City Colleges Joins the Chicago Apprenticeship Network to Celebrate Surpassing 2,000 Apprenticeships

City Colleges of Chicago joined the Chicago Apprenticeship Network on Thursday, July 11 to celebrate its milestone of connecting more than 2,000 students in the Chicagoland area, around one-third of which have been City Colleges students, to apprenticeship positions. Launched in 2017, the Chicago Apprenticeship Network partners with City Colleges and hundreds of businesses in the area to provide students with meaningful work experiences—and a paycheck—as they earn their degrees.

Wilbur Wright College alumnus John Williams spoke at Thursday’s event. He began as an apprentice in 2019 at Accenture while obtaining his Associate of Science in Computer Science from Wright College. John graduated from Wright in 2021 and converted his apprenticeship into a full-time job as a tech analyst at Accenture.

The experience at Accenture has been all around positive for John. The apprenticeship allowed him to network, get hands-on training, and earn several certifications. He also learned how to use the technology he uses daily in his full-time role, which is helpful for the project he’s been working on at Accenture for the past five years.

“At the time, I was just going to school and working at Chipotle,” John said. “This was the foot in the door I needed to get into tech.”

Everything John has learned has helped him succeed in his analyst role now. His courses at Wright helped prepare him for his apprenticeship, and his apprenticeship helped prepare him for his current role.

“It was a big fear of mine that once I graduated, how would I find a job? Would I have the right experience?” he shared. “Apprenticeships give you that knowledge and that experience.”

John recommends an apprenticeship to anyone who is interested in entering the tech field. It has not only improved his life, but the lives of those around him. He helped a friend gain an apprenticeship at Accenture and used the money he’s earned to help his family buy a house.

“I’m grateful for the opportunities that Wright and Accenture have given me,” he said.

John is not ruling out going back to school to obtain his bachelor’s degree, and he also wants to obtain more certifications. For now, he’s excited to see how far his career at Accenture can take him.

Visit City Colleges’ Earn and Learn website to learn more about work-based learning opportunities.