Certification Magazine - September 2007 - (Page 23) science departments fell 28 percent between 20032004 and 2005-2006. “IT workers are a small and declining portion of new U.S. university graduates,” Stevens said. “Clearly, that is not a huge population available for hire.” This is why Nationwide is proactive in financing its IT professionals’ continuous education. “In a declining supply market, you have to manufacture a greater supply,” Stevens said. “We asked ourselves how we could most cost-efficiently manufacture more IT workers, and that was to be willing to step up to the plate financially.” After one year of employment, associates at Nationwide are eligible for the company’s tuitionreimbursement program. They’re allowed an amount capped at $5,250 a year. “That has to pass the muster of being applicable to the associate’s job,” Stevens said. “So, if you’re vice president of HR, and you’re taking massage therapy classes, that probably wouldn’t work. But if you’re nondegree or approaching a master’s degree, or if you’re looking for specific technical training, we’ll pay for it.” When it comes to certifications, Nationwide employees have to successfully complete the program, however that’s defined, to qualify for reimbursement. “Some of them are not test-based, so then it’s just a pass/fail or a complete/incomplete, but they have to successfully complete it,” Stevens said. “Certifications are a big part of what we pay for.” Stevens said he does not feel incoming IT professionals regard Nationwide’s tuition-reimbursement program as a high-priority draw to coming onboard. “It might be a secondary benefit when it comes to the recruiting process, but it really isn’t a primary benefit,” Stevens said. “We’re finding that the ability to work on cutting-edge projects, using a skill that is currently in-demand, is so much greater a proportion of the enticement or recruiting process that if they’re choosing between two opportunities, our willingness to support ongoing education might be icing on the cake, but it’s not part of the layers of the cake.” Once onboard, though, many of Nationwide’s IT associates do take the company up on its offer of tuition reimbursement. But the number is not a sizeable majority of the company’s IT workforce, something Stevens YOUR TURN We put the education-financing question to our readers on our CertMag.com discussion board, asking whether any IT professionals out there would be willing to share their experience financing their IT education. “I financed my IT education by ‘selling’ myself to the banks,” our first respondent, Rexon, said. “I used federal subsidized student loans. It was a good idea at the time — by the time I pay off the loan, I will be ready to retire, even after having consolidated them.” He suggested IT students who are just starting out look at scholarships, grants or even joining the military for tuition, and he urged IT pros to be proactive in finding out whether their employers will help finance IT education. We also heard from longtime CertMag.com forum discussion board contributor Wagnerk (now Certification Magazine columnist Ken Wagner), who offered a rough breakdown of his experience. “I took out loans (grants weren’t available for me). I worked to pay for some, not all, of my technical certs,” he said. “I saved up a little each month and paid by installments. And an agreement was struck up between the college in my area and me — I’d teach for them (professional IT courses, Microsoft, CompTIA, etc.) in the evenings, and they’d pay me an unqualified lecturer salary and pay for some courses and exams that I wanted.” This is yet another avenue an aspiring IT professional can pursue in financing an IT education: Turn around and teach the skills you’re developing to further your own growth as an IT pro. To contribute to this discussion, go to www.CertMag.com/forums. attributes to the difficulty of finding the time to pursue classes and achieve an adequate work-life balance. “It’s a difficult balance, but it’s table stakes to get in,” Stevens said. “The IT population (not just at Nationwide but nationally) is savvy enough to recognize the incredibly short life cycle of skills’ value, and so they’re aware that part of the price of entry of getting into an IT career is that it’s going to require ongoing maintenance of skill sets.” For this reason, Stevens said the willingness of companies such as Nationwide to work with IT professionals in scheduling continuous education is as valuable as financing the education itself. “I would argue that equally as important as the straightdollar cost is the willingness of managers of associates who are taking advantage of these opportunities to flex their schedules to give them periods of time when they can take advantage of study groups or test review or whatever,” Stevens said. “When you look at value to the associate, that’s close to equivalent to the straightdollar reimbursement of tuition costs.” 8 – Daniel Margolis, dmargolis@certmag.com September 2007 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE 23 http://CertMag.com http://CertMag.com http://www.CertMag.com/forums
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