The Role of Community College Education in the Employment of Information Technology Workers in Washington State

Understanding the role of sub-baccalaureate programs in preparing students for the workforce is particularly important in quickly changing fields that require well-trained technical workers, such as information technology (IT). This paper examines students’ employment outcomes by the type of community college IT preparation they complete, and the type of employers that tend to hire community college IT students. The authors examined information on students’ course-taking in college and their employment before, during, and after their college enrollment. Of the four groups analyzed, students with both an associate degree and a certificate in IT had the strongest employment outcomes. They were followed by students with an IT associate degree, and then by students with an IT certificate. Compared with workers overall, IT students were more likely to work for medium-sized employers and to be employed in temporary services and educational services industries. These findings highlight the importance of community college efforts to engage with the full range of local employers. A brief of this paper, Employment Outcomes of Community College Information Technology Students, is available for download.