ABOUT US

Our partnership with MCCC is an innovative, collaborative effort between a local community college looking to ensure their students’ success and a local business providing quality, affordable services within the community. It’s a win-win for everyone.

ApprenticeIT was just too good
an idea for us to let pass.

“Programs like this will help fill the skills gap domestically and make sure we are keeping the jobs of the future local instead of outsourcing them overseas.”

– Rashaad & Michelle Bajwa,
Founders of Domain Computer Services

Where we started.

Domain Computer Services recently celebrated its 20th birthday. This practically makes us a dinosaur in our field. Back in 1997, our first job was connecting a law firm to the internet with a download speed ~34 kilobytes per second. Now the smart phone you hold in your hand can download content at 25-125 megabits per second.

Technology has obviously evolved. If Domain was still selling one-modem proxy servers, we wouldn’t be where we are today! And we’ve not only survived, we’ve thrived. Domain continues to innovate to stay ahead of technology shifts for the businesses it serves.

What sets us apart from other IT companies? It’s not just about the work we do, but the people we do it with. Our engineers are smart, obviously, but they’re also funny and personable. It’s these kind of invaluable skills that we teach to our interns at ApprenticeIT.

Where we’re going.

Our education system has major problems. The price of a four year degree continues to rise at an enormous rate, while starting salaries for graduates don’t match up to the price paid for their education. Many employers find graduates ill-equipped for “real world” work. On top of that, fields like IT face a “negative job gap,” where there are more jobs avaliable than there are qualified applicants.

Domain Computer Services was just following this trend. We required four-year degrees, despite having to extensively train new hires. And as we grew, we experienced the negative job gap firsthand as we searched for qualified applicants. Despite this, Domain also had a growing interest in giving back to the community. This interest was fufilled thanks to Mercer County Community College and its president, Dr. Jiangping Wang, who asked a simple question: Why did we do things this way?

Why did we do things this way? Maybe because it’s expected. Maybe it was inertia. Regardless of the answer, the question itself gave us pause. And then we started planning. In less than a year, we were ready to launch the Domain Tech Academy at MCCC.

And we’re not stopping there. Last year, we partnered with Middlesex County Community College. We’re always looking for ways to connect and give back to the community around us.

ApprenticeIT

ApprenticeIT was founded as a means of providing community college students and post-secondary students of an IT background with an opportunity to get into the workforce and be trained professionally while still working toward their degrees, as well as to flood the market with freshly graduated and already-trained IT professionals. ApprenticeIT will enroll apprentices under the new US DOL approved occupation, “Computer Support Specialist — Desktop Support Technician,” under the sector Information Technology/Cyber Security. By partnering with community organizations and colleges, we have been able to develop and demonstrate a viable strategy for recruiting apprentices who are community college or county vocational school participants, and/or post-secondary students of IT background.