, according to an ApprenticeshipUSA document.
Earlier this month, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. signed a proclamation in observance of the eighth National Apprenticeship Week, recognizing the importance of mentorship programs and hundreds of millions of dollars the federal government has put toward registered apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship programs in various industries. For example, the US government created a 120-day Cybersecurity Apprenticeship initiative that has already connected 140 employers to potential workers attending cybersecurity training programs.
Earlier this year, Expedia Group launched a return-to-work project called the Return Ticket Returnship Program, which can be attended by any worker with a caregiving gap on their resume greater than two years. The prospects don’t have to be former Expedia Group employees — anyone with at least five years of tech career experience who left the workforce to care for someone can apply.
Expedia Group, which owns travel booking platforms Expedia.com, Hotels.com and Vrbo, integrates prospects into teams and matches them with a dedicated manager — essentially a mentor. The program is meant to sharpen worker skills, help them update resumes with new experiences, make networking connections, and have them begin contributing to an Expedia team with the aim of converting to a full-time position.
The tech industry was hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Resignation, leaving organizations facing a dearth of qualified job candidates for more than 1 million openings.
For all US jobs, the number of openings was at a high of 11.5 million at the end of March, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Meanwhile, in each of the past six months, more than four million people have quit their jobs, according to the agency.
In tech, the talent shortage is even worse. While the national unemployment rate hovers around 3.6%, for the tech industry it’s 2.2%, according to CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce. That’s prompted employers throughout the US to step up their search for workers — and to revisit the qualifications (such as a four-year college degree) they require.
With an extremely low unemployment rate, the industry is rethinking what job applicants need to get hired. Skills-based hiring is on the rise, and 59% of employers have already or are considering eliminating college degree requirements — changes that could reshape the IT workforce.
For Mothersil, college amounted to a lot of information being “thrown at her” by professors, but she was never sure whether she would ever actually use what she learned. By comparison, the apprenticeship program through Multiverse was a whirlwind where one week she was being interviewed as a potential candidate, and the next she was partnered with a company and beginning her 12-month training program.
While the program can be completed remotely, Mothersil decided she wanted a change of scenery and earlier this month moved to Utah, where Intermountain Healthcare is headquartered and where she could intermittently enjoy an office setting.
In comparison to learning from a professor face-to-face, it was the remote learning and work at Intermountain that Mothersil said was among the most challenging aspects of the program. “That’s why I push myself to go to the office,” she said.
She also made a concerted effort to keep up with other Intermountain apprentices via Zoom, something the company encourages.
“In the same way college affords students a professional network, we want to make sure it’s not an either-or for our apprentices; we want to set them up to be a future leader in their career,” said Sophie Ruddock, general manager of Multiverse’s North American operations. “We invest heavily in community, offering access to speakers who range from MBAs to former government leaders.”
Multiverse candidates, or “cohorts” as they’re called by the company, are allowed to pick from technology or management disciplines, such as project management, digital marketing, software engineering and data analytics. Candidates are tested for their proclivity, and from that assigned to a company based on its skills needs.
Multiverse works through apprenticeships with small companies all the way up to global enterprises,such as Visa, Cisco, Verizon and Box.
One aspect of her apprenticeship Mothersil likes in particular is the ability to tell her workplace manager what she learned during any particular day of training and how she can apply that to her job.
The training through Multiverse’s remote program wasn’t easy, she said. Learning SQL Server, Tableau, business intelligence, and data virtualization at an accelerated pace was challenging to say the least. But she was able to work closely with her mentor.
“I have a close relationship with my coach,” Mothersil said. “I’m able to say if I’m struggling here. Even though it’s challenging and intimidating, especially when comes to coding…, I’m confident in the tools I’ve been given.”
Mothersil has long had a passion for organizing her life through Excel spreadsheets — grocery lists, budgets, college achievements, countdowns to events, and the like — but it never occurred to her she was working with “technology,” or more importantly that someone would pay her to do it.
Copyright © 2022 IDG Communications, Inc.
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For companies that want to upload and store files online, M-Files is a very user-friendly option for document management. It is full of features to help make your business’s life easier.
For any office looking for the best in document management systems, M-Files is a standout choice. Its simple-yet-effective guiding principle of classifying information by “what” it is rather than “where” something is stored has changed the entire game.
You can find documents more quickly, and data is stored more intuitively so your document management process runs smoothly.
