Pernix Apprent

1. Pernix Apprenticeship
Program
Carlos Sirias
Carlos Sirias CEO de Pernix
Services company & idea incubator. 18 people with clients in US & Europe.

2. We have a problem
Companies are always complaining about the lack of qualified professionals.
The professionals are not available but are needed now. The universities are a
good place to get competent beginners with high potential, unfortunately the
market (due to its needs) have left an important piece on building highly skilled
professionals: the process to accumulate experience.

3. The expectation that beginners are put in front of a machine hoping that they
will create something out of nothing is simply an utopy. If we want to train
professionals we need to provide the opportunity for them to grow through
experiences
A beginner without experience will do more harm than good.

4. Internships vs Apprenticeship
Experience on most professions comes from the involvement of beginners on
projects under a controlled environment where the expectation of them are that
they’ll continue their learning process on a supervised manner until they
proved worthy of a more autonomous position given their skills. Some
examples of this way of acquiring experience are found in how newly doctors or
lawyers perform.
Companies must transform their processes to open the space for beginers to
continue the learning process, from this reality in 2009 our apprenticeship
program was born. We take beginners and through a series of controlled
projects (they actually decide what project they want to work on, and it is not an
income generated project) & a lot of coaching we prepare them for the
enterprise environment.

5. SOLUTION
If we check history, successful companies have emerged from the minds of
people in their 20’s that had a dream. What could happen if we create an
ecosystem inside companies that support those dreams?
After five years on the making we have found something that as a company we
like. Our company can invest in young talent with the hopes that they develop
into true professionals (which is not dictated by their college degree) and what
better way for them to get experience than by working on their entrepreneurial
projects... on their own ideas.

6. Our program focuses on the development of tech ideas (or startups) that are
supported by us (we provide mentoring & coaching) this guarantees that the
apprentices work on something that they can relate to, something they feel
passionate about. We also provide our full time employees 20% of their time so
they can focus on tech ideas... we like to see these as a power boost. Of course
we know that most products will be dropped but we will still get the experience
that our staff and our apprentices are putting into the process. It is an
investment.

7. We base our apprenticeship program in four pillars
+ Shadowing (learn from others)
+ Self preparation
+ Experience with different technologies
+ Soft Skills
The four pillars are embedded inside innovation projects (breakable toys) which we
are aware that some might never see the light, however we hope that some might and
still we got a lot of value added from the experience.

8. The program guarantees we are getting the best available people for our
growing craftsmanship business

9. The program has become the centerpiece for our growing company where we
promote a relaxing open space environment that fosters creativity.