Programs, like one at UNH, part of a national trend to shore up skills

Paul Laird initially went to school for computer programming, but quickly came to feel the classes weren’t leading to a career he wanted.

“The one event that I can remember is going through, like, a database class,” he said. “And the instructor says, ‘Oh, once you figure this out, you can start working for big banks and insurance companies!’ It’s like, ‘I don’t want to do that.’” Laird, a Durham resident now in his 40s, left that program, taking various opportunities that came up but never feeling like he had a specific, marketable skill set.

In 2017, he decided to give programming another try, dipping into his savings to enroll in a six-month “coding boot camp” offered by the University of New Hampshire. It seemed to offer “all of the stuff I wanted to learn in college, without the stuff I didn’t want to learn.”

Now a software engineer for Ebsco Information Systems, which provides research databases and other services, Laird continues to work as a teaching assistant for the boot camp. He credits it with opening up new opportunities for him.

The coding boot camp is now one of a broader array of continuing education programs for which UNH is granting “micro-credentials” — digital badges holders can add to job applications or LinkedIn profiles to verify they’ve gained a certain skill.

“It provides a really exciting way for a learner to promote themselves, in addition to their degrees,” said Ken La Valley, UNH’s vice provost of university outreach and engagement.

A digital badge is more than a line on a resume, according to La Valley — it links to a page confirming the credential and explaining what exactly the course involved, what an applicant learned and how they demonstrated competency in that area.

“All of a sudden, that employer can see, ‘Oh my goodness, coding boot camp was this really intense, many-contact-hour program that validated that this individual now has skills in these important programming languages, networking, etc.,” La Valley said.

The University launched its micro-credentialing program about 18 months ago, in response to an increasingly online hiring environment, he said.

“Everything is moving towards online recruitment for jobs,” he said. “There’s lots of folks and organizations now that do kind of online head-hunting.

And they look at things like micro-credentials that sets folks apart from only their degree.”

According to La Valley, major employers like Microsoft and Google have been using this approach to training and validating skills among their own workers for a decade, but higher education has been picking up on it more recently.

Many of the programs, he said, are geared toward professionals who need to acquire additional skills in their chosen career, have to complete a certain amount of continuing education to maintain their license or, like Laird, want to make a mid-career pivot.

They range from quick seminars exposing attendees to a particular concept to intensive programs that train participants in specific skills over weeks or months. Some subjects could help people in various industries, like project management or diversity, equity and inclusion, La Valley said.

Others are more niche, designed for specific sectors. Examples include programs on the fundamentals of online instruction for teachers who had to adapt to Zoom school during the pandemic; culvert maintenance, including the basics of the applicable state laws that road workers must follow; and, from the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law, a 20-week professional development course on the legal and regulatory ins and outs of sports betting.

A complement to college

La Valley said UNH has also been working on integrating micro-credentials into graduate and undergraduate education, so students who learn particular skills in, say, the course of a science or business class can be issued a digital badge to advertise that.

While some standalone programs may provide a direct pathway to a new career, La Valley said the intent is to complement, not replace, traditional higher education.

“There are some situations where, yeah, there’ll be direct transfer to a job without a formal degree,” he said. “But having the formal degree will give you the theory and the conceptual background and more of a broad educational experience in a variety of areas.” Programs that validate specific skill sets “supplement and support what you’ve done.”

La Valley said UNH strives for rigor in its microcredentials — something he acknowledged not all providers seem to do — by maintaining industry relationships to make sure it teaches needed skills, employing quality instructors from academia or the private sector, and having those instructors verify a participant has met the requirements before issuing the credential.

Because UNH’s digital badges are relatively new, he said he hopes to build awareness among employers and industry associations.

“These mean nothing if the employer’s not going to find value in them,” he said.

When Laird went job hunting after finishing the coding program several years ago, it took him about eight months to find a position that felt like the right fit, though he did turn down a few offers during that time. Employers still seemed somewhat skeptical of non-traditional credentials, placing more emphasis on computer science degrees, he said.

But in his time in the software industry, he says he’s already seeing it shift.

“Companies are certainly recognizing the value in boot camps a lot more now than they ever have in the past,” he said. “And I think when doing job searches, having a four-year degree or a two-year degree is not a make-or-break deal like it used to be.”

This article originally appeared in The Keene Sentinel.

A digital badge is more than a line on a resume; it links to a page confirming the credential and explaining what exactly the course involved, what an applicant learned and how they demonstrated competency in that area.