Tech Outlook with Nora Meah

Apr. 15—Our guest on episode 8 of Tech Outlook is Nora Meah.

Meah is the program director of Deep Dive, a program of CNM Ingenuity, which works to promote public welfare and economic development on behalf of Central New Mexico Community College.

Deep Dive teaches technology-focused topics in short-term bootcamps that run 10 to 12 weeks.

The podcast will be released Monday afternoon. Here is a sample of the discussion.

Thanks for joining us, Nora, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your job at CNM?

"I joined Ingenuity as the program director at Deep Dive in August 2022. Before that I had started as an educator, in my early career, I moved to a policymaker in public education, and ultimately took a career pivot, where I really started to think about whether or not public education was doing what it's intended to do.

I went to work at a tech software startup. And from there, it really changed the way I thought about education in general, and thinking specifically about our technical trades, whether we think of them as very modern, or if we think of them as more traditional trades, both understanding the way in which we teach, but also, the opportunities we give learners to really get hands on and immerse themselves in the learning and go out into the field ready to do the work. So I came full circle back to education when I moved to Albuquerque in August of 2022. And I found Deep Dive, which was really exciting for me because it was a nice blend of both some of the traditional aspects of public education that I'd worked in and the policymaking. But also this very bleeding edge understanding of how you prepare people for emerging tech sectors and the jobs that are in demand."

And registration is opening up for some of those Deep Dive programs. Can you tell us about that?

"We actually have a number of programs that run concurrently. Deep Dive is best known for their immersive boot camps, these 10- or 12-week boot camps that really focus on the intensity, and I think the internalization of a lot of the skills and tools and technologies that our learners need to apply immediately out the door. We have several boot camps that are about to tee up, we've got our Fullstack Web Development bootcamp that is starting this month, registration is actually closed for that one. Next opportunity is July. And then we have our Data Science bootcamp, Digital Media bootcamp, the Internet of Things bootcamp, and our Java and Android bootcamp. They basically span everything from web and app development, software development, all the way through to modern digital media, the production both for film and television, but really anywhere in anything that needs marketing, all the way to what most folks would think as advanced manufacturing.

Ten to 12 weeks doesn't seem like a very long time to get the training one needs to make a career change. How do you go about making this curriculum for these courses?

"It's an important question. I think folks are really interested by where we source our inputs. And when I think about curriculum development, broadly, the inputs come from a variety of places. The two key inputs are ... our business development team at CNM Ingenuity, they work with organizations and companies, both locally and really globally at this point, to identify what the emerging tech training needs are. And they might come to us for a custom training or for being able to offer one of our programs right off the shelf. So we're listening to our business partners in that way.

"The second really key input is through the Deep Dive Advisory Committee. Since Deep Dive was established back in 2014, we have always partnered with industry to really understand what their talent needs are. And that advisory committee meets annually, multiple times, to provide us with input and oftentimes we're asking for that input. 'Are we getting it right? Are we delivering to the field? Are our graduates ready to go get on day one?'

"The other sort of key inputs that we have, are listening to our learners. Oftentimes, once our learners are in that 10- or 12-week bootcamp, we hear from them what they're interested in learning about. And then lastly, I would say, one of the strongest input points we have are the subject matter experts who are our instructors. Those folks are often the ones who have developed the curriculum. From the very beginning, they are subject matter experts coming from the field. And they have their own networks where they're regularly communicating with folks who are hiring managers or actively engaging in the tech and the tools that they're teaching.

"I will also add our alumni. They are very vocal and provide us with feedback. And it's really neat now, as they have moved into their career trajectory as hiring managers, as leaders, and in some cases, C-suite professionals, they love to get back to us as well. And it's super important to hear what they have to say."

And you move to Albuquerque for this job at CNM. What do you think is unique about the programs that you're offering there?

"That's a fun question for me to answer. You know, tech boot camps have been around for a while. I think the big headline for me, when I think about Deep Dive being embedded in the CNM ecosystem, no one has done it quite like us, as well, as long, as affordably. And as proudly as Deep Dive has done it.

"We have more than 1,500 alumni out in the field. We have an advisory committee that has run for more than almost 10 years now. We have alumni who are now giving back to that advisory committee. And because it is situated in a community college, you can look at different curriculum, you can really see how tech boot camps have become a vital part of preparing tech talent.

"I think there's two or three really key differentiators and CNM, in particular, does a few things that are just different than other tech boot camps. One is the folks who come to work with deep dive are choosing a community college. So those subject matter experts have industry expertise, they might be in sort of the twilight of their career, that second stage of their career, and they're ready to give back and they're choosing a community college. Our administrators and our partners at the college have all chosen to work in the community college and to prepare our learners for what comes after. And that really differentiates us from other other tech boot camps, and particularly those that are for profit.

"The second thing that I think CNM does as a whole to support our learners, as well as the broader student body at CNM, is to provide services and resources like CNM Wellness, Hire CNM, and a variety of supports that I think our learners really value when they come into a really immersive and often intensive boot camp. We provide wraparound services from before the time they start. They meet with our team, they have a regular onboarding process, almost as if you're getting ready to start a job, they may meet with our instructors in advance. And on day one, we orient them not only to the Deep Dive programs, but to the whole power of the CNM community. And I think that sets their mind at ease. Because a lot of things can happen in 12 weeks, life can come at you pretty fast."

What are the technologies that you incorporate into the bootcamp curriculum that might be surprising for folks?

"I'll use our digital media bootcamp as an example. When we think about digital media, I think a lot of folks right now, particularly in Albuquerque, think about film and television. And I always try to level with folks that digital media is really any audio or visual data that you're going to capture in digital format. And so that can have a very broad application. A critical piece of the digital media curriculum is storytelling. We begin with a paper based game design activity. And it is really helping folks understand how you go from a paper-based game like a board game, to a digital narrative. So thinking how Pixar creates a digital storyboard, to create their feature length films.

"I think another example would be in the Internet of Things bootcamp. These folks take an idea and they're able to physically develop a prototype of what that product would look like. And these are smart products. So think of the smart home products that you might have, like a Nest thermostat, or Ring doorbell that can capture data through sensors. And then deliver that data in an easy to understand way on an app on your phone. They do a significant amount of hands on learning that goes from their labs space on their computer ... I'll walk into that lab and I'll see our instructor with two students kind of thinking through anything from a math equation to physically drawing out what their product might look like, and the pluses and minuses of a certain format. So I think oftentimes we're thinking high tech, we're thinking lasers, we're thinking code. But so much of it is this ability to communicate your idea and really show somebody what it means."