Tech Training Accelerator Initiative
Overview
The Tech Training Accelerator Initiative endeavors to train local workers into high-wage, skilled tech jobs, as well as provide local business owners with tech skills that have become necessary as business operations move online.
Upcoming Courses
More tech courses coming soon!
Keep up to date on future opportunities by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on Facebook!
Build a Shopify Store (ONLINE)
January 28 – February 18, 2025
Tuesdays 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Introduction to HTML
Are you interested in selling your products online so you can expand your customer base across the U.S., or even globally? Shopify is the #1 ecommerce platform worldwide, and it may be the perfect ecommerce platform for you!
This 4-week course walks you through the steps to create your first Shopify store. Participants will take the course at their own pace through the online learning platform Udemy. The participants will also meet for online advisory sessions once a week with EDC course facilitator Lara Braithwaite.
This course is open to participants from San Juan County, ages 18 or older who are interested in opening a Shopify ecommerce store. No prior knowledge of Shopify is necessary. Participants will need basic computer skills and access to a laptop or desktop computer less than five years old.
Participants will complete 2-4 hours of assignments per week on their own schedule. During the two weekly Zoom sessions, the EDC facilitator will review essential topics and answer questions. Attending the Zoom sessions is strongly recommended, but not required.
The EDC thanks San Juan County and Orcas Island Community Foundation for their support of this program and other EDC initiatives.
DETAILS
- Dates and times: The course begins Tuesday, January 28and ends Tuesday, February 18, 2025. Participants take the online coursework at their own pace. Each week, two Zoom advisory sessions will be held on Tuesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
- Application deadline: January 18
- Download an application: coming soon!
- Registration fee: $75
- Reserve a spot: call (360) 378-4906 or email lara@sanjuansedc.org
Introduction to HTML and CSS (ONLINE)
February 1 – March 22, 2025
Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Introduction to HTML
Are you interested in kicking off your computer coding journey? Need some basic skills to fix up your business’ website? HTML and CSS are the starting point for all of your web development dreams!
This 8-week course is an introduction to HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the most fundamental tool of web development, and cascading style sheets (CSS), the essential tool for web design. Participants will take the course at their own pace through the online learning platform Udemy. The participants will also meet for online advisory sessions once a week with EDC course facilitator Liam Griskey-Watson.
This course is open to participants from San Juan County, ages 18 or older who are interested in learning HTML and CSS as the first step in a web design career journey or for other paying work. No prior knowledge of HTML or CSS is necessary. Participants will need basic computer skills and access to a laptop or desktop computer less than five years old.
Participants will complete 2-4 hours of assignments per week on their own schedule. During the weekly Zoom office hours, the EDC facilitator will review essential topics and answer questions. Attending the Zoom sessions is strongly recommended, but not required.
The EDC thanks San Juan County and Orcas Island Community Foundation for their support of this program and other EDC initiatives.
DETAILS
- Dates and times: The course begins Saturday, February 1 and ends on Saturday, March 22, 2025. Participants take the online coursework at their own pace. Each week, a Zoom advisory session (office hours) will be held on Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.
- Application deadline: January 20
- Download an application: coming soon!
- Registration fee: $100
- Reserve a spot: call (360) 378-4906 or email lara@sanjuansedc.org
YOUTH Arduino Coding
Youth ages 9-13 are invited by the EDC to participate in Youth Arduino Coding, an online after-school introductory course designed to teach the basics of circuits, robotics, and programming with a simple Arduino kit used by professionals for prototyping. Students will work with hardware and software to build their technical skills. The hands-on workshop will be led by an EDC Tech Trainer with a degree in computer science. This program is sponsored by San Juan County, Orcas Island Community Foundation, Lopez Island School District, the Town of Friday Harbor, the Port of Lopez, the Port of Friday Harbor, and the Washington State Department of Commerce.
No prior knowledge of Arduino or coding is necessary. Participants will need basic computer skills and access to a laptop or desktop computer less than five years old, and they will have 2 hours of projects per week which they may complete during class or on their own schedule.
The EDC Tech Trainer will review essential topics and answer questions during two live Zoom sessions per week. Participants will receive online materials, Arduino kits, and instructions the week before the first online session. Attending the Zoom sessions is strongly recommended, but not required. The EDC will provide the Arduino kits and all instructional materials. Students will keep their Arduino kits after completing the course.
DETAILS
- WHERE: Online
- WHEN: February 25 through April 8, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
- REGISTRATION FEE: $100
- REGISTRATION DEADLINE: February 10
- DOWNLOAD AN APPLICATION: coming soon!
