Guest Blog: Why I started a Christian Tech School
The future of work is in tech, and every company is a tech company. From the silicon valley startup exploring artificial intelligence to the mom n pop sandwich shop that’s taking online orders, every company is a tech company.
I’ve been working in higher-ed for over 15 years and I’ve never been more excited about my work than right now. The world is changing at a breakneck pace and my school, Bethel School of Technology, is positioning believers to be at the forefront of all that is happening, so they can bring kingdom values into a sphere that impacts so much of the way we live our lives.
When I started Bethel School of Technology, there were 2 things I was focused on; 1 – Believers being sent into the most influential space in the world, tech 2 – Providing opportunities for underserved communities, opportunities that could transform lives. We’re three years into the Bethel Tech journey, both of these things are happening, but there’s still so much to do.
In the U.S alone there are 1,000,000 unfilled tech jobs, with only 60,000 computer scientists entering the job market every year. This means there’s a huge skills gap in the market. Student loans have now topped $1Trillion nationwide, our young people don’t want to be saddled with debt in a market that already struggles to provide well paid jobs for traditional college graduates. Unemployment records are at a record high thanks due to COVID and many of the lost jobs might never return.
What if, for a fraction of the cost and time of a traditional degree, you could get training in one of the most in demand skills on earth? What if, once you graduated, you had an 85% chance of getting hired within 120 days? What if you were entering a field where the average starting salary is $66,000 a year? What if you joined us at Bethel Tech?
When we started this online, Christian, technology school, there were a lot of people who said it couldn’t be done, that it wouldn’t work, and that the tech world would reject us etc. Nothing could actually be further from the truth. The faith element of our school, that instills honour, humility, teachability, and identity to name a few, has actually been what sets our students apart. What silicon valley pays millions of dollars to teach its employees is what we give our students from day 1.
We’ve seen former students go from driving Uber, to making $65,000, to making $130,000 all in the span of 2 years. We’ve seen our students get hired by Dell, IBM, Seattle Children’s Hospital, the government and more. We’ve seen our alumni brought before senior leadership at their companies, all because of the wisdom God gave them.
We’re three years into this journey and we’re just getting started. So you’re interested in changing your life, upstarting your career and uplifting your world, consider Bethel School of Technology and visit www.betheltech.net/NHCLC
Ryan Collins
CEO, Bethel School of Technology
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj7xM_ynGyg[/embedyt]
Bethel Tech joins the NHCLC’s 2020-2021 Alliance for Hispanic Education, a formally recognized group of Christ-centered colleges and universities who are wholly committed to seeing the next generation of Hispanic leaders enter their classrooms, thrive spiritually and academically, and graduate from the college campus. Other Alliance members include Dallas Baptist University and Oral Roberts University, NHCLC’s premier education sponsor and Spirit-empowered institution, respectively.