Per Scholas Graduates First Class of Cybersecurity Training Course Powered by Barclays

On February 3, Per Scholas hosted the inaugural graduation ceremony for its rigorous 16-week cybersecurity training course powered by Barclays. The tuition-free course equips un-or underemployed adults with the knowledge and skills to fill a wide range of cybersecurity jobs.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that demand for cybersecurity jobs is expected to grow by 53 percent through 2018. Per Scholas’ course provides students with the intensive hands-on training, workplace exposure, career counseling and professional development needed to successfully pursue opportunities in the critical cybersecurity field.

“Per Scholas will continue to demonstrate the strong impact our students have on corporate success and local community growth.  It remains our collective charge to elevate diverse and domestic talent pipelines to become go-to resources for corporate investment. Our students and these graduates are the number one example of this success. Their future careers will remain evolving proof of the creative partnerships and leadership that made this possible,” said Plinio Ayala, president and CEO, Per Scholas.

Numerous members of the business and tech community joined the graduation ceremony including, Sameer Jain, CIO, Barclays Investment Bank; Harish Chittor, AVP, Barclays; Anthony Dipchan, windows server support, Barclays; Neil Parikh, co-founder and chief operating officer, Casper, and Shinelin Samuel, application development lead and software architect, Barclays.

“It was an honor to speak at Per Scholas’ inaugural cybersecurity graduation,” said Sameer Jain, CIO, Barclays. “Our colleagues have worked hard to develop a strong cybersecurity training program and I have no doubt that these 14 graduates will find success in such a crucial area of importance to the financial services industry.”

Barclays has hired four of the graduates to fill open cybersecurity positions in New York. Nicolio Sambrano, newly hired Barclays employee and valedictorian of the graduating class spoke meaningful words to graduation attendees: “This course was the first step for us. We are grateful for the opportunity Per Scholas gave us and for Barclays for taking a chance on us.

The graduating class of 14 young professionals was the first to take courses at Per Scholas’ new Brooklyn location. The facility was made possible by generous support of lead sponsor Barclays, as well as AT&T, The New York Community Trust, the Office of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Empire State Development, and individual contributors.

To learn more about Per Scholas’ cybersecurity course, click here.

Check out past Monthly Impact Reports here