“Symantec is leading innovative and impactful community engagement through corporate leadership, leveraging their own resources and core competencies to collaborate to build thriving communities while, at the same time, enabling their business to thrive.” - Barrie Hathaway, executive director of The Stride Center
Symantec partnered with The Stride Center in 2016 to excite, engage, and educate thirty low-income adults and to prepare them for well paying, high-demand careers in the cyber security field, through our Symantec Cyber Career Connection (Symantec C3) program.
One of these students, Lee Mark Poitier was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Information Security at the University of Phoenix when he learned about Symantec C3, offered at the Stride Center, a nonprofit social enterprise that prepares low-income Bay Area adults to thrive in technology careers. Frustrated by his current career prospects, Lee’s friends and teachers recommended that he pursue certifications in order to land a job in cyber security. After completing Stride’s A+ program, an industry recognized IT technical support certification, Lee enrolled in Symantec C3 with a goal to work in the cyber security field.
Lee’s passion for cyber security stems from his desire to help others. “I have always been inspired to help people have peace of mind that the confidentiality and integrity of their information systems will not be undermined,” he said. With hard work, dedication, and a commitment to continuous learning, Lee graduated from Symantec C3 in 2016 and was offered a job as a Security Operations Center Analyst at Work Day, a finance-focused enterprise software company. To him, the fast-paced and continually evolving Symantec C3 program has helped him stay ahead of new and emerging cyber security threats. “This experience also taught me to be a lifelong learner, and that if I want something badly enough, anything is achievable with a supportive team,” he told Stride after completing Symantec C3.
On June 23rd, the next cohort of Stride Center graduates, including those completing the Symantec C3 program, joined the nearly 2,500 graduates that Stride has already placed in IT internships and jobs. At the graduation, Stride recognized Symantec Corporation with their 2017 Civic Leader Award, for addressing the dual challenges of closing the cyber security workforce gap as well as the widening income gap.
The Stride Center’s 2017 Graduates, pictured above, leave the program as certified IT professionals positioned to earn $15-$25/hour in entry-level IT professions.
With every new digital device, connected car and mobile wallet, attacks on cyber security are increasing and the need for cyber security professionals is now greater than ever. Simultaneously, the income gap continues to widen and too many people do not have a pathway into a viable career. There is a vibrant community of underrepresented young adults—including people of color, women, and veterans—that could fill at least 60,000 of the available cyber security positions if properly trained. Working with non-profit training partners across the globe, including the Stride Center, Symantec C3, is a collaborative effort to address just this. Through a mix of targeted classroom education and soft skills development, followed by cyber security internships with leading employers, Symantec C3 positions students to fill in-demand cyber security jobs.
We are honored to receive the Stride Center’s 2017 Civic Leader Award. This award, which recognizes companies contributing to community well-being through shared business strategies, acknowledges the work that Symantec has done to train the next generation of cyber security workers and close the widening income gap. We are proud that to date Symantec C3 has achieved an 81 percent graduation rate, with 72 percent of graduates placed in full-time positions or accepted into a four-year college program. We are also proud that we can work to close the cyber security workforce gap by emphasizing diversity. Sixty-three percent of our graduates are people of color and 25 percent of our graduates are female.
Symantec’s Debra McLaughlin (front left) and Jaime Barclay (far right) accept The Strice Center 2017 Civic Leader Award at the awards ceremony.
Symantec C3 reflects Symantec’s long-term commitment to keeping the world safe from ever-evolving digital threats. And we need your help. While our training partners provide the technical certifications and training, nothing compares to real-world experience. Our students are currently working in top companies, including TD Ameritrade, Morgan Stanley, Gap Inc., and Salesforce, and you can help by providing internship opportunities at your organization so that more students, like Lee Mark Poitier, can grow their skills through practical application and on-the-job training. Learn more and get involved by visiting our website.