(Prairie News Service) From the great resignation to pending retirements, North Dakota's cybersecurity workforce faces challenges in filling positions. State leaders hope new opportunities for college students will build a more robust pipeline of workers.

Michael Gregg, chief information security officer for the state of North Dakota, said in addition to pandemic trends and a possible wave of retirements, the state must compete with the private sector in offering competitive salaries for cybersecurity work.

One way to counteract those forces is an intern apprenticeship program for college students hoping to complete their degrees in the field. 

"The intern program, they work 20 hours a week, and they're not a full-time employee," Gregg acknowledged. "But when those positions open up when they graduate, if they want to apply for those, they certainly can, and we've seen that occur."

There is also an emerging apprenticeship program to be carried out with area colleges. If the student agrees to stay employed with the state for a certain period, North Dakota will help pay off a portion of their remaining tuition. Gregg argued it is an important incentive at a time of higher costs for higher education. 

Gregg pointed out his department's work is not all automated, and staffing is needed to protect the state from cybersecurity threats. Earlier this year, the state's Workforce Safety and Insurance Department experienced a cyberattack.

Meanwhile, Gregg noted having more employees monitoring threats for the public sector can lead to a host of benefits beyond compensation. 

"When we bring people in, we give them a broad area of duties that they can explore," Gregg explained. "They can learn it, so they're not going to be focused on simply one thing they're learning a much broader area, which is giving them a much broader knowledge base."

In the next legislative session, Gregg emphasized his department will ask lawmakers to expand the apprenticeship offerings beyond cybersecurity. He added there is a need for more workers in other facets of Information Technology, including data and routing and switching.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.