IT Funding With the increasing difficulties in finding workers with the right skills, it is important for information technology firms to develop and broaden the skills of their existing workers. The IT Training Program provides up to $25,000 for Iowa companies to upgrade the technical skills of existing IT employees. Funds require a 2:1 match and can be used for tuition, contracted training services, travel, and other costs.

During FY ’10, IT training grants assisted 33 companies, training 286 workers with instruction provided by private training companies, universities and special vendor training offered inside and outside of Iowa. Below are comments from two Iowa companies that have utilized the IT Training Program to extend their training budgets:

“The IT Training Program has been a great value to Far Reach Technologies. Our company is frequently challenged with learning new technologies. It is important for us to learn about these technologies – what they are and how Far Reach could utilize them. The IT Training Program has assisted our staff in attending IT conferences to learn about new technologies, network with others in our industry, and grow as IT professionals. We have already utilized the program twice in 2010 and have plans to use it once again in 2011.”;

— Chris Rouw, VP Product Development, Far Reach Technologies

“We received assistance for training when our employees attended the International Manufacturing Technology Show in September and IPC-A-610 Instructor Training in February. Sending an employee to the IPC A 610 course shows our customers that we are staying up-to-date with the latest technologies and committed to continuous improvement related to high-tech products. Several of our customers have documented high standards and examine the training records of our employees for confirmation of our commitment to quality and innovation.

The conference funding allowed us to send an additional person to the conference. Several improvements have been made to our manufacturing area, including new programming techniques, increased tool life, set-up time, etc. As a small but growing computer manufacturer in Iowa, we greatly appreciate the designated funding.”

— Deb Dirks, PHR, Crystal Group Inc.