There’s no shortage of uncertainty in the job market, and that includes tech—but the AI data subsector is still booming, necessitating a workforce with certifications and education.
Luckily for novice tech workers looking to get on board the AI data train, the federal government recently expanded the scope of an education savings plan to allow anyone to spend tax-advantaged dollars on a broad swath of tech training and certifications in all kinds of disciplines, from AI to cybersecurity to networking.
The 529 savings plan has been around for decades, with students able to place post-tax dollars in an investment fund then draw that money tax-free for qualified educational expenses. As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Congress passed in early July, families and students can now use their 529 money to pay for non-degree training and credentialing, including tech upskilling.
Get certified. For certification and training organizations like CompTIA, it’s been a long time coming. Seth Robinson, the group’s VP of industry research, told IT Brew that a larger breadth of choice for fund usage is helpful—and that employers should embrace these alternative avenues to training.
“They provide a lot of benefits,” Robinson said. “And there are some trade-offs, some pros and cons to either approach.”
Of primary concern is how the regulatory framework shakes out, and whether or not the rule-making process actually delivers. But overall the potential of the new 529 regulations likely outweighs the difficult regulatory complications.
“If somebody was considering a technology career and they had 529 funds available to use, and were wondering where to get started, we would encourage them to start with some kind of learning, like our Tech+ offering that provides a strong overview of what enterprise systems use,” Robinson said.
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Backup plan. There are more options than just certifications. Martha Heller, CEO of recruiting firm Heller, told IT Brew that, in her view, the real difference-makers in the new tech economy are going to be the people who have the ability to grab a new trend and take advantage of it. That makes the winner of the AI job market the person behind change management, Heller said.
“The skill set is, ‘I’m going to come in, I know this process like the back of my hand,’” Heller said. “And as such, I can rethink how we can do this process using AI to be efficient, and I can get all the people around me to start thinking that way too.”
Given the demand for employees skilled in change management, AI, and other disciplines for tech professions, many prospective hires are skipping the four-year degrees in favor of certifications and training—a process that 529s can make more economical than before. Meanwhile, companies should take this opportunity to engage in “skills-based hiring,” looking in non-traditional corners to meet their talent needs.
“What I would say to companies thinking about this whole degree thing is, go look in your manufacturing plants work for the person who’s grown up on the shop floor, and he or she knows everything about that, but has also been known for thinking of out of the box and raising their hands for things—get them to tell you how their world changes with AI,” Heller said. “That’s the person you want to be focused on, not the data scientist or the or the tech programmer.”