The not-for-profit KingstonCanCode is working to open the door to tech careers to everyone in the Hudson Valley, including those with no previous skills, with a range of classes for kids and adults alike.

KingstonCanCode, launched in 2020 as an expansion of AlbanyCanCode, offers adult workforce training programs in front-end web development, Python programming and data analytics in partnership with SUNY Ulster, along with a program for girls at Kingston High School. The group also offers a digital literacy course that teaches basic computing skills to the technically challenged.

"It's a really exciting time to grow tech careers," Annmarie Lanesey, AlbanyCanCode's CEO and founder, said in an interview with Kingston Wire. "People have the aptitude, they just don't know it."

The courses give people the tools they need to get their foot in the door and a job, a solid foundation they can build on by learning on the job during the course of their careers, said Abe Uchitelle, AlbanyCanCode's director of operations and a Kingston resident.

He said they work with an employer network comprised of industry experts who are hiring students and making sure the curriculum fits the needs of potential employers. There is a shortage of trained tech workers across the U.S., Uchitelle added.

The organization’s goal is to help as many communities as possible, especially those traditionally marginalized by society, “discover they have that aptitude," he said during a recent video chat.

That includes, Lanesey said, creating a more diverse technical landscape in both the Hudson Valley and the Capital District, helping to bring more women, people of color and people of challenged economic backgrounds into a tech industry overwhelmingly dominated by white men. This includes reaching out to Kingston's Latinx community in several ways, including regularly going on Radio Kingston's "La Voz." (Radio Kingston has a partnership with Kingston Wire.)

"There are a number of Kingston residents from the Latinx community who take these classes," Uchitelle said. "That's a community we're eager to engage with."

Lanesey said while right now they only offer classes in English they're working on adding classes in Spanish.

KingstonCanCode continues to recruit for the summer semester with a slate of courses, including Python for data analytics and JavaScript fundamentals. All courses are designed for people who are new to this stuff, Uchitelle said.

JavaScript is used for a ton of applications both on the web and on mobile devices, Uchitelle said. "Learning JavaScript is a foundational tool," he said. "Then you can go in different directions."

Uchitelle said a majority of KingstonCanCode's students get to take the courses for free with financial aid and scholarships coming from several services: the Federal Workforce Opportunity and Innovation Act, scholarships for people of color, women and veterans and programs funded by the New York state Department of Labor.

KingstonCanCode also taps into state Regional Economic Development Council grants and partners with the Center for New Americans, he said.

Lanesey said AlbanyCanCode first considered expanding to Kingston a few years ago, when they realized they wanted to share the model they were using there with other communities.

"Abe Uchitelle sold us on Kingston, he has a passion for this work," Lanesey said. "Kingston's a really exciting place with all the momentum and energy going on in the city."

Lanesey said they started up KingstonCanCode in 2020, just in time for the arrival of COVID-19. She admitted they had no idea what that was going to do to the fledgling program, but both AlbanyCanCode and KingstonCanCode ended up growing during the last year.

But that didn't come without challenges, including figuring out how to get people who don't know how to use computers online when the pandemic forced classes to be held virtually instead of at SUNY Ulster as originally planned. This included the obvious challenge of not being able to find online people who don't know how to use a computer, she said.

In the end, they discovered online courses worked out better than expected, Lanesey said. Now even when in-person classes return she envisions them being offered alongside fully online classes. Classes are mostly offered at night, and online classes proved very popular with students who lacked childcare and could take them while watching their kids, Lanesey said.

Lanesey admitted teaching people to use the computer is not an easy thing, but it's very rewarding. "Our digital literacy work is our most beautiful work," she said. And it's become more important than ever.

"When we went into the pandemic, people needed to learn how to use computers, there were fewer opportunities to get jobs with retail and restaurants closing," Lanesey said. "We hope some of those students take more advanced software classes."

Just because someone doesn't know how to use a computer doesn't mean they don't have the aptitude, she said. "It's so critical people gain access to these skill sets.”

This is especially true for young women, who face a lot of cultural barriers in certain industries, Lanesey said. "We want to expose girls to technology, and show them they can be good at it.”

Despite some experts fretting about how much time young people spend on digital devices, Lanesey said they're hearing from their college partners that middle and high school students are less prepared for basic computing skills than kids 10 years ago, and are missing out on basic skills like navigating operating systems, typing and using word processing and/or database programs.

“We're becoming digital users, not makers," she said. "The fact is we're not making people aware of how to build those technologies."

She said while young people spend much of their time on mobile devices, workplaces still operate predominately on laptop and desktop computers. "Work has never converted to mobile phones.”

For a list of courses and to enroll visit albanycancode.org/apply-now.