CNM bootcamps offer fast-track to high-wage tech jobs

Central New Mexico Community College’s “Deep Dive” workforce-training programs have proven a smashing success since launching eight years ago, with hundreds of graduates now working in high-wage jobs in New Mexico and elsewhere.

And, apart from offering graduates a fast-track to high-tech careers, the program is providing a huge boon for local businesses and startups like Telemetry Insight Inc. that require employees who are specially trained in digital-technology skills, such as building the software and hardware needed to wire up Internet-connected smart devices.

Of the dozen or so employees now working at Telemetry Insight, which launched last year, nearly half are recent graduates from CNM’s Deep Dive “Internet of Things,” or IoT, program.

“We’ve been really impressed with the students coming out of IoT and they’ve already played a crucial role,” said Telemetry Insight Chief Operating Officer Shelley Barratt.

The Deep Dive program began in 2014 with a 10-week “coding” bootcamp for students to rapidly learn software programming skills. Since then, it’s expanded to seven different offerings covering everything from web development and digital media to data science, IoT training and Java coding.

The programs offer intense, crash courses that allow graduates to emerge job-ready in their chosen field, according to CNM Ingenuity, which manages all of CNM’s commercial programs and endeavors, including the Deep Dive program. CNM Ingenuity reports nearly a 90% career placement rate for students within one year after graduating.

To date, about 1,100 graduates have been hired by some 300 local and out-of-state companies, said Dena Thomas Aouassou, CNM Ingenuity’s interim senior program director.

“When students come in, they’re often leaving jobs that pay $22,000 to $25,000,” Aouassou told the Journal. “After graduating, they get hired into jobs with an average $52,000 annual salary. And, after one or two years gaining direct work experience, they generally see another $20,000 jump.”

Apart from high-wage jobs, many students also enroll in Deep Dive programs to launch their own businesses, with more than 60 new companies to date started by students after graduation.

The program has proven particularly attractive to people who aren’t interested in traditional, more time-consuming college pathways, said CNM Ingenuity CEO Kyle Lee.

“(The) bootcamps have provided outstanding results for both our learners who gain access to great jobs after just 10 or 12 weeks of immersive training, and our local businesses that now have a source of employees with specific technology skills,” Lee told the Journal. “… Deep Dive has become a valuable asset for our community and economy, filling key needs at the forefront of the digital technology workforce.”

Indeed, scores of graduates have cycled through jobs at many of the local high-tech startups that now populate the New Mexico landscape, such as Build with Robots, Ingenuity Software Labs, drone-maker Silent Falcon, interactive design company Ideum, and the data analytics firms RS21 in Albuquerque and Descartes Labs in Santa Fe, to name a few.

Telemetry Insight, however, has hired the highest number of graduates than any other single company to date, reflecting the critical need for IoT specialists. The startup hired a total of seven IoT program graduates, although two have since left the company. And it’s planning to hire another two graduates from the Deep Dive data science bootcamp.

In fact, Telemetry Insight itself enrolled one of its IoT technicians, Isaac DeLeon, in CNM’s IoT bootcamp after hiring him last October. He graduated in March.

“The company paid for me to learn new skills through the program,” DeLeon told the Journal. “I feel a lot more prepared now.”

Apart from recruiting IoT specialists, Telemetry Insight also continues to use CNM’s FUSEMakerspace Downtown, where the IoT bootcamp is taught, said Technical Support Specialist Clint Wolf, who graduated from the IoT program in 2020 and joined Telemetry Insight this year.

“We fabricate some things with various tools available at the FUSEMakerspace, such as their laser printer,” Wolf told the Journal. “…We custom-make some parts and components there that are unavailable through third-party suppliers.”

To date, 70 people have graduated from the IoT program, which launched in 2020, said Brian Rashap, lead instructor for the Deep Dive IoT bootcamp.

“Building smart connected devices requires a special set of skills,” Rashap told the Journal. “We launched the IoT program because it’s still hard to find people specifically trained in that area. We need to build the workforce.”