Emily Daily had always wanted to work in tech, but she never had the funds or means to get a degree. Then, she saw the opening for a mobile app developer apprentice at Unum.
It was the first apprenticeship program created with the Hamilton County-Chattanooga Apprenticeship Hub, which formed in 2023.
At the time, Daily had been struggling to get by, she said, and she was looking for a way to create a life that she was proud of and could sustain.
The apprenticeship gave her life the 180 degree turn she always wanted, she said. It taught her everything other developers had learned in college and gave her a better quality of life.
"When Unum took on the role of having a tech apprentice, they really embodied what it meant to work and learn at the same time," Daily said in a video interview. "Every day, I'm still learning something new, and every day, I'm still working, hands on, in the job."
(SIGN UP: Get today's Chattanooga area news, sports and entertainment directly to your inbox. Sign up for our free newsletters at timesfreepress.com/newsletters.)
She is now a software engineer at Unum.
After the success of its first apprenticeship, Unum plans to add two more software development apprentices next year, the insurance company announced at an event Thursday celebrating National Apprenticeship Week.
Also announced Thursday, EPB will start a customer success apprenticeship, and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce intends to create an apprenticeship program in accounting.
The four new apprenticeships are part of the Chattanooga area's efforts in recent years to expand its offerings. In 2022, Chattanooga was selected as one of five communities in the nation to serve as an apprentice innovation district. Since then, more than two dozen registered apprenticeship programs have been created with local employers.
(READ MORE: Four Hamilton County businesses to start new youth apprenticeship programs)
A registered apprenticeship is a state-approved career pathway by which employers can develop and prepare their future workforce through on-the-job, paid training and education.
Apprenticeships open doors for untapped talent, create pipelines for innovation and bring fresh perspectives to the field, Daniela LaCelle, assistant vice president of IT delivery at Unum, said.
She said technology is the perfect field for apprenticeships.
"We don't just need people with traditional degrees," she said. "We need individuals with curiosity, resilience, a passion for solving problems, qualities that don't always show up on a transcript, but can shine through an apprenticeship."
A lot of students don't know what opportunities are out there, Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Justin Robertson said, so the school system is working to educate them on pathways that will lead to not just a living wage, but a thriving wage.
Chattanooga 2.0, a collaborative education group, defines a thriving wage -- the amount required for a single adult in Hamilton County to cover basic costs and maintain financial stability over time -- at $50,000 per year.
The community needs to think about removing barriers to these career paths, Robertson said.
"Many of our kids that go into these paths are literally a flat tire away from ending that path," he said. "As a community, we've got to understand that it's not just about creating these apprenticeships, but it's also about putting the supports around them, so that when they do hit a hurdle, they've got someone there to help them over it."
(READ MORE: Hands-on approach: Chattanooga emerging as leading apprenticeship hub)
Robertson referenced the vote the Hamilton County school board was scheduled to take late Thursday on whether to renovate the former BlueCross BlueShield building off U.S. 27 into a career center for high school students. He said such a center would lead to even more pathways for students. He hopes to see a computer science pathway at the campus, he said.
That doesn't happen, though, without buy-in from businesses, he said. He acknowledged that it can be overwhelming for an employer to take on an apprentice.
"What I think that you will find is that so many of our kids have the talent. They have the ability, and they're willing to do the work," he said. "This generation oftentimes gets pigeonholed into saying that they're always on their phone, that they're not hard working. But when you go to schools like Sale Creek and you go to schools like Tyner, I think what you see is a generation of kids that just want opportunity, want people to give them a chance to get out and prove themselves."
Contact Shannon Coan at [email protected] or 423-757-6396.
Staff photo by Shannon Coan / Former apprentices Chyna Keene, Emily Daily and Drew Shea talk on a panel Nov. 21, 2024, to celebrate National Apprenticeship Week.