On August 25th, 2017, StormWind Studios was quoted in a leading higher education publication regarding the implications of signed changes to the GI Bill. The Inside Higher Ed published a piece that discussed the current barriers to employment for veterans and how the new “Forever” GI Bill will address these challenges. This new bill was signed into a law by President Trump last week and seeks “to help veterans hone or develop their technology skills to land jobs in a growth industry.” While the main goal of this bill is to provide more funding to cover college tuition and fees for veterans, it also starts the conversation for including “high-technology” boot camps and online course providers.
StormWind Studios’ Federal Team was quoted as being active in this pilot discussion. Here is an excerpt of the whole article:
“…One such company is StormWind Studios, which offers online IT training courses.’We receive calls on a daily basis from veterans asking how they can use their benefits to take StormWind Studios’ training,’ said Karl Baum, enterprise account manager at StormWind Studios.
Baum said that he had spoken to a lot of ‘very capable and technically qualified’ candidates who want to transition out of military service into federal agency roles, but said that many find they don’t have the necessary credentials to pass through basic job application filters on USAjobs.gov.
‘If a potential goal of the legislation includes mitigating the Department of Defense unemployment compensation, a meaningful tangent of this high-technology pilot program hopefully leads to a deeper discussion on more effective methods to translate the invaluable skills gained during military service to future employers,’ he said…”
Read the original article from Inside Higher Ed.
We sat down with our Federal Team members, Nicole Steinbach (former Army) and Karl Baum to discuss more about this opportunity and about being quoted in this publication. While we will publish more from this interview in the next few weeks as changes occur, they both expressed their passion for helping veterans transition to the civilian workforce in the best way possible for our servicepeople. Despite their passion, the previous GI Bill prevented veterans from using their educational resources towards IT training courses through any other institution than a university or college. However, some of these servicepeople may only need a one or two certifications instead of a 4-year degree. With the new Forever GI Bill, qualified providers within the pilot program can train and educate those from the armed forces with federal funding.
“Some of the most capable and technically qualified candidates for these [IT] roles are transitioning out of military service. But, these ladies and gentlemen are finding that they’re not equipped with the necessary credentials and certifications to pass through basic job application filters on usajobs.gov.” said Karl Baum. We receive calls on a daily basis from veterans asking how they can use their benefits to take StormWind Studios’ training. This month’s new law and potential for the pilot program would help StormWind help veterans.
We look forward to the opportunities afforded by this Forever GI Bill to answering gaps in IT training opportunities.
Stick around for upcoming blog posts about this initiative!
Want to learn more about IT training solutions that StormWind Studios offers? Visit our compare page here.