From plumbing to manufacturing plant operation, and electrician work to HVAC repair, the trades are constantly advancing. These fields offer hands-on, experience-driven work that is in high demand in the Portland Oregon area. With positive job lookouts according to the Department of Labor Statistics, many people are considering these careers for the first time.

The numbers vary all the time, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics is consistent on one point: information technology careers will continue growing with double-digit percentage growth year-over-year for the foreseeable future. Much of the expansion that took place during 2020 in the IT world has been helping to equip more businesses to operate from sites other than offices to enforce social distancing or boost capacity for everything from app-driven curbside grocery pick-up to online ordering at restaurants.

The information technology field is fascinating because, slowly but surely, nearly all businesses have technical aspects. To create and maintain their technological infrastructure, they need to employ or contract with programmers, troubleshooting and maintenance technicians, and other professionals who work intensively on computerized systems. Joining the ranks of information technology at this point is not just a good idea: you also may already want to start looking at how you can boost your skills.

This year has been a challenge for many organizations and industries, but event management and wedding planning have had to take steps to pivot in response to COVID-19. With so many restrictions on in-person gatherings, event planning professionals and wedding planners have retooled their schedules, shifted to other work, or gone back to school.

Kinjal Mistry was trained in pharmacy and pharmacology in India before moving to the United States in 2019. Mistry sought an affordable path to using her past training paired with a deep interest in research. She discovered an outlet for both passions with PCC's Clinical Research program. We recently sat down with her to learn more about her experience - you can learn more about her journey below! 

There is no such thing as maladaptive.

No. Behavior. Is. Maladaptive.

Sure, there are LOTS of behaviors that have pretty big negative consequences… for ourselves and others.

Developing new programs at Portland Community College's Institute for Health Professionals requires understanding the needs of Portland’s health industry. One particular area of the industry experiencing high turnover, expensive training, and a lack of qualified applicants: clinical researchers and clinical research assistants. The IHP team went to work and built its online clinical research program, offered during the spring. 

The fall semester of 2020 has shown so many institutions of higher education the challenges of running courses during the current public health crisis. COVID-19 has forced some difficult decisions about in-person classes and has challenged schools to offer many virtual or hybrid options that might not have existed before. Portland Community College does everything we can in order to keep our students and our staff safe, hoping to maintain a sense of normalcy while also creating a positive and educational experience for all.

Many of us who work in Portland Oregon's caring professions, from nursing to teaching to law to counseling, wish we understood more about how environmental factors and emotions are impacted by the physical features and chemical interactions of the brain. Whether your training took you in a more biological and chemistry direction, or a more psychological and sociological direction, wedding these disparate fields helps so many to explain and teach with their clients and students who want answers about why they feel the way they feel.

With new languages and applications arising all the time, the world of Computer Science is a dynamic one. This year has been said to represent a multi-year "leap forward" in computer technology, as many companies threw resources into improving online infrastructure for everything from delivery systems to online ordering for restaurants. Companies that were not previously "tech companies" in the Portland Oregon area are now more technology focused, adding developers and programmers to their staff. 

Eric Pfau came to the PCC Small Business Development Center to learn how the business might improve based upon best practices of other businesses of similar size and experience. Then COVID-19 pandemic hit and Grummel Engineering, like so many other small businesses, had to change the way they worked with clients and with each other. Eric's goal is for the business to come out of the pandemic stronger than going in. This is the story of how Eric and Grummel Engineering is adapting to their "new normal" as they prepare for long term growth.