Codingscape & UNLV: Pioneering the future of IT talent

Southern Nevada has a strong tech community but there’s often a talent shortage. The best STEM students either apply to schools or pursue internships in other tech hubs (California). Codingscape teamed up with the University of Las Vegas to support a long term solution – the IT Workforce Talent Pipeline Program. 

The first yearlong program was funded through the Governor’s Office of Science Information and Technology (OSIT). Xue Xing, the project’s lead and an associate professor of career-technical and postsecondary education in UNLV’s College of Education, guided the program’s success. Through it, Nevada high school juniors and seniors got an opportunity to develop skills in information technology, computer science, and cybersecurity. 

Codingscape brought on 10 interns from the first cohort of the IT Workforce Talent Pipeline Program so that they could apply their learning to real technical problems in a functioning business.

The 10-week Codingscape internship had some amazing results.

First year internship results

The program's 2023 cohort achieved a 50% female participation rate – with 40% of interns from underrepresented minorities in STEM. This diversity, coupled with real-world project experience, led to some impressive outcomes:

• 100% goal achievement rate among interns
• Perfect program quality scores across all metrics
• Universal recommendation rate from participants
• A 30% increase in UNLV IT Talent Pipeline-related community projects

Students learned skills in:

• AI and machine learning fundamentals
• Modern tech stack including React, Neo4j, and Vellum AI
• Database management and configuration
• Professional consulting skills
• Stakeholder management

Addressing the skills gap

We worked with UNLV to make sure the Codingscape internship lined up with their curriculum and extended the skills of their students. The internship also focused on teaching the most in-demand skills identified by our industry partners. 

We used regular assessments and feedback from both interns and industry mentors to help us refine the program to address evolving industry needs.

Internship goals

• Skill development – Provide hands-on experience in computer science fundamentals, project management, and software development.
• Real-world application – Interns work on actual projects, gaining insights into client needs and business operations.
• Mentorship – Students receive guidance from experienced professionals, enhancing both their technical and soft skills.
• Ethics & responsibility – Encourage a well-rounded perspective on the societal impacts of technology.
• Career pathways – Offer networking and career guidance to help students explore opportunities in academia, research, and industry.

From classroom to real-world impact

High school juniors and seniors – fresh from their dual enrollment education in UNLV's Computer Science Program – got thrown into the deep end of real-world tech consulting and software development

The program's initial cohort of 10 high school interns (doubled from the original plan of 5 due to the exceptional caliber of candidates) embarked on an intensive 10-week journey that would challenge traditional internship models. 

Their experience was split into two phases:

First, interns tackled internal "practice" projects, developing cutting-edge solutions like AI-powered talent chatbots and graphical databases. Then, they ventured into external "service" projects, creating mobile apps for nonprofits and developing educational AI applications for their community.

“Work/projects that I could work on right now because of my experience at Codingscape I feel like I can confidently work on:

• LLM-based applications (Experience with workflows in these applications and prompt engineering)
• Maintaining repositories (Experience with quickly adapting to new technologies/concepts presented in a repo, and even adding onto it)
• Inventory Management Systems (Experience with logging barcodes into a database)
• Creating services for local business (Experience in providing software consultancy to a school. Everything from handling the stakeholders to the development/production of the service)”
  – Intern 2

Developing in-demand skills for the future

The program yielded some great results, with interns developing cutting-edge solutions including AI chatbot technologies, a graphical database for visualization, and fine-tuning high-quality synthetic AI training data. 

The technical skills gained were substantial, but the interns also developed crucial soft skills that often go untaught in traditional education.

Technical skills gained

• Programming languages – Python, Java, C++, JavaScript
• AI & machine learning – Basics of supervised and unsupervised learning, data preprocessing, and NLP
• Frameworks and tools: React, Flask, Neo4j, Tailwind CSS, and GitHub
• Project-based learning: Writing Statements of Work (SOW) and engaging in stakeholder management

Soft skills learned

• Communication and teamwork – Interns learned to present ideas confidently, manage clients, and work collaboratively
• Leadership and adaptability – Interns led service projects, adapted to new codebases, and developed resilience
• Critical thinking and problem solving – Encouraged through hands-on projects and peer collaboration

One intern's journey from being "very reclusive" to organizing team huddles and leading open communications exemplifies the program's impact on personal growth.

A model for the future of IT talent in in Southern Nevada

This groundbreaking partnership between Codingscape and UNLV shows what's possible when industry expertise meets educational innovation. For Nevada's tech future, this might just be the beginning.

As the program scales, maintaining its high-quality, personalized approach remains a priority. Future plans include:

• Expanding internship opportunities while preserving the program's intimate learning environment
• Developing new educational and industry partnerships
• Implementing long-term career tracking to measure sustained impact

In a region where many top students traditionally leave for opportunities elsewhere, particularly in California, this program is proving that innovative tech education can thrive in Nevada. It's not just preparing students for the future of work – it's helping them create it.

If you’re looking to hire top tech talent in Southern Nevada, keep an eye out for graduates of the IT Workforce Talent Pipeline Program at UNLV.