What can be seen from IT education in a rural town in the US that suffers from disparities between cities

2019-10-14T22:41:30.010Z

Jefferson, Iowa, in the Midwest. If you leave the city, the fields as far as you can see spread out. Entering an old building built in the 19th century in a rural town with a population of over 4,000, people waited for the moment of ribbon cutting in a sophisticated design space ...

Jefferson, Iowa, in the Midwest. If you leave the city, the fields as far as you can see spread out. Entering an old building built in the 19th century in a rural town with a population of more than 4,000, people waited for the moment of ribbon cutting in a sophisticated design space. On September 7, IT company Pillar Technology opened an office named “Forge”.

“The mission of Blacksmith is to bring people together and unlock the potential for future innovations.” Link Kruger (51), who has worked on this project, stressed that while guiding people.

What is a “blacksmith” that nurtures IT human resources?

“Blacksmith” collects young people from eleven school districts in the state and provides free software development training for four months. After that, he plans to pay the salary as an “apprentice” for six months and get involved in software development.

An explanatory meeting was held at the movie theater next door that invited young people. Bright Schmidt, a third-year high school student who lived nearby, said on the way back, “I love computers and want to learn more. It would be great if I could do this without leaving my hometown in this countryside.” Agricultural giants such as Corteba AgriScience, who support the business, provided scholarships to community colleges and are considering hiring internships from “blacksmith” graduates.

Kruger was born in Iowa, but Jefferson didn't even know his name until a few years ago. I want to create a base for IT education for young people in the country. When I talked to an acquaintance Chris Deal (34) four years ago, he introduced Jefferson, his home town.

Deal studied engineering at Iowa State University and then worked in teaching mathematics and science in poor areas outside the state, but returned to Iowa in 2011. IT personnel have been concentrated in Silicon Valley on the West Coast and Boston on the East Coast where universities and research institutions gather. “We've been exporting human resources to the“ cross-strait ”for decades,” said Deal. “We wanted to continue to train human resources here and let them stay there for a long time.”