In the United States, workers and manual workers are investing in high-tech

Richard Yvarra, 45, looked worriedly at his sixty-something colleague. The work in the supermarket was “really physical”. It became difficult to lift pallets of cheese, then cut into small quantities to redistribute them in stores. Ah, those big blocks of Swiss cheese! They weighed so much on his back. Then there was his wife. An intellectual who had just taken the family to the East Coast to pursue doctoral studies at Yale University. “If I could work from home, as so many other people did during the epidemic, I would be more mobile”lamented Mr. Yvarra.

It is for all these reasons that this blue collar worker, this manual worker, decided to change careers. He joined what the Americans call a “boot camp” [un terme qui désigne à l’origine l’entraînement intensif réservé aux jeunes recrues de l’US Navy] of coding for six months. There, he was told about the apprenticeship programs of the IBM group. He skipped the steps, finished his training as an “IBmer » in nine months, instead of the usual twelve. And here he is today, a software engineer, an expert in programming languages ​​Python, Java, JavaScript… and a great protector of his group’s financial department applications against pirate attacks.

Mr. Yvarra says to himself ” happy “. IBM paid him during his training and today he can claim the annual salary of more than $80,000 for software engineers… Without having spent four years at university to obtain a master’s degree in computer science.

Blue-collar defector

Mr. Yvarra is what is called a “new collar”, a “new pass”. A defector from the blue-collar category, historically used to designate the working class, to other sectors: software, electronics, information processing, computer technology… These former blue-collar workers, who had not done any university studies, learned a new trade during the pandemic, which allowed them to access better paid, and much more prestigious positions.

Consulting firm Oliver Wyman estimates that one-twelfth (8.3%) of Americans who worked in warehouses, factories, restaurants, or other positions with low paychecks have made the jump to these new industry jobs. high-tech, better paid.

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A significant movement. “I don’t think we’ve seen a transition of this magnitude since World War II.judge Ana Kreacic, chief operating officer of the Oliver Wyman Forum. At the time, women and former soldiers who could take higher education for free had transformed the composition of the labor force. » The study dubbed “Renaissance” by Oliver Wyman shows that the shock due to Covid-19 served as a revealer.

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