- INFO: To reserve a spot or get more info, contact the EDC at (360) 378-2906, or email lara@sanjuansedc.org
Past Courses and Webinars
Online Business Bootcamp
The Economic Development Council (EDC) invites business owners and startup entrepreneurs in San Juan County to participate in Online Business Bootcamp, a series of introductory courses designed to help entrepreneurs establish and optimize their online business presence. This Bootcamp is part of the EDC’s Tech Training Accelerator Initiative.
For the first six weeks of the Bootcamp, this cohort will have self-paced online lessons on: starting a business website on Squarespace or Shopify, creating a strong Google business profile, and building business profiles on Facebook and Instagram. Participants will complete 2-4 hours of online coursework per week on their own schedule and will attend weekly online advisory meetings led by the EDC Tech Training Coordinator.
At the conclusion of the six weeks of online coursework, participants will continue to meet online monthly for six months with their EDC advisor. These meetings will give the cohort additional opportunities to discuss course subjects and their progress with the advisor and with each other.
This low-cost Bootcamp is limited to 10 participants from San Juan County, ages 18 or older who are interested in establishing or improving an online business presence. No prior knowledge of the course subjects is necessary. Participants will need basic computer skills and access to a laptop or desktop computer less than five years old.
The EDC thanks the Orcas Island Community Foundation and San Juan County for their support of this program and other EDC initiatives.
YOUTH Arduino Coding
Youth ages 9-13 are invited by the EDC to participate in Youth Arduino Coding, an after-school introductory course designed to teach the basics of circuits, robotics, and programming with a simple Arduino kit used by professionals for prototyping. Students will work with hardware and software to build their technical skills. The workshop will be led by an EDC Tech Trainer with a degree in computer science. This program is sponsored by San Juan County, Orcas Island Community Foundation, Lopez Island School District, the Town of Friday Harbor, the Port of Lopez, the Port of Friday Harbor, and the Washington State Department of Commerce.
No prior knowledge of Arduino or coding is necessary. Participants will need basic computer skills and access to a laptop or desktop computer less than five years old, and they will have 2 hours of projects per week which they may complete during class or on their own schedule.
The EDC Tech Trainer will review essential topics and answer questions during two live Zoom sessions per week. Participants will receive online materials, Arduino kits, and instructions the week before the first online session. Attending the Zoom sessions is strongly recommended, but not required. The EDC will provide the Arduino kits and all instructional materials. Students will keep their Arduino kits after completing the course.
Introduction to Python
The Economic Development Council (EDC) of San Juan County will offer a Python, Level 1 course in October and November, as part of their Tech Training Accelerator Initiative.
This 6-week introductory course is designed to teach fundamentals of the Python programming language. Python is an adaptable programming language used with basic office automation, data manipulation, and data visualization. The online course will be offered through Codecademy, and participants in the course will have two weekly online advisory sessions led EDC’s Tech Trainer.
This course is open to participants from San Juan County, ages 18 or older who are interested in learning Python as the first step in a programming career journey or for other paying work. No prior knowledge of Python is necessary. Participants will need basic computer skills and access to a laptop or desktop computer less than five years old.
Participants will complete 2-4 hours of assignments per week on their own schedule. During the two weekly Zoom sessions, the Tech Trainer will review essential topics and answer questions. Attending the Zoom sessions is strongly recommended, but not required. Participants will receive online materials and instructions one week before the first online session.
Participants who complete the online coursework will receive a certificate of completion from Codecademy and will have the option to take a follow-up Python course.
The EDC thanks San Juan County and Orcas Island Community Foundation for their support of this program and other EDC initiatives.
Etsy 101 Workshop
This two-part introductory workshop is designed to teach creatives and creative business owners the basics of setting up a store on the Etsy marketplace. The workshop will be led by the EDC Tech Training Coordinator – an experienced ecommerce consultant with more than fifteen years of selling products on Etsy.
No prior knowledge of Etsy is necessary. Participants will need basic computer skills and access to a laptop or desktop computer less than five years old. Participants will complete 1-2 hours of assignments per week on their own schedule.
The EDC Coordinator will review Etsy essentials and answer questions during two live Zoom sessions. Participants will receive online materials and instructions by email before the first online session. Completing the assignments before the Zoom sessions is strongly recommended but not required.
The EDC thanks San Juan County, the Town of Friday Harbor, the Washington Department of Commerce, the Port of Lopez, and the Port of Friday Harbor for their support of this program and other EDC initiatives.
The San Juan County Economic Development Council (EDC) strives to support small rural enterprises, and conduct projects to stimulate new job creation, strengthen the economic base for working families, and support overall quality of life for islanders.
Geographic Information Systems
The Economic Development Council (EDC) of San Juan County will facilitate a GIS learning cohort this winter, as part of their Tech Training Accelerator Initiative.
