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Whether its for a technical certification, a doctorate in a given field or a degree somewhere in between, Northern Virginia boasts a wealth of opportunities for residents to become educated about the digital world.

Area institutions, including Virginia Tech and Northern Virginia Community College, offer a host of classes and educational programs to help students prepare to land one of the regions myriad technology jobs.

The local jewel in Virginia Techs technical crown is still under construction. Thats the universitys Innovation Campus, part of the states successful effort to attract Amazons HQ2. The $1 billion, 1 million-square-foot campus in Alexandria will offer graduate education in computer science and computer engineering, and Tech officials hope it will lead to the creation of an East Coast version of Californias Silicon Valley, said Lance Collins, vice president and executive director of the campus.

The Innovation Campus will offer advanced degrees in computer science and computer engineering, including masters of engineering, masters of science and doctorate degrees in each subject. At build-out, it will have about 750 masters of engineering and 200 doctoral students and award 550 masters degrees and 50 doctorates annually.

Were not talking about a boutique operation here, Collins said.

The Innovation Campus isnt scheduled to open until 2024, but some students are already taking courses at the universitys Falls Church location. Tech chose the educational programs for the campus that it did because they produce the degrees for which there is the biggest need, Collins said.

The masters of engineering degree programs are centered around projects sponsored by an external organization, such as a business, government agency or nonprofit, which will provide learning opportunities for both technical and professional skills. This setup will create the environment that students would see in their careers while providing them coaching from real-world workers. Some of the projects likely will morph into new companies, Collins said.

Working in a project world, it just brings out the best in everybody, including the students, Collins said.

Twelve Virginia Tech faculty members in computer science and computer engineering have already transferred to the Innovation Campus, and more educators are on the way. At build-out in 2028-29, the faculty should total 50 members.

We really want the campus to be a robust place, Collins said. And Tech officials have the goal of fostering the most diverse graduate technology program in the nation.

The mission of shepherding such a campus into existence is one Collins has accomplished before. He joined Virginia Tech in 2020 from Cornell University, where he was the dean of engineering for a decade and part of a team that successfully bid to partner with New York City to build Cornell Tech, which opened its Roosevelt Island campus in Manhattan in 2017.

As with the Innovation Campus, Northern Virginia Community College tries to make sure its offering the courses that businesses want prospective employees to complete, said Steve Partridge, the colleges vice president of strategy, research and workforce innovation. It does this by examining labor market data and targeting the subjects that will prepare students to qualify for not just a few open jobs but for thousands of openings.

The college also provides career advising and many other resources through a Business Engagement Center that helps students find out where the jobs are, what they pay and what future positions they lead to. To accomplish this, NOVA engages industry leaders and uses labor market intelligence data. For example, Partridge said the college is hearing a lot lately about data analytics, and that businesses are hiring not just for data center employees but for data center managers. Software development is still a growing field, as well, he said.

If a business or businesses are looking for job candidates with a specific technical certification, the college can mobilize quickly to offer short-term credentialing programs to fulfill that need. NOVA is one of the top community-college grantors of technical credentials in the country, Partridge said.

Credential programs can be launched more quickly than degree programs, he said. Those types of programs primarily aid two types of students: working adults who want to add another skill or workers who are switching careers. The college can decide whether a credential program is appropriate by asking a given business: What do you actually want this person to do? Is a degree really necessary?

Even with these efforts, some jobs continue to go unfilled, prompting Partridge to say that knowing IT is right up there with the necessary skills of writing, reading and arithmetic in the old axiom. The educator also pointed out that employees tend to be more loyal to companies that invest in them and to work longer for those businesses.

NOVA also is a national leader in granting associate degrees in technical fields, offering programs in computer science, cloud computing, cyber security, information technology and engineering technology, said Chad Knights, vice president of information and engineering technologies and college computing.

These workforce-based programs match the needs of our business community, said Knights, who oversees all technology degree programs.

As with credentials, he said the college analyzes what the regional business needs are and aims to make sure its degrees match them. For instance, the college has worked with Amazon Web Services and the Marine Corps on topics leading to degree offerings. In this way, he said, the college is responsive to both student needs and the needs of the business community.

Some faculty hail from the industry, as well, so they know about the latest trends among businesses.

To propel innovation, in November 2021, NOVA and the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business celebrated the newly-formed Business Information Technology-Cybersecurity Management and Analytics (BIT-Cyber) program. The partnership provides a pathway for students to earn a bachelors degree in Business Information Technology with the option to focus on Cybersecurity Management and Analytics (BIT-Cyber). This is the first Virginia Tech bachelors degree available to students outside of its Blacksburg campus.

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Virginia Tech and Northern Virginia Community College: Meeting the region's IT needs by 'degrees' - Inside NoVA