“We just can’t find Java resources at all,” said Mark Ross, chief executive of the Ross Group Inc., a Beavercreek-based software development and IT services company. Java programmers are in high demand because of the “boom in application development around the Android device,” he said.
The Dayton Daily News has reported extensively about the need for more skilled workers to meet the region’s technology job demands.
Mobile app development has created more than 466,000 jobs since 2007, when Apple introduced the iPhone, said Deb Norris, Sinclair’s vice president of workforce development and corporate services. The median annual salary for a senior Java developer in the Dayton region is $92,445, she said.
“Because it is a new technology, the demand for the jobs is growing faster than the skills there,” Norris said.
Sinclair’s 16-week certificate course starts Feb. 21 and focuses on the skills necessary to program in Java, as well as to develop and publish mobile apps for Android devices. The course is intended for people with prior programming or web development experience.
Norris said the course will give displaced IT workers the opportunity to update their skills to become more relevant in the marketplace. “More importantly, it will make sure that we are providing employers with the skilled workforce that they need so that they can continue to grow and stay here,” she said.
Sinclair’s Workforce Development division developed the course with area businesses that include the Ross Group, Crown Partners and Strategic Data Systems Inc. The course cost from $15,000 to $20,000 to develop, Norris said.
Classes will be held on Thursday nights at the Sinclair Workforce Development Facility at the Miami Valley Research Park, 1900 Founders Drive in Kettering. For more information, visit sinclairappdevclass.com.
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