October 2020 Tech Upload

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NEW Digital News

Thank You Alliance Members

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The NEW Digital Alliance would like to thank Sadoff E-Recycling for their support as a Strategic Member in 2020. To learn more about Sadoff E-Recycling, click Here.

TechTalent Summit

TechTalent Summit 2020

We are excited about our upcoming TechTalent Summit on October 13. At this event, we will present the state of the Digital ecosystem in Northeast Wisconsin and have a panel discussion about how virtual best practices can contribute to the culture, collaboration, and safety of our all-too-common virtual interactions.

Over the last few years, we collected data from K-12 schools and colleges regarding IT enrollments and graduation rates. This event will be the first peek at data from the 2020 data collection cycle. This year we will also include an update on IT employment nationally and regionally.

We have assembled an exciting panel of local thought leaders who will help attendees understand and discuss how to improve on the culture of the organization, and effectively collaborate in a virtual environment. Panelists will also share tips for how to manage virtual interactions to ensure the safety of all participants, and keep student and company data safe when working remotely.

We are looking forward to insightful discussions and interactions with anyone interested in the digital ecosystem and IT talent pipeline in Northeast Wisconsin. For more information, and to register, https://newdigitalalliance.org/events/.

Intern Updates

The next few months will see some staffing changes at the NEW Digital Alliance. Our college intern, Kaitlyn Alexander, who has been with the Alliance since October 2018 will graduate with her IWM degree from UW Oshkosh in December. She has already found a full-time job with Catch-22 Creative where she starts on November 1 – more than a month before she graduates! In her time with the Alliance she has done an amazing job and we will miss her terribly. Kaitlyn has been responsible for managing our social media calendar and content, and got us started on Instagram. She’s developed and maintained monthly web and social media performance reports, improved our SEO, and has been responsible for all of our digital and printed graphic work. Before she leaves, she will be able to add our first ever Annual Report to her successes. Kaitlyn has also actively mentored our high school intern. We have no doubt she will go on to do great things in the future. Thank you Kaitlyn for all you’ve done to advance the Alliance!  

Fortunately, we have already found a replacement for Kaitlyn. Madeline Hilmershausen started October 1, and has started onboarding with Kaitlyn. Madeline is a junior studying Interactive Web Management at UW Oshkosh and is also the VP of the IWM Club. We are looking forward to sharing more about Madi moving forward. Welcome aboard Madi!

 

What Have We Been Up To?

In the past month, the NEW Digital Alliance has also:

  • Completed planning and finalized panelists for the TechTalent Summit on October 13. 
  • Met with a number of students from the Sheboygan area and talked with them about IT and digital careers as part of the Inspire Sheboygan Live Virtual Event Series.
  • Participated in the NEW Launch Alliance group meeting. This was the first meeting of the full group. The team is working to onboard to Slack and get the sub-teams up and running prior to the October meeting.
  • Attended the CIO Council meeting where regional leaders discussed cost management related to SAAS and vendors/suppliers.
  • Participated in New North’s ongoing Broadband discussions to finalize the EDA grant request and submit prior to end of September.
  • Finalized volunteer needs and program for NEW Connect IT event series in November. Volunteer registration is open. Anyone interested in volunteering for one of the six virtual sessions can register HERE.
  • Began search for a capability maturity model for digitalization which can be used for tracking regional progress towards adopting and implementing tools and processes to address business needs and talent gaps. 

Shared resumes from college students and professionals looking for their next opportunity. Resumes are shared with our investors as part of their benefits. Contact us at Kim@newDigitalAlliace.org to learn more about becoming an investor in the NEW Digital Alliance.

Member Spotlight: Behind the Scenes at Sadoff E-Recycling and Data Destruction – A Family Business

LogoA company like Sadoff E-Recycling and Data Destruction doesn’t just start over night. We wanted to take you behind the scenes on one of our member companies to explain how they became the preferred choice for e-recycling and data destruction. Read the full article to learn how Sadoff innovated their metal recycling business to build an IT data security company. 

Back to School: A New Normal

In September, both of our interns headed back to school despite new and uncertain learning environments. Kaitlyn is in her final semester at UW Oshkosh and Grace is starting her Junior year at Hortonville High School. Hear about their experiences below:

Kaitlyn: “I never expected my last semester of college to look like this. Virtual classrooms, online discussions, social distanced gatherings, and getting to know group members behind face masks are just some of the things that are characterizing my senior semester. However, I am thankful to be back on campus because of the great work that UW Oshkosh is doing with their safety protocols. When campus shut down in March, switching to an online learning environment came with a huge learning curve for many professors and students. As much as I prefer to be learning in-person, I have gotten used to the online environment and the “new norm” we all live in today. Four out of my six classes are completely online, and the other two are hybrid classes. In those classes, students are welcome to come in-person but can flex to going online as they please. As we are now in the fifth week of classes, less and less students are actually present in the classroom and are resorting to online learning. I think this is a great way for our education to continue despite the uncertainty of the world around us right now. 

“Two of my classes in particular are extremely relevant to my degree and what I will be doing post-graduation. One is my Advertising & IMC class taught by Professor Melissa Bublitz. We are doing a semester long practicum in which we will be creating our own websites and learning the ins and outs of inbound marketing and social media first-hand. The other class is my IWM Portfolio class. In this class I will be working on creating an outstanding portfolio with all of the skills that I have learned in the IWM program, as well as doing a semester-long client project. I am eager to finish off my degree with these culminating experiences.”

