Want a job in AI? Start at your local community college
In The News Piece in Fast Company
May 6, 2024
Shalin Jyotishi was quoted in an article in Fast Company about how community colleges have created two-year AI programs to serve the needs of students seeking jobs in AI and tech companies facing talent shortages.
Josh Sinnott graduated from Arizona State University in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in business. He worked various jobs, including a bakery, Charles Schwab, and a local startup. At 26, in 2020, he decided to enroll in an inaugural associate degree program in AI at Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGCC) outside of Phoenix.
“I was looking for a change of pace,” he said. “I wanted not only to upgrade and update my source of income, but I also had always loved tech.”
The two-year, $6,500 program included coursework in areas like database management, statistics, and Python coding, which Sinnott initially struggled with. “Even though it’s an associate [degree], I know a lot of the things that we were doing were more like Master’s level coursework,” he said.