The following email Q&A is with Scott Smith, senior vice president of human resources operations at AT&T. AT&T recently announced a partnership with Udacity to launch a nanodegree program geared toward individuals looking to qualify for high-demand jobs in the high-tech industry. The partnership is significant on two levels. First, it marks a major departure from convention for a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provider, and exemplifies Udacity’s movement into the corporate training space. Second, it is a significant example of corporations taking prospective employee development into their own hands. In this interview, Scott remarks on the development of the program and discusses how he expects the nanodegree partnership to impact the rest of the postsecondary industry.
1. What was the impetus for AT&T to become involved in developing the nanodegree program with Udacity?
AT&T developed the nanodegree program with Udacity because of its great potential to help our employees build skills in critical software disciplines — and to also widen the pipeline of applicants skilled in key technologies.
We’re transforming our company from hardware-based to a software and fully mobile-centric business. The nanodegree offers an efficient, accessible and affordable way to offer continuous learning for skills that help create a larger pipeline of STEM-trained workers. And it’s not just technology companies that will need these skills. It could be anything from manufacturing to retail clothing — wherever there’s a need for more software developers.
2. Why did AT&T choose to partner with Udacity rather than a traditional college or university?
Udacity is a pre-eminent leader in the MOOC space and the MOOC platform will allow us to scale to a wide audience with an affordable program, anywhere there’s a broadband connection. It will also be accessible to diverse populations under-represented in the tech field. We will be able to guide development of the curriculum based on tangible hiring and training needs and tweak the courses as we go along.
The nanodegree complements traditional university programs and is not a substitute for them. We continue to support existing universities and will continue recruiting the best and the brightest from them. We will use both paths to recruit the best talent.
3. Recognizing that the program is young, how does AT&T hope to benefit from the nanodegree program?
For starters, the first courses being offered this fall will be based on requirements needed now for entry-level jobs in computer science. These include front-end and back-end development as well as iOS mobile application development. We will provide up to 100 paid internships that we will offer to high-performing nanodegree learners.
4. As the nanodegree program grows, what do you expect the response from higher education institutions will be in regards to programming that helps individuals gain critical workforce skills?
The nanodegree is very different from university programs. It focuses on lifelong learning and addresses the needs of a dynamic workforce. We very much support existing universities. AT&T has sponsored a new online master’s degree program in computer science with Georgia Institute of Technology and Udacity. This program has attracted thousands of applicants, and hundreds of students are presently enrolled.
The nanodegree is more focused on the specific skills required for specific jobs. The demographics will also be very different. Most Udacity learners have already earned advanced college degrees. At the Georgia Tech program, we find that the average student age is 11 years older than traditional on-campus students. Many learners will be employed, have a family and benefit from the fact that all education can be delivered through mobile devices. So the nanodegree will be complementary to traditional universities.
This is about adding more choices and options to help increase STEM skills and STEM employability.
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