Discover why everyone says “Virginia is for Lovers” by falling for the state’s wide-open spaces and natural paradise. Located on the southeastern coast of the United States, Virginia is known for its stunning Blue Ridge Mountains and diverse flora and fauna. Explore Virginia’s many National Parks and historic landscapes year-round with a temperate climate of 25 F (-4 C) in the winter to 86 F (30 C) in summer. Seafood aficionados, beer drinkers, wine sommeliers, and barbecue lovers will easily embrace the fresh and flavorful southern fusion foods enjoyed throughout the state.
With the perfect balance of rich urban centers and tranquil rural towns, Virginia has something for all residents. Engage with the nation’s history by visiting colonial sites such as Williamsburg and Jamestown and presidential homes such as George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and Poplar Forest, and James Madison’s Montpelier. Spend a day basking in the sun at Virginia Beach or traverse the steep rock scrambles of “Old Rag Mountain” trail at Shenandoah National Park. Art and culture aficionados will love major cultural events such as the Folklife Festival and the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival and institutions such as the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Science Museum of Virginia. With so many different things to do, it is no wonder that Forbes named the state number one for “Quality of Life” in the United States.
Home to well-known Fortune,000 businesses such as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, General Dynamics Corporation, Capital One Finance Corporation, and CarMax, it is no wonder that CNBC named Virginia their “Top State for Business” in 2021. With the third-highest concentration of technology workers and the fifth-highest concentration of workers in the United States overall in 2020, Virginia is the ideal place for those interested in pursuing a career in a technological field. Since 2016, Virginia has held the title of the largest data center market, and its residents continue to enjoy the second-highest internet download speeds (193.1 Mbit/s) in the United States.
Technological jobs currently account for over 450,000 or 11% of all jobs in the state. Major technology companies include big-name employers such as General Dynamics Information Technology, Leidos, CACI International, Northrop Grumman, MicroStrategy, WidePoint, and VeriSign. Jobs in technology fields tend to pay a bit less than many outside of Virginia, with a median salary of $98,292 and a range of $35,000 to $110,000 per year. The average cost of living in Virginia, $42,757 per person in 2021, is also higher than the national average of $38,266 per year. Those hoping to expand their potential income opportunities in Virginia should consider training with one of the many technology schools available in-person and online in Virginia.
A great way to expand your skill set and enter employment networks in the tech industry is to enroll in one of the local training programs in Virginia. Despite the economic influence of the tech industry in Virginia, only four major tech schools offer in-person training. ONLC offers live online remote learning on its campus in Fairfax, where beginner-to-advanced students can take courses and earn certificates in several Adobe programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Located in the sunny suburbs of Richmond, New Horizons trains rising professionals in Adobe, Microsoft, QuickBooks, and Tableau programs.
Virginia also has several opportunities for non-traditional students and companies to develop their technological proficiency. Corporations looking to expand their staff’s talent can attend live remote instruction courses at Certstaffix’s computer labs in Glen Allen, Virginia, to train their workers in business, coding, and design programs. Children and teenagers living in the Charlottesville area can also develop their tech skills and nourish an interest in a future career in STEM through iD Tech’s University of Virginia Summer Tech Camps.
If you are more comfortable working from home or would prefer limiting your travel time to and from in-person classes, live online classes may be right for you! Professionals with years of tech experience create these dynamic and hands-on live online courses. Mirroring the model of in-person instruction, students can ask questions and have professors explain difficult topics by seeing and controlling their screens (with permission).
Noble Desktop, the creator of this tool, offers several part-time and full-time live online courses in subjects such as building a brand online, cybersecurity, data science, and programming. Students thrive in Noble Desktop’s small classes, many of which offer one-on-one mentoring and other forms of support to novice and experienced students. These mentorships frequently extend beyond the classroom setting to prepare students for entering the job market.
Aspiring web designers and developers, security specialists, digital marketers, and moviemakers will all find a relevant course among Noble Desktop’s hundreds of course offerings. As Full Stack Developers tend to have the highest wages among tech professionals working in the Virginia area, students should consider taking the 12-week Full Stack Web Development Certificate. Those with an analytical eye or an interest in creating the consumer experience online will excel in the three-week Data Science Certificate or 78-hour Digital Marketing Certificate programs. Learn how to develop stunning graphics and engaging websites through the one-month Graphic Design Certificate, five-week Web Design Certificate, or the four-month part-time UX & UI Design Certificate.
Students interested in professional and technological development classes should also see NYIM Training’s live online analytics, business, and project management programs. Taught by the program’s leading engineers, Career Centers’ Python courses train students to use this exciting program. Coding and data science courses from Practical Programming also prepare students for a number of lucrative careers in the Virginia area.
Teenagers and young adults interested in pursuing a STEM career can develop their tech skills through summer computer classes for high school students. These exciting live online classes help students develop their problem-solving skills and technological proficiency in graphic design, finance, programming, Python, and web development.
With so many live online and in-person classes, it may be difficult to imagine developing a curriculum that will increase employee productivity and proficiency in your company. With over two decades of corporate training experience, Noble Desktop is here to help! Whether you are interested in Adobe or Microsoft program training or data analytics programs such as Excel or Python, Noble Desktop offers onsite training and live online training through Zoom and other teleconferencing platforms. Your company will also have the option to purchase vouchers to open-enrollment group classes, with the ability to purchase multiple at discounted rates. Learn more about this exciting opportunity by contacting Noble Desktop.