GOLDEN — Kevin Snow was homeless when the job he thought he secured as a computer technician for Goodwill was given to someone else.
Joel Azoulay dropped out of high school as a junior, uninterested and unengaged and short of the credits he needed to graduate
Neither one of these young men — 24 and 19, respectively — has a college degree, and both admit that, less than a year ago, they were at risk of falling further into their bad situations. Today, they each make living wages as web programmers at Golden-based Web consulting and online appointment website BrieBug Scheduling.
“When I think back about how the events played out, even the smallest decision going in a different direction, I would be working at a 7-Eleven right now,” Azoulay said. “That’s pretty much a fact.”
Azoulay and Snow are graduates of . The program focuses on high-school and college-aged youth who, upon completing an eight-week bootcamp, are placed in internships with employers.
Jeff Macco, the founder and CEO of SeedPaths, said with technology industry jobs in such high demand, he saw an untapped pool of potential professionals in students who were struggling with high school or college.
“What if we changed our target market from folks who want to switch careers or scale up in some skills and target it as another option aside from college?” he said.
SeedPaths works with numerous nonprofits and organizations to find good candidates for its bootcamp — youth with an affinity for technology and interest in working in the industry.
Jefferson County in particular has become a key partner for SeedPaths, paying the full $6,000 tuition for at-risk students ages 14-21 .
SeedPaths’ director of employment, Nicole Winowiecki, said Jefferson County has been the company’s strongest advocate because of its funding structure that allows it to cover eligible students’ full tuition.
In turn, SeedPaths, through its recruiting services, is able to match its graduates with employers. The employers get entry-level staff and — in the case of youth — up to $7,500 in additional funding toward the employee’s initial pay.
“IT and technology is one of our target sectors,” said Marissa Smith, a career specialist for Jefferson County’s American Job Center division in Golden.
Smith said that SeedPaths’ program is just one of the work force trainers they coordinate with, but given the growth in the technology industry, “this is a training program that really makes sense right now.”
The synergy between the county’s program and SeedPaths means that SeedPaths trains dedicated students and the county helps more unemployed people get jobs.
Azoulay and Snow are both determined to stay in the tech industry.
Snow said, “SeedPaths was that opportunity where it was, like, I can actually make a difference and somebody’s actually giving me a chance.”
Josie Klemaier: 303-954-2465, jklemaier@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JosieKlemaier
Updated Oct. 8, 4 p.m. This article has been revised to reflect the following correction. Originally, due to a reporter’s error, the names of Jeff Macco and Nicole Winowiecki were misspelled.
