Inside New York City’s new academy to grow IT talent
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The city launched its first Information Technology Management Academy last month. Officials say they hope to support employees’ long-term career growth in technology.
New York City launched its first Information Technology Management Academy last month for employees interested in shaping and supporting digital infrastructure.
Announced Aug. 14 by Matthew Fraser, the city’s chief technology officer, and Louis Molina, commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the academy “is designed to support the long-term career growth of our city’s top IT talent,” said Ray Legendre, senior director of communications at the city’s Office of Technology and Innovation, in an email to Route Fifty.
Academy classes meet in person for a full day once a week for 12 weeks, ending Oct. 30.
“Participants will engage in a series of workshops led by expert consultants, senior managers and IT executives from across various city agencies,” Legendre wrote. “It will be a combination of formal classroom learning, group discussions, case studies, moderated panels and leadership engagement.”
The curriculum focuses on three areas: developing and using human resources; understanding the operational aspects of city systems and processes; and learning best practices from IT executives. Program topics include leading high-performing IT teams, effective delegation, change management and teamwork.
“Along the way, emerging IT leaders will receive unique opportunities to learn about topics such as leading high-performing IT teams, enhancing emotional intelligence, aligning technology resources with business objectives, and communication and stakeholder engagement — insights and skills that can be used to improve agency performance and service delivery, and better position participants for future leadership roles,” Legendre wrote.
To participate, interested workers must fill out a nomination package, including written answers to questions about what skills an IT manager needs most, their city-government career goals and what they need to do to achieve them.
About 100 people applied to the academy, which is open to full-time city employees who work in IT at a director level or higher. OTI and DCAS evaluated applicants based on their leadership potential and impact to their current role, commitment to public service, communication and collaboration skills, and agency support, according to the academy website.
Ultimately, they accepted 27 employees from 19 agencies. They work in areas such as application development, enterprise data management, cloud infrastructure and DevOps. The Office of IT is covering the $3,500 fee for each participant.
To graduate from the academy and earn a certification of completion, participants must attend classes and give a presentation on a capstone project.
“Our goal is for participants to complete this program with stronger management skills and an expanded knowledge base so they can meet the daily challenges they face in increasing productivity and delivering excellence in IT services,” Legendre wrote.
It's no secret that IT is a rapidly changing field, requiring agile leaders who can not just stay on top of emerging tech, but ahead of it. Artificial intelligence in general and generative AI in particular are perfect examples, as the public sector works to take advantage of all these tools offer while still managing employee use and adhering to cybersecurity requirements.
In both the public and private sectors, the job market for computer and information systems managers is expected to grow 17% between 2023 and 2033, much faster than average job growth in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But the need to fill such roles may be especially high for state and local governments, which continue to face labor shortages, despite making gains last year, according to a 2024 survey by the MissionSquare Research Institute. In fact, a 2023 survey found that 78 percent of government entities faced an IT hiring shortage, the largest of any industry.
One technique that agencies nationwide are using is providing training. Specifically, 72% respondents to the survey said they use in-house training for employee development.
New York City’s new academy builds on another professional development program called the NYC Management Academy that DCAS has run for 20 years. Although city chief information officers informed its curriculum, that effort wasn’t exclusively for IT leaders.
Legendre said the IT Management Academy’s objective is to support participants’ long-term career growth.
“The inaugural cohort’s impact will reverberate far beyond its 27 participants,” he wrote. “We expect this select group to be force multipliers both in leading their teams and agencies to tackle IT-related challenges. This program is just a start, and we look forward to future installments.”