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The Okanagan needs more network administrator specialists, and you could learn how to become one in a fully funded certificate training opportunity.
Partners in Resources, or Piers, teamed up with the Centre for Arts and Technology to create the 46-week network administrator specialist program to pitch to the provincial government, which clearly loved the idea and is funding as many as 15 individuals to take the program, free of charge.
“When we were looking at what program to put out, and especially looking in our region and what is needed, we wanted to make sure there’s opportunities when you graduate,” Piers managing director Anai Sangrar-Ordonez says. “The nice thing with a network technician is you can work for a small company, or you can work for a large company. Really, the options are quite diverse.”
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Some of the jobs that can be found in the industry include network administrator, computer network technician, LAN manager, network engineer, desktop support specialist and hardware installation co-ordinator. Students graduating from the program will be fully prepared to write their Microsoft, CompTIA and Cisco certification exams.
“This opportunity allows you to get into an industry that has a labour market need, allows you to specialize in the future and also gives you that opportunity to move up and diversify depending on what you want to do,” Sangrar-Ordonez says.
“And everyone’s talking about inflation and rising costs. With a career such as network administrator, you start well above the minimum wage. That’s an added value to this certificate training.”
Piers is looking for potential students who live anywhere from Penticton to Salmon Arm and are able to take the full-time course virtually Monday through Friday. If you do not have a laptop there will be resources provided so that you have access to one for the program. Fifteen students are being recruited to begin on Oct. 24.
Possessing computer knowledge would be a solid trait to have going in, but it’s not necessary.
“You need a desire to learn to be on the computer,” Sangrar-Ordonez says. “You can learn from the ground up, but you need to have that interest or aptitude to want to learn the computer. We can provide the support from there.”
And once you start gathering that elevated computer knowledge, you will get an opportunity to work with one of numerous local companies that have signed on to provide work placements.
“The really neat thing,” Sangrar-Ordonez says, “is a lot of those employers have potential job opportunities after they’re done the placement.”
Those interested in the network administrator specialist program can reach out to Sangrar-Ordonez via email or by phone at 250-681-4525, or contact your local WorkBC office.
This article is written by or on behalf of the sponsoring client and does not necessarily reflect the views of Okanagan Edge.
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