Northern Virginia Community College is pleased to announce the graduation of its first cohort of Uncommon Coders. Following a competitive application and interview process, this first cohort launched in early February. The group of ten students has spent 60 to 80 hours a week for the past 12-weeks in an accelerated on-site program designed to train veterans and give them the valuable coding skills they need to enter the very in-demand field of IT coding. Students have learned Java coding language, giving them the skills they need to move up in the information technology workforce. The program is focused on veterans, transitioning service members, military spouses and veteran spouses.

NOVA Workforce has partnered with the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) to work with local and regional employers to learn their workforce needs and to help meet them. The partnership resulted in publication of the Northern Virginia Workforce Needs Assessment which identified a strong demand for individuals with soft skills, coupled with technical skills in coding languages, such as Java. NOVA is taking an industry driven approach to ensuring employers have the talent pipeline they need to remain competitive in our regional economy.

Uncommon Coders was developed to meet the growing demand for programming-related jobs in the D.C. metro area, while also equipping local talent with the skills they need to get hired. NOVA Workforce hired The Iron Yard, a nationally-recognized coding and programming boot camp provider to support instructional aspects of the program.

Businesses in the D.C. metro region are expected to add 22,000 new jobs in the technology sector over the next ten years, a figure that does not account for vacancies left by retiring workers. As of April 2017, there are more than 25,000 information technology vacancies in the region.

More about the Uncommon Coders program.

NOVA Workforce is excited to publish our latest regional labor market dashboard for January through March, 2017. Important highlights include:

• There were 91,474 job postings advertised online during this time period, indicating an increase of 11.3% in the number of available jobs over the last quarter of 2016.
• There were 13,430 cybersecurity and healthcare positions alone, representing 14.7% of all advertised positions.
• The employer highlight features Navy Federal Credit Union, which has announced job expansion in the NOVA region.
• The industry spotlight is on Outpatient Care Centers, one of the fastest-growing healthcare industries in the region.

For additional labor market research publications, data resources, or to contact us, please visit our website at www.nvcc.edu/workforce under the “Labor Market Research” tab. NOVA Workforce also thanks the Alexandria/Arlingtion Regional Workforce Council and The Skillsource Group for their support with the Regional Quarterly dashboard.

View the dashboard.

Whether you are looking to gain additional credentials to boost your current career success or learn a new skill to make a career change, NOVA Workforce has the classes and programs you need to succeed. Our programs provide you with the skills and training you need in high-growth industries. Classes are affordable and available both online and in person at one of our six local campuses. Classes begin in May, so register online today!

Did you know that the D.C. metro area had the highest number of job postings preferring the Certified Ethical Hacker?

Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) is now an EC Council Accredited Training Center (ATC). As a part of this competitive accreditation, NOVA is now able to offer the official Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) course. The CEH v9 completely maps to the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) framework and has met the ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 Personnel Certification Accreditation standard.

The program uses EC Council Official Curriculum and is taught by an EC Council Certified Instructor. The course will be taught at our new Regional Workforce Center in Woodbridge:

• Course cost is $2985 to include the textbook, virtual lab access to practice in a secure environment, and a test voucher for the official exam.
• If someone is domiciled in Virginia, they may be eligible for Workforce Credential Grant Funds, meaning that the participant would only pay $995 for the course/textbook, virtual lab and test voucher.
• Course is 40 hours and meets on Friday evenings.

At the conclusion of the course, the participant will be able to schedule their certification exam in the Professional Test Center in the Regional Workforce Center.

26% of all national job postings requesting the CEH are located in the D.C. metro area, so we hope you will consider registering for the CEH program today! Classes begin this month.