Systematech is a CSRA-wide full-service IT (Information Technology) firm, offering training, recruiting, and project management services. “It actually started in Graniteville, but when it moved into the new Cyber Center in Augusta four years ago, that became our center and we made real progress there,” said Systematech President and CEO Ashley S. Felton. “We are now bringing our message and our training back across the Savannah River in our second location next to Citizens Field, just off East Pine Log Road at 640 Old Airport Road.
“Our mission is to train the community in the work of technology,” says Ms. Felton.
“Most of our students come to us out of high school with a basic understanding of how to surf the web, communicate by e-mail, and interact with social media platforms, but what they don’t know is how these functions work behind the scenes,” she began to explain.
“Finding trainees to invest in their skills is difficult in Aiken, but we won’t stop educating our workforce on the opportunities available to them. Our purpose is to educate them in information technology and information security. It should be a requirement to understand the use of IT and how to protect our data,” she said.
“These skills will become more and more necessary no matter what you do for a living, so it is critical that young people take digital training instruction. This country is going to advance into a revolutionary growth in digital-based work including operating machine learning. It is already all around you. Walmart and other large retail stores have expanded their self-checkout service. That is machine learning. There is a pizza company in Atlanta that already takes your order online and a robot delivers it to you. That is just another example of machine learning.
“We need a trained workforce to manage, code, and protect these computer-driven machines.
Patrick Reynolds, a strategic partner of ABD and the CEO of Cross Link Consulting, an IT and Cybersecurity Services provider based in North Augusta, says he is excited to see a local company that is training and certifying IT professionals. “Much of our workforce comes straight out of college or University, but the hands-on training and real-world experience from certification courses is often comparable when it comes to preparing technicians and engineers.”
“Cloud computing is another breakthrough technology that is already a big part of how we work, and we have to have a trained workforce to understand it. If you have two devices, say a desktop and a laptop, that relate to the same cloud of data and with each other, when you change a document on one machine, it changes on the other, and on all the others that are part of its network. You no longer must transfer a document you have written on another computer because as soon as you write it on the first one, it will appear on the other. There is so much more to computing power than cloud technologies.
Level I Certification is your Doorway
The tech industry lives on three levels of knowledge. Systematech’s first classes are on Level I, the entry-level to get you into the door. But sweeping opportunities can begin to present themselves to students learning on just this basic level of understanding.
The levels are set by the Department of Defense, designating the training and certification that you must have to work in information technology and information security.
Ms. Felton gave two very recent examples of local success stories with whom she worked to get their Level I certification. One young mother was working for $25 an hour at a call center in Columbia. “She had no experience in Information Technology before she took our course. After becoming certified as a System Administrator, she landed a job as a systems administrator with FEMA in Virginia paying $134,000 a year and FEMA paying for her to relocate.
“Also just recently, we trained a young man, who had been working at Kroger for ten years at $13 an hour. He is now 28 and we trained him as a Network Administrator. He now works in Charleston earning $70,000 a year. “The pay is absolutely lucrative and is growing,” said Ms. Felton.
The next series of classes begins on October 5 at 640 Old Airport Road in Aiken. “We are looking for more people to train,” said Ms. Felton. Her classes are designed for 12 students, and she currently has six enrolled in Aiken. “This is our first class of live instruction in Aiken. We have so many benefits available to students who train with us,” she said. Despite weeks of trying several strategies to recruit people in Aiken, members in our community can obtain access to a much higher level of income and a more rewarding career. Besides the six slots in the classroom coming up, Systematech also teaches classes remotely.
The information necessary for registration is at www.systematech.us.
“Our purpose is to equip our community for the work of technology so they can take advantage of the job growth in the tech industry. After they pass our course and are certified, we assist them with job placement and help them with resume writing and interviewing.
SystemaTech
President and CEO Ashley S. Felton
803.474.4407, [email protected], www.systematech.us