Grace: “School this year looks completely different from other years, as to be expected. When Hortonville gave the option to be virtual, my family took it knowing full well that there would be a rise in cases and school would be fully virtual soon anyhow.

 “While classes are still being in held in person, the online content mirrors almost exactly what people are doing in person. When it comes to technology, there are definitely staff members who know how to utilize it consistently and those who don’t, but the grand majority of staff members can communicate and teach virtually successfully! A lot of my classes, which would normally be a little slower, can be taken at a faster pace and leave a little more time in my day for other things.

 “With my compacted schedule, I have more time to put in hours both for my Youth Apprenticeship at Secura Insurance and for the NEW Digital Alliance. Additionally, I’m able to spend more time learning, writing, and playing new music to record and upload to my novel YouTube channel!

 “Before COVID, I would never have envisioned doing my schoolwork from home, but, to be completely honest, I much prefer a virtual environment for both work and school. Not only does it give me a little more freedom with my time, but it also gives me the opportunity to excel academically!”

Regional News

Let's Talk About Equity in STEM: A Local Perspective

sySTEMnow Conference ImageRead the latest blog from STEM Forward to gain a local perspective on this crucial issue and find out what the following prominent STEM leaders in Milwaukee had to say on this topic. Help get the conversation started before their 17th annual sySTEMnow Conference, which will be held virtually on October 29, 2020. The theme this year is “Equity in STEM” and the keynote speaker will be Dr. Calvin Mackie. The conference brings together business leaders, community members, educators, and government officials to share best practices and lessons learned, and it has become the cornerstone of STEM-related awareness in our region. There are multiple breakout sessions to choose from and networking opportunities available. Consider nominating someone you know for a prestigious Stemmy – Excellence in STEM Award or highlight your student’s STEM projects as part of Generation STEM.

Pricing

·       Educators – $25

·       General Public – $50

·       Students – free

Register Now

NRC’s Talent Incubator Program Identifies, Trains, and Coaches Local and Diverse Talent

NRC's LogoNew Resources Consulting instituted the Talent Incubator program to identify, train and coach local and diverse talent to fill enterprise application roles. Graduates are provided real-world practical experience working on an organization’s specific software project, combined with classroom training from NRC’s staff of senior consultants.  Organizations are given the opportunity to hire the graduates once the project is completed.

The Talent Incubator offers multiple benefits to an organization, including: 

  • The opportunity to hire local, diversified, qualified and skilled talent who have specific knowledge of your system and processes.
  • A typical project savings of 10 – 20% over the course of a 6 – 9 month project with a reduced bill rate.
  • On-the-job and evening training sessions that are also available to the organization’s own employees. Sessions cover technical topics, as well as project and meeting management and other ‘soft skills.’
  • No recruiting or training costs associated with the hire of a Talent Incubator graduate.

For more information, visit https://nrctalentincubator.com/ or contact Scott Herron at sherron@newresources.com or 920.585.6302.

NEW Manufacturing Alliance Launches New Data Analyst Training Program

Basic-Data-Analyst-Questions-Data-Analyst-Interview-Questions-EdurekaOver the last 18 months, the NEW Manufacturing Alliance (NEWMA) (www.newmfgalliance.org) has been actively studying Industry 4.0 and educating its members on the topic.  A Microsoft grant awarded to the organization was the catalyst to the work that is currently being done. 

NEWMA worked with St. Norbert College in designing an Industry 4.0 study that over 100 manufacturers completed in spring of 2019.  The 2019 Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance’s Needs, Skills & Talent study found that only 7 percent of participants had a complete Industry 4.0 plan.  Clearly the membership needed more education. A taskforce of over 80 members, mostly manufacturers meet monthly for shared learning in areas like cobots, AR, IoT, additive printing and cybersecurity.

The St. Norbert study found that most manufacturers believe that data analytics will be critically important for their company to use within many different divisions of the organization from engineering to supply chain. The need to upskill their employees in data analytics was the springboard to a new Data Analytics training program utilizing LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft. Participants will receive certificates for training and a badge on LinkedIn. 

The 8 week program includes:

LinkedIn Learning:  Become a Data Analyst (Approximately 24 hours of training)

  1. Learning Data Analytics
  2. Data Fluency: Exploring and Describing Data
  3. Excel Statistics Essential Training: 1
  4. Learning Excel: Data Analysis
  5. Learning Data Visualization
  6. Power BI Essential Training
  7. Tableau Essential Training
Learn More

NEW Connect IT: VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

For the past few years, the NEW IT Alliance (now known as the NEW Digital Alliance) has hosted a large event for high school/college students at Lambeau to generate interest in IT careers. This year, of course, it’s going virtual. There will be 6 Zoom sessions held in early to mid-November for students to attend. Each session will be an hour long and will include one or more panelists joining via video from each of the following groups:

  • Higher Ed (you are a college instructor or admissions staff member)

  • Employer (you are a tech recruiter or hiring manager)

  • IT Professional (you are a tech employee)

During the session, each panelist will be asked questions from a moderator (these questions will be provided to the panelists in advance). There also may be live questions from students.

To make this event happen, we need your help! If you fit any of the above roles and would be willing to be a panelist for one of the events, please click here to complete a registration form; event dates and times are listed in the form. Someone from the NEW Digital Alliance will then follow-up with you at least 1 week prior to the event with logistics details (list of panelist questions, link to join the meeting, tips for the session, etc.).

Thank you for helping to advance technology careers in Northeast Wisconsin!

Click here to learn more about the event: http://newconnectit.com/

Register as a Volunteer