Google is working with community colleges to train future IT professionals

Google is going back to college. The company announced today that it is bringing its IT Support Professional Certificate to over 25 community colleges to help graduates get in on the estimated 150,000 well-paying jobs currently open in IT departments around the country. The program will be available in the 2018-2019 school year. Google will also help workforce development nonprofit JFF expand its work in seven states, including California, Texas, New York, and Michigan.

The new community college program comes from its Grow with Google program, which helps workers improve their digital skills to prepare them for the new online economy. Launched in January on the Coursera learning platform, Google’s IT Support Professional Certificate takes students from know-nothings to know-it-all IT professionals in about eight months, no previous experience required. Some 40,000 people have already enrolled in the program, and the new community college outreach should add to the rolls.

There’s also some job-hunting help: Graduates of the online program can now share their information directly with more than 20 top employers who are looking to hire IT support talent, including Bank of America, Walmart, Sprint, GE Digital, PNC Bank, Infosys, TEKSystems, UPMC, and Google itself. Today, Google announced 14 more companies have signed on to consider resumes from applicants who have completed the online program.