DAS e-News 2024 zSystems apprenticeship (web)
Citation
California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS). “State of California zSystems Registered Apprenticeship Program Awarded Best Workforce Initiative.” Apprenticeship e-Newsletter, October 2024. https://www.dir.ca.gov/DAS/e-News/2024/zSystems.html. Read 2026-11-09. Copy: raw/web/2026-11-09 DAS e-News 2024 zSystems apprenticeship.html.
Bottom line
- The state’s zSystems (mainframe) registered apprenticeship program got the Best Workforce Initiative award at the 2024 California Government Innovation Summit.
- The program started in 2019 with a $500,000 grant. It trains state staff as software engineers, application developers and mainframe systems administrators.
Background
DAS registers and oversees apprenticeship programs in California. This newsletter item reports an award on Aug. 20, 2024. It names the partners: DAS, IBM, SEIU Local 1000, GovOps and the California Department of Technology (CDT).
Key claims
- “On August 20th, 2024, the State of California zSystems registered apprenticeship program was awarded the Best Workforce Initiative at the 2024 California Government Innovation Summit.” (paragraph 1)
- “The program was launched with a $500,000 California Apprenticeship Initiative (CAI) grant, and has sustained and scaled with the support of Apprenticeship Innovation Funding (AIF).” (paragraph 2)
- “This innovative, first-of-its-kind in the nation, public/private registered apprenticeship program consists of three occupations including software engineer, application developer, and mainframe systems administrator.” (paragraph 2)
- “This groundbreaking apprenticeship program was designed to assist several state departments who at the time were confronting a projected 38% vacancy rate over five years in critical mainframe system occupations.” (paragraph 3)
- “Since its inception, the program has launched three cohorts and serves as a blueprint for other states that have modeled their programs after it.” (paragraph 4)
Evidence and method
A newsletter item by the agency that registers the program. It gives the start grant, the occupations, the number of cohorts and the vacancy projection. It does not give the source of the 38 percent figure or counts of apprentices.
Limits
The item does not give apprentice numbers, completion rates, wages or the cost for each apprentice. It does not name the other states it says modeled their programs on it. GovOps apprenticeships (web) describes the same Mainframe program as planned for 2020. DAS Apprenticeship Innovation Funding (web) describes the AIF fund.