KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A partnership between the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development is giving people the chance to break into the tech industry at no cost.
WeCode KC is a nonprofit organization with a focus on helping people learn more about technology. They say they've received an open-ended grant from the state, which has helped at least 25 adults get a head start on careers like web development, data and coding.
"If you learn one coding language, you can easily learn a bunch of different ones and that will make you more marketable when it's time to go look for jobs," explained Jasmine Jones, a WeCode KC participant. "WeCode has been super instrumental in being able to teach you these different coding languages, whatever language that you want to learn."
The partnership gives people to access Coursera, a program that offers a variety of online classes used by top universities and companies. The coursers are self-paced and can range from virtual reality to advertising.
"This is truly truly a game changer, we are actually closing the tech talent gap in Kansas City," said Tammy Buckner, CEO at WeCode, "Our goal is to make sure that youth and young adults are skilled up to get the amazing jobs that we have right in our backyard in Kansas City."
Buckner says other partnerships with local nonprofits like KC Scholar have helped them students obtain internship opportunities and bring in industry professionals to further help students.
"We still have funds to help other people, we recently graduated a cohort in April and we are now working with those adults to obtain industry-recognized and high paying jobs," Buckner said. "It's amazing that they have the skills, they have the certification now that they didn't have before to get into a very in-demand industry."
To learn more visit,WeCode KC.
