Two New Programs Now Underway at NSS: Data Engineering & Cloud Deployment Fundamentals

We’re excited to share that two of our new courses are underway! Our recently announced Data Engineering Bootcamp and the continuing education course, Cloud Deployment Fundamentals, have officially launched as part of our ongoing effort to support our Seekers—NSS graduates still searching for their first job in tech. Both courses are a part of our ProTech initiative which provides free classes to support adult job seekers with tech skills but no current tech job.

Data Engineering Bootcamp

In April, we shared the news that a Data Engineering Bootcamp was in the works. The enthusiastic response was immediate with more than 80 NSS Seekers expressing interest in attending the bootcamp. Offered for free under ProTech, the first full-time cohort of 16 students, all NSS Seekers, began last week and is focused on developing the skills needed to thrive in junior data engineering roles.

Topics include:

Building pipelines for ingesting, transforming, and serving data
Thinking critically about raw data, available tools, and the requested deliverable in order to create efficient and effective underlying data structure
Working with tools like Python, SQL & NoSQL databases, dbt, Apache Airflow, Databricks, command line, and Git/Github
Cloud platforms including AWS, Azure, and GCP
Hands-on, project-based learning that includes a personal capstone

Cohort 2 is planned to be a part-time, evening class and to start in October. Based on the demand we’ve seen, we expect this cohort will be filled with more NSS Seekers. We anticipate opening Cohort 3 to qualified applicants outside of NSS who are also eligible for ProTech.

Cloud Deployment Fundamentals

Launching this week is our first new continuing education course under the ProTech program: Cloud Deployment Fundamentals. This free, part-time class was created in response to what we heard from Seekers, alumni, and employers—cloud deployment skills and basic DevOps knowledge are highly valuable in the job market right now.

Over the course of 11 weeks, participants will gain hands-on experience with:

Core AWS services (S3, EC2, IAM, CloudFront, etc.)
Docker and containerized applications
CI/CD concepts and tools, including GitHub Actions

The first cohort has 21 NSS Seekers. Applications are expected to open to qualified applicants outside of NSS who are also eligible for ProTech later this year.

Why ProTech Matters

Whether launching a tech career or restarting after a layoff, we're helping Nashville’s tech job seekers grow their skills, gain experience, and strengthen their qualifications. At the same time, we’re helping employers access a strong pipeline of emerging talent.

Maintaining and growing your technical skills, particularly during a prolonged job search, has a lot of benefits. Our ProTech courses are designed to build on the foundational tech skills NSS grads already have and provide a bridge into more roles with skills that are increasingly in demand.

ProTech will serve more than just NSS Seekers. In a couple of weeks, we’ll share how Middle Tennessee residents who are eligible for ProTech can apply for our next session of Advanced SQL for Developers. Accepted students will be able to attend the course for free!

ProTech Eligibility:

Middle Tennessee residents (covers a large 40 county area)

AND one of the following:

NSS Seekers still searching for their first job in tech
Graduates of other coding bootcamps or local colleges/universities with a tech-related degree and still searching for their first tech job
Laid off from a tech job and searching for their next tech opportunity

Applicants must also have the pre-requisite technical skill set which varies from course to course.

We’re proud to support the Nashville tech community and adults who are trying to launch their tech careers, and grateful for the grant funding that’s made these free programs possible. Stay tuned—we’re just getting started.

ProTech is partially funded under a Grant Contract with the State of Tennessee.