M-Files can be used offline, with items syncing up when service is restored. It integrates with most office software, and stores everything in one place. Also, M-Files utilizes search and tagging to help you stay organized.
From running simple searches to find what you are looking for to no longer worrying about unsaved data getting erased (thanks to autosave and updates done during saving), M-Files ensures accuracy and efficiency for thousands of files.
Thanks to its innate ability to scale, M-Files is an excellent choice for a variety of industries and businesses. It also expands on its offerings from just document storage to include things such as automated workflows and metadata management.
M-Files positions itself as an all-inclusive product for organizations that need just a little bit more out of their software. It shines when data and document management, integrations, and workflows are part of day-to-day operations.
It may not be best suited for heavily transactional requirements, or reporting that calls for extensive calculations, but most other technical, sales, HR, marketing, etc. needs are met and then some.
A lot of the excitement in the M-Files community comes from their robust and well-thought-out features. Beyond essential data storage, the application has many handy capabilities.
M-Files doesn’t make use of the old-school folder filing system and instead uses dynamic organization to keep things simple, effective, and intuitive.
It creates virtual folders that automatically organize your content, allowing you to search for precisely what you need rather than comb through levels of best guesses.
Find just what you’re looking for with a top-down view. Image source: Author
The search bar shows a top-down view of information, as you can see the pathways connecting your data and how topics relate to one another.
Rather than go to a folder for invoices, and a separate folder for all proposals, you can see related folders while searching. Documents themselves can be viewed in the same totality digitally, meaning users can view all data from one place.
M-Files integrates with your existing software easily. You can sync files and data from Microsoft Office, Salesforce CRM, and much more. There’s no need to uproot your document management process, as M-Files works around your existing infrastructure.
While in-app access and editing for multiple authors is undeniably a good thing, the larger your organization is, the more threat there is of two people accidentally editing something at once and relevant information getting lost or modified.
Keep track of documents you currently have checked out to edit. Image source: Author
This problem is solved by the ability to “check out” a document from the system, effectively taking it offline and preventing other users from editing it while you are working on it.
When you finish working on the document, you can easily check it back into the system. M-Files document management can track your changes and save your old version, if needed.
You can turn on automatic notifications along with process checkpoints for a document, so you are alerted to important progress such as approvals, sign dates, etc. This feature includes an auditable history of edits and document access.
You can simplify the shared editing process by allowing co-authors to access a document internally in the system rather than keep sending it back and forth as an attachment.
If you need to share with someone outside the organization, you can opt for specific permissions that restrict access and allow for only certain editing access as a way to preserve security.
You don’t need to send full attachments outside the business. By creating custom links, you can streamline the process as well as track edits and authors.
You can also opt to download information in a variety of file types to share or save locally. So while you don’t need to send out email attachments, you still can if you prefer.
You can send files out as links, attachments or separate text. Image source: Author
The searchability of M-Files is centralized, making it easier to find any information. When you save a document, all you need to do is save it and indicate the type of content it is, and the system centralizes it for you.
Access the M-Files app through the Apple App Store, Google Play, and Windows Phone Store. Through any mobile device, users can take pictures of documents and upload them to the system. You sign documents electronically for compliance needs and review documents on the go.
One of the best parts of M-Files is how simple it is to use. There are very few steps to handling every aspect of it. The dashboard itself is straightforward, while every action is intuitive. Accessing it is simple through your browser, while uploading documents could not be easier, thanks to its drag-and-drop ability.
The top navigation bar is simple to understand. Image source: Author
Altogether, M-Files is highly intuitive, adapting itself to how each user works. Because of this, you can learn as you go, and it will conform along with your habits. From the dashboard to editing, sharing, and workflows, every step is as efficient as possible.
The central navigation pane walks you through steps for creating new files as needed. Image source: Author
Where there remains a bit too much of a mystery is with M-Files’ pricing. It works from the mindset of custom offering, which, while a good thing when it comes to getting what you need in a solution, it is an issue if you need to make fast decisions based on budgeting.
Upon contacting M-Files, you can sign up for a free trial to test drive the system before committing to a quote.
Though finding exact ranges of prices quoted is also not readily available, users have reported a higher cost than many other options. However, most say the benefits make it worth the price tag.
M-Files support offers several options to contact. For tech support, you can opt to submit a ticket, including your product’s serial number for priority attention.