This learning cohort will follow the upcoming Esri course, Going Places with Spatial Analysis. This course will help participants gain a deeper understanding of spatial data analysis and the important role location plays in a variety of business and policy matters. The course will be offered online through Esri, and a cohort of students will meet each week with an EDC advisor to achieve successful benchmarks, working through the course materials on their own schedules.
In this course, students will learn how to identify and describe uses of several spatial analysis techniques, while gaining hands-on experience with authentic spatial analysis workflows in a cloud-based mapping environment. The assignments will use ArcGIS Online, which will be provided by Esri for the duration of the course.
Familiarity with data analysis and GIS software may be helpful but is not required.
This low-cost learning cohort is open to participants from San Juan County, ages 18 and older, who are looking to enter careers in GIS. The course will be broken into weekly sections that can be completed on one’s own schedule, averaging 3-4 hours per week. The EDC will host weekly advisory meetings via Zoom for the entirety of the course’s duration. These meetings will give participants the opportunity to check in with the rest of the group, discuss course material, and ask questions. Participants who finish the course within the six-week timeframe will earn a certificate of completion from Esri.
Introduction to HTML
Are you interested in kicking off your computer coding journey? Need some basic skills to fix up your business’ website? HTML is the starting point for all of your web development dreams!
The EDC will facilitate an HTML learning cohort this fall, as part of our Tech Training Accelerator Initiative. The course is online and self-paced, with weekly group check-ins that can easily fit into a lunch break!
The upcoming course will present an introduction to HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the most fundamental tool of web development. The course will be offered online through Udemy, and a cohort of students will meet each week with an EDC advisor to achieve successful benchmarks, working through the course materials on their own schedules.
In this course, students will learn all the essential HTML elements and tags, including how to work with text elements, links, images, audio, video, tables, forms, and semantic elements. The curriculum is hands on, and students will complete several small assignments along the way. This is an introductory level course and no prior knowledge of HTML is necessary, although students should already possess basic computer skills. Access to a laptop or desktop computer is required in order to complete the course material. This low-cost course is open to participants from San Juan County, ages 18 and older, who are interested in learning HTML as the first step in a web development career journey or for other paying work.
The course will be broken into weekly assignments that can be completed on one’s own schedule, averaging 2 hours per week. The EDC will host mandatory advisory meetings via Zoom for each week of the course. These meetings will give participants the opportunity to check in with the rest of the group, discuss course material, and ask questions.
Introduction to HTML
The Economic Development Council (EDC) of San Juan County will facilitate an HTML learning cohort this May, as part of their Tech Training Accelerator Initiative.
The upcoming course will present an introduction to HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the most fundamental tool of web development. The course will be offered online through Udemy, and a cohort of students will meet each week with an EDC advisor to achieve successful benchmarks, working through the course materials on their own schedules.
In this course, students will learn all the essential HTML elements and tags, including how to work with text elements, links, images, audio, video, tables, forms, and semantic elements. The curriculum is hands on, and students will complete several small assignments along the way. This is an introductory level course and no prior knowledge of HTML is necessary, although students should already possess basic computer skills. This low-cost course is open to participants from San Juan County, ages 18 and older, who are interested in learning HTML as the first step in a web development career journey or for other paying work.
The course will be broken into weekly assignments that can be completed on one’s own schedule, averaging 2 hours per week. The EDC will host advisory meetings via Zoom weekly. These meetings will give participants the opportunity to check in with the rest of the group, discuss course material, and ask questions.
Geographic Information Systems
Learn GIS with Esri and the EDC!
This winter, the EDC will facilitate a GIS learning cohort to follow the upcoming Esri course, Going Places with Spatial Analysis. This course will help participants gain a deeper understanding of spatial data analysis and the important role location plays in a variety of business and policy matters. The course will be offered online through Esri, and a cohort of students will meet each week with an EDC advisor to achieve successful benchmarks, working through the course materials on their own schedules.
In this course, students will learn how to identify and describe uses of several spatial analysis techniques, while gaining hands-on experience with authentic spatial analysis workflows in a cloud-based mapping environment. The assignments will use ArcGIS Online, which will be provided for the duration of the course. This low-cost course is open to participants from San Juan County, ages 18 and older, who are looking to enter careers in GIS.
Familiarity with data analysis and GIS software will be helpful but is not required.
The course will be broken into weekly sections that can be completed on one’s own schedule, averaging 3-4 hours per week. The EDC will host weekly advisory meetings via Zoom. These meetings will give participants the opportunity to check in with the rest of the group, discuss course material, and ask questions. Participants who finish the course within the six-week timeframe will earn a certificate of completion from Esri.
