“We hear a lot of businesses now say if they have some training in a certain area, we will take it and morph it into what we need,” said Amanda Byers, director of talent and policy at the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce. “And I think that just has to do with the companies getting creative with what options they have.”
Area colleges are seeing strong enrollment in computer science.
Clark State College enrolled almost 200 students in certificates and degrees this fall related to computer science. Wright State University found computer science was the second-most popular major for first-time students this fall, with 140 students, just behind nursing, which enrolled 363 first-time students. Sinclair Community College used a grant from the National Science Foundation to expand the number of women getting computer science degrees.
But local employers still say they need more computer scientists. Demand from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is one of the reasons why there’s such a high need in the area, Byers said, but there’s also demand across the board from other sectors too.
“Every company in Ohio is now a tech company in some form—technology has transformed the way we do business across all industries,” said Lt. Governor Jon Husted. “From manufacturing to healthcare, the need for tech-savvy workers is greater than ever. This shift makes it critical for Ohio to produce more computer science graduates or certification holders to ensure we stay competitive.”
Computer software engineers have a high expected salary, too. According to the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, the median salary is $103,000, while the U.S. Census Bureau puts Ohio’s median salary overall at about $67,000.
Darryl K. Ahner, professor and dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Wright State University, said Wright State students tend to end up working in one of three types of jobs: working on the base, working for defense contractors or working for any other type of company.
“Nothing is just the mechanical system anymore, it’s all internet of things,” he said. “Everything’s connected.”
Everything, from the F-35 plane to the data that companies collect to better see who their customers are involves some type of coding and computer science, he said.
He said even with artificial intelligence able to write code, it’s still going to be a field that people need to be involved in.
“The outlook is going to be really, really strong,” he said.
G. Michael Poor, chair of the computer science department at the University of Dayton, said there’s a lot of demand from employers for the understanding of how computer systems work together.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
“There’s been just a high demand, just across the board, for people who do things that would qualify under the idea of data science, which is the investigation of how you display data,” he said.
Under current Gov. Mike DeWine and Husted, the state has invested heavily in STEM education for kindergarten through 12th grade. While colleges and universities are seeing an increase in the number of their students who are graduating with computer science degrees, there’s a need to introduce the topic at the kindergarten through 12 level too, said Bryan Stewart, workforce director for the Montgomery County Educational Services Center.
There are tens of thousands of kids who have an aptitude for computer science, Stewart said, but only a small fraction of those students go into computer science. Getting kids involved early can make the idea of it less intimidating, he said, and partnering with local people in computer science and companies can be a great way for kids to be interested.
“We just don’t have enough people taking computer science classes,” he said.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
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