Rep. Ro Khanna helps celebrate DMACC tech program aimed at diversifying the industry

Jackson Trainer first thought that a new tech program emerging from his community college just sounded too good to be true.

To Trainer, the emails he received promoting this free online program at Des Moines Area Community College read like "spam" messages. DMACC was listed among five schools — and one of two community colleges — last year to pilot TechWise, an 18-month course that sought to include students from underrepresented groups and diversify the tech industry.

The program was selective, but students chosen would receive training, mentorship from Google software engineers and support from instructors from the leading education technology company TalentSprint. On top of that, they'd be awarded a $5,000 stipend to offset any financial costs.

"I said, 'Why would Google be in Iowa of all places?'" Trainer joked in his speech Thursday at an event celebrating him and his peers, who are among the first to be part of the program.

In front of college administrators and Google and TalentSprint representatives, the 35-year-old briefly spoke about his experience learning new systems, picking up various skills and working closely with classmates and teachers. He said TechWise and DMACC gave him the chance — and the confidence — to expand his career and look forward to the future that lies ahead.

"I can't imagine my career path without having done this," said Trainer, who has spent the last decade working as an application analyst and managing software systems for a major health care provider. "I had a very set trajectory for the remainder of my career, I thought, and this has opened up new possibilities."

Joel Lundstrom, provost at the DMACC Carroll Campus, separately told the Des Moines Register that he and other staff often encounter students working to overcome "imposter syndrome," and programs such as TechWise that prioritize mentorship are crucial. Lundstrom said he's had students who sometimes say they don't feel "good enough," and that's where mentors come into play, encouraging them to keep going, to keep striving.

James Rodgers, one of Trainer's classmates, said that piece of the program continues to resonate with him.

"We have these struggles sometimes, but we have all these people we can talk to who's already gone through the exact same thing," said Rodgers, 36. "They can give us guidance and direction on where we're going. It really helps us feel like we're on the right track, which is really important."

During the event, TalentSprint CEO Santanu Paul shared an aspect that he believed made TechWise successful — that students can learn by doing and without fear of failure. In the program, instructors are urged to help students find the answers, not give them. The assignments aren't graded, and the idea that problems have more than one perspective is promoted.

For 18-year-old Zak Buffington, those guidelines granted him more time to do the work and less on deadlines and letter grades. By taking the pressure off of scores, Buffington started asking himself: "How can I work to be a better programmer in general?"

That, he said, is when the real learning began.

"I've worked harder because it's not someone else grading. It's me. What do I think of my work?" he said. "So, I get to learn about how I work and what my process is, and I have a lot more freedom in that."

At the event, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, shared more insight on what a program and partnership like this mean for DMACC students, the state of Iowa and the rest of the heartland.

Khanna, who in the past has championed another DMACC tech program that aims to educate and train students in rural Iowa, applauded DMACC President Rob Denson and the college's commitment to innovation and being forward-thinking.

"The computer was invented out of Iowa State, and Intel's founder, Bob Noyce, was educated here in Iowa," Khanna said. "So, it doesn't surprise me that the tech renaissance of the heartland would be led in Iowa."

With TechWise now entering its second year, the program has now grown to include eight partnering colleges and universities. The second cohort now includes 120 students, 32 of whom are from DMACC.

"What TechWise and Google and this partnership is about is bringing the country together and saying that for us to succeed, for America to remain the manufacturing superpower, for America to remain the technology leader ahead of any other country, we can't write a single community off," Khanna said. "We're going to need everyone.

"We're going to be working together — the coasts, in the heartland, people of all different faiths, all different races, all different backgrounds."

F. Amanda Tugade covers social justice issues for the Des Moines Register. Email her at ftugade@dmreg.com or follow her on Twitter @writefelissa.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Ro Khanna celebrates DMACC tech program, Google partnership in Iowa