Open to participants from San Juan County, ages 18 and older. A registration fee is required.
Bookkeeping and Accounting Basics
Islanders interested in a career in Bookkeeping or Accounting were invited to join an introductory class offered by the EDC. Karol McLuen, CPA.
This course is intended to help people gain job skills and obtain economic stability. The course will focus on bookkeeping principles such as balance sheets, profit and loss statements, ledger entries, and includes an introduction to accounting software.
These skills are foundational for those seeking to understand bookkeeping and accounting and a first step in becoming a certified accountant. Practical application exercises will accompany the concepts and practices discussed in class.
The program is free except for a registration fee, and is open only to San Juan County residents, age 18 and over, who plan to use bookkeeping and accounting skills for paying work. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate that the course will help them enter a new career or seek employment. Enrollment is capped at 10 students.
Celebrate GIS Day with the EDC!
Join the EDC for an evening of education and intrigue as we explore some of the many uses of Geographic Information Systems. This GIS Day, we will hear from local GIS professional, John Aschoff, about what got him interested in GIS and how he uses it for marine conservation work.
The EDC is planning on facilitating an Introduction to GIS course in 2023 and we want to know who is interested! It’s a useful job skill that is highly desired for various positions throughout San Juan County.
This event is FREE for all ages. Attendees will receive a coupon code for a FREE year-long Premium subscription to Esri’s StoryMaps tool!
If you missed it, a recording of the event is available on the EDC’s YouTube channel!
This event is made possible by Esri and by the sponsors of the EDC’s Tech Training Accelerator Initiative, including the Town of Friday Harbor, San Juan County, and the Raynier Institute. Thank you!
Web Design: UX/UI, Figma, and Webflow
Learn how to design and build beautiful websites!
The EDC will be facilitating a Web Design learning cohort this fall, as part of our Tech Training Accelerator Initiative.
The upcoming course, offered through Udemy, will present an introduction to the skills needed for a career as a web designer. A cohort of students will meet each week with an EDC advisor to achieve successful benchmarks, while working through the course materials on their own schedules.
In this course, you will learn the latest best practices in web design and UX/UI. It introduces in-demand tools like Figma and Webflow to show a full website development workflow from start to finish, efficiently getting you from zero to a point where you can get hired or win freelance contracts. The curriculum is very hands on, and students will complete over a dozen small assignments along the way. This low-cost course is open to participants from San Juan County, ages 18 and older, who are looking to enter careers in the web design field or supplement their income with freelance web design work.
This is not a coding course. Basic knowledge of HTML and CSS may be helpful, but is not required.
The course will be broken into weekly assignments that can be completed on one’s own schedule, averaging 5 hours per week. The EDC will host advisory meetings via Zoom once a week. These meetings will give participants the opportunity to check in with the rest of the group, discuss course material, and ask questions.
Youth Web Development Course: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more!
This upcoming course will be an introduction to the programming skills needed for a career as a software developer. The course will be offered online through LinkedIn Learning, and a cohort of students will meet each week with an EDC advisor to achieve successful benchmarks, working on their own schedules.
In this free course, students will gain a broad perspective on core technologies for web development, software development, and databases. It introduces common programming tools such as HTML, CSS, Python, and JavaScript, and discusses the bigger picture of how development careers work. Instruction is open to participants from San Juan County, ages 13-17, who are looking to enter careers in the web development field.
The course is broken into weekly assignments that can be completed on one’s own schedule, averaging 4-8 hours per week. The EDC will host advisory meetings via Zoom once a week. These meetings will give participants the opportunity to check in with the rest of the group, discuss course material, and ask questions.
Intro to Web Development: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
The first tech training course offered will be in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, launching in June of this year. The course will be offered online through Johns Hopkins University, and a cohort of students will meet each week with an EDC advisor to achieve successful benchmarks, working on their own schedules.
In the course, participants will work from the ground up, learning the basics of modern web pages with HTML and CSS. By the end of the course, students will utilize JavaScript to build a fully functional web application. Instruction is open to participants from San Juan County over 18 years old who are looking to enter careers in the web development field.
The course is broken into weekly assignments that can be completed on one’s own schedule. The EDC will host advisory meetings twice a week via Zoom. These meetings will give participants the opportunity to work through course assignments as a group, ask questions, and discuss course materials. The EDC will cover all course costs, apart from a required application fee.
Thank you to our funders!
The EDC thanks its partners in the Tech Accelerator Training Initiative:
The Town of Friday Harbor, San Juan County, the Raynier Institute, and San Juan Island Community Foundation.
Thank you for helping us change lives!