NHTI – Concord’s Community College Partnership with SilverTech Creates Pipeline to IT Jobs

Concord, NH - Several students at NHTI – Concord’s Community College, will complete their senior project at SilverTech, a digital marketing agency headquartered in Manchester. Just a few weeks later after graduation, they may be earning a paycheck from the company and jumping right into client work. This carefully designed industry sponsored capstone project has helped many students graduating with an associate degree in computer engineering prepare to immediately begin a career.

The partnership with SilverTech started five years ago and runs each spring, as students enter their final semester. Silver Tech is one of eight companies currently participating in the program. Capstone projects are developed between the students and a SilverTech engineer and must include meaningful project-based work. Once the project has been reviewed and approved by NHTI, students are expected to work on site on Fridays and during the week over the semester to complete the project.

“We want our students to get experience developing something meaningful to our industry partners, including conceiving, designing and testing from an engineering perspective. It really requires a commitment on the part of the company to come up with a project and supervise them during the semester and SilverTech has a great system in place,” said Frank Polito, NHTI professor and department head of Electronic and Computer Engineering Technology and Game Programming.

Currently, there are three students working on capstone projects at SilverTech and there were four last year. The individual charged with overseeing this work and with running SilverTech’s internship programs, graduated from NHTI and completed her capstone project at SilverTech.

“Students are well prepared by NHTI and have C-Sharp programming SQL database experience, and some HTML and web work experience as well. Our engineers and staff look to build off those skills and will help the students develop a work plan for their project, familiarize them with the systems we use and work closely with them during the process to make sure they stay on track and successfully complete their project,” said Derek Barka, senior director of technology at SilverTech.

“We get to know the NHTI students quite well and see if they are a good match for possible employment. We’ve hired several over the years and have six right now that went through this process that work as software engineers,” Barka said. He added that often the students will work part time and continue their studies to earn a four-year degree in computer science.

According to NHTI’s Polito, there are two primary goals for their students who are completing the two-year degree – preparing them for a junior year in a four-year program and preparing them to be ready for a job. This includes hands on work and the senior project is a key part. He noted that NHTI has full transfer articulation agreements with The University of New Hampshire’s Manchester and Durham campuses, meaning students will receive full credit for their coursework successfully completed within this major.

“This program offers a fantastic professional opportunity that often leads to great jobs in New Hampshire. In addition, it provides a great pathway for students interested in pursuing a four-year degree,” Polito said.

To learn more contact Professor Frank Polito at fpolito@ccsnh.edu or (603) 271-6484 ext. 4278 or visit nhti.edu.

About NHTI

NHTI - Concord’s Community College, is a fully accredited, public community college serving students, businesses and the community by providing excellent academic, technical and professional education. NHTI offers over 80 academic programs to more than 7,000 students. NHTI is a member of the Community College System of New Hampshire. The seven community colleges in the system are committed to working with businesses throughout the state to train and retain employees to develop a robust workforce across all sectors and embraces the "65 by 25 Initiative," which calls for 65% of NH citizens to have some form of postsecondary education by 2025 to meet future workforce demands.

###