The company also pumped $75 million into the Microsoft Authorized Academic Training Program (AATP), which trains students at the high school, vocational, community college, and university levels in disciplines such as network management, systems administration, and computer programming. According to Microsoft, more than 100,000 students at 500 schools in 38 states will receive AATP training by the end of the 1998 academic year.

Sign up for Cisco's shop class for the 21st century.
Joining the training effort, Cisco, a leading vendor of network products such as routers and hubs, is sponsoring a nationwide program that will enable high school and college students to earn certification as Cisco Certified Networking Associates. In 1997, Cisco established 57 Networking Academies in high schools and junior colleges in seven states, and the company expects to have more than 400 academies in all 50 states by the fall semester of 1998. Cisco describes the effort as the equivalent of a shop class for the 21st century. Students in the program will learn the skills necessary to design and manage computer networks. Cisco is contributing approximately $18 million in curriculum, equipment, and resources to launch the program.

According to Cisco regional managers Steve Armstrong and Kevin Givens, strong interest in the program has come from the University of the District of Columbia, Howard University, and Archbishop Carroll High School. In Maryland, Baltimore's Washington High School now hosts a Cisco academy, and Givens is working with the schools in Prince George's Co., Montgomery Co., and Baltimore City to establish Networking Academies in those counties.

In addition, Cisco is teaming up with the Virginia Community Colleges System (VCCS) to start regional academies on 23 campuses throughout the state by the fall semester of 1998. These regional academies will support local academies in Virginia high schools. Armstrong and Givens believe there are approximately 30 schools in the District that could potentially host Cisco Networking Academies.

Novell has opened a novel foundation.
Novell Inc., the Orem, Utah-based vendor of networking software, is also sponsoring a program for training workers in network administration. Novell recently sponsored a program at Ballou High School in the District that offered students networking courses and career support. The project, carried out in conjunction with the Foundation for Educational Innovation, proved so successful that Novell donated $100,000 worth of software to help expand the program to surrounding schools.

Novell operates 1,450 training centers around the world, with an additional 420 high schools, community colleges, and universities throughout the United States offering Novell training. According to David Marler, director of business development for Novell Education, schools in Michigan, Florida, and California are now working on plans to deploy Novell's Certified Novell Administrator (CNA) program. According to Novell, approximately 25,000 students nationwide will take the CNA course as part of the high school curriculum during 1998.

B.S. holders are top guns at entry-level.
At the university level, says Dr. Lloyd Griffiths, dean of the School of Information Technology and Engineering at the Northern Virginia campus of George Mason University, "the way colleges are teaching [technology] is changing dramatically." For example, at George Mason, students from all departments, including liberal arts majors, will soon be able to select a minor in IT by taking 17 credit hours of technology course work. This new approach "came at the request of industry," Griffiths notes, partly because of the realization that "there are a lot of [technology-related jobs] that don't need a Ph.D. in computer science."

The most solid path for ensuring a long and successful career in high technology is to complete a four-year bachelor's degree in computer science or engineering. According to Griffiths, students who graduate with four-year technical degrees are snapped up by employers as soon as they graduate. Thanks to the overwhelming demand for high-tech workers, most computer science and engineering college grads can pick and choose from numerous entry-level offers, select a work culture that works for them, and negotiate great benefits.

Many companies, such as CDSI, begin wooing students with paid internships that bring them into the company even before they graduate. "We focus on the computer science and business departments," at the University of Maryland for entry-level workers, says Hollister. "We try to get interns from both of those groups" because CDSI has divisions that focus on IT solutions and business application solutions, he says. Even so, it's tough hanging onto the grads once their internships are over and graduation approaches. "The offers these interns are getting are outstanding," says Hollister, recalling one student who had seven job offers prior to graduation.

In addition, regional technology groups, such as the High Technology Council (HTC) of Maryland and Virginia's Northern Virginia Technology Council are leaning on local legislatures to do more to promote high-tech education and training in the schools. HTC, for example, is cosponsoring a tuition release bill in Maryland that would provide free tuition for technology courses at community colleges and universities in exchange for a commitment from the student to work in a Maryland company after graduation.