Marc Aidinoff

The Department of Labor projects that there will be 1.4 million new information technology jobs by 2020, and there simply may not be enough adequate training programs to prepare Americans for these jobs.

Traditional workforce training programs are stepping up -- expanding their IT programs and working with industry to develop curricula that better prepare Americans for today’s jobs.

The Obama Administration is particularly committed to supporting a new accelerated model of intensive training, often called “coding bootcamps,” which has emerged in several cities around the country. Coding bootcamps teach participants with minimal to no IT backgrounds how to write computer code on an accelerated time frame (usually between 9 and 12 weeks) and regularly result in high paying jobs (frequently around $70,000).

[Overmann is Senior Advisor to the United States Chief Technology Officer, Aidinoff is Assistant Director for Policy in the Office of the Vice President]

To help job seekers, employers, and local policy makers better navigate labor market information, Vice President Joe Biden and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) are issuing a call-to-action to improve the tools and services for Americans to more seamlessly access and navigate the job market.

So, on June 25, 2014, more than 65 public and private sector innovators came together at the White House for the 21st Century Jobs Data Jam, a day-long workshop convened by the Office of the Vice President, OSTP, and the Departments of Labor and Commerce.

During the morning session, Vice President Joe Biden joined the technology leaders, design and user experience experts, and leading policymakers to challenge them to think about these problem at person-by-person level: how do we help real people find real jobs.

[Overmann is Senior Advisor to the United States Chief Technology Officer, Aidinoff is Assistant Director for Policy in the Office of the Vice President]