You can call the North American or European phone lines or even choose remote support to access your system directly.
For other questions, you can speak directly to a very helpful representative for assistance with uploading content, setting up workflows, accessing further training, etc. M-Files’ library of resources is set up to be just as searchable as its document interface.
You can search for just the answers you need. Image source: Author
M-Files offers seamless Microsoft integrations to upload your existing files. You also have the benefit of quickly setting up workflows via its graphical interface. Saving files is as intuitive as can be; all you need to know how to do is save a file, and it takes care of the rest.
You are also assured that your sensitive information is secure. You don’t have to email out attachments separately. Instead, you can create unique, restricted links that are as protected as you need them to be.
Despite the lack of transparent pricing, M-Files has seamlessly integrated itself into the everyday framework of many organizations for a good reason: It works well, and it is easy to use.
Its features are well defined and purposeful, and the learning curve to get started is minimal. For any office looking to leap to document management, this is an excellent starting point.
There is no direct answer for that, as it determines pricing via individual business quotes. You will need to contact a customer representative for more information. However, you can do a free trial before you decide to commit.
It is designed to seamlessly and easily integrate with the most common applications. For example, it intuitively syncs with Microsoft products and can just as easily be integrated into Salesforce.
Yes. M-Files has a mobile app that you can use to edit, upload, and browse your organization’s files.
Rose Wheeler is a seasoned writer and content manager with more than 15 years of experience. She specializes in content related to digital marketing, small business, personal finance, and CMS. Her work has appeared on sites such as Selz, The Cheat Sheet, and Swaay. When she’s not working with her awesome clients, Rose enjoys cooking, playing games and curling up with a good book.
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Brief: An app to help you explore research photos, and documents without losing out on important contextual information about them.
Organizing photos is a big deal for individuals and researchers. Managing a large photo collection is not easy, whether it is just for a passion project or professional work.
What if you want photos for research or a detailed archive?
Tropy can help you out with that.
Tropy is an impressive open-source software that lets you organize all your research photos, add essential details to them, and have them ready for research purposes as well.
Primarily, it is built for researchers, where you get the superpower to add several properties of metadata to describe the content of your photo.
The photo can be of a document, old book pages, and anything you’d like to keep for exploration.
It saves your research data using SQLite, which is a suitable format for data preservation.
It is not just limited to Linux but is also available for Windows and macOS (Intel/ARM).
While it is particularly targeted toward researchers, I believe anyone can use it. It is user-friendly and easy to use.
You can also use it coupled with Zotero, which is an open-source application to help you collect and share your research.
Let me highlight some key features.
Tropy is not exactly a photo organizer. You can always use some photo management software available for Linux for that purpose.
But, if you want features to keep your photos or images of documents organized for research purposes, Tropy should be a likable option.
The features include:
In a nutshell, you get several features with Tropy. With all the options, you get a wide range of possibilities to organize, sort, seek information, and organize the photos for research and archive purposes.
You also get to add plugins, overwrite photo metadata while importing, add existing timestamps using a local timezone, and a couple of other features.
If this sounds like something you could use, you might want to check out its official introductory video to learn more about it:
You can download the package for Linux from its official website. It downloads a .tar file which you can extract, and then run the executable inside it to launch the application.
If you want to use the AppImage file on Linux, you can download it from its GitHub releases section.
Tropy is a powerful tool for researchers and an interesting option for others. Even if you are not a researcher, having meticulous data for your photos/documents can be incredibly useful at times.
While the features can be overwhelming to replace a photo organizer, I would suggest you try it out for a while to see if you start liking it.
Have you tried it already? What do you think about it? Is there something similar you would recommend for our readers?
A passionate technophile who also happens to be a Computer Science graduate. You will usually see cats dancing to the beautiful tunes sung by him.
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Thanks for this overview! I’m a member of the Tropy education and outreach team and it’s gratifying to see this positive review. Tropy has an extensive documentation and an active forum where users can ask questions, get help with issues, and request features. I encourage anyone interested to stop by and sign up!
https://forums.tropy.org/
How do I install this on Mac and where is the Repo for the code?
Not hard to find:
==> https://www.tropy.org/ -> dropdown -> select Mac
==> https://github.com/tropy/tropy
It’s exactly what I need. I have been looking for this kind of app for years!
Thank you for sharing. Seems like a very useful tool for my research!
Glad you like it!
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