Through Tech Talent Boost Washington Program (TTBW) students and recent alumni are granted the unique opportunity to engage in employer-led project-based internships as a pathway to job placement in the tech sector. Powered by Riipen, the leading work-based learning platform, TTBW supports Washington based employers to expand their hiring practices to test-drive talent and hire the best best-fit participants to join their team.

TTBW allows students and recent alumni looking to explore the tech sector to benefit from paid work-based learning experiences through 40 hour internships. Participants are able to enhance and showcase their skills, form employer networks, and connect with long-term employment opportunities. Completed remotely over 4 weeks, employer projects provide authentic experience and support career clarity to pave the way for success in the dynamic job market.

Through TTBW, Washington based employers can engage with talented students and alumni from North Seattle College’s Application Development BAS and BSc Computer Science programs. TTBW allows employers to broaden their hiring practices by engaging with participants to test drive emerging tech talent. Employers can assess candidates over a fully subsidized 40 hour collaboration, and hire the best-fit members to join their team. Whether it's filling immediate positions or building a pipeline for talent requirements in the near future, TTBW serves as a valuable resource for employers to meet their hiring needs, and get their digital tech projects completed.

Employers must be located in US and considered as one of the following:

Employers may not be:

You will be asked to verify your company information when joining the TTBW program. You can find out more about our employer verification process here.

To sign up for TTBW you will first need to join the TTBW portal where you can post your projects to be matched to the program. If you are new to Riipen, you will be prompted to create an employer account and populate your company’s portal profile. On joining the program, you will be asked to verify that you meet the TTBW eligibility criteria, as outlined in our Terms and Conditions here. For more info on the verification process, view this article here.

Employers can post a range of digital tech projects in the core program areas of Web Application Design & Development, Mobile Application Development, Cloud Computing and Data Analytics. Projects should provide 40 hours of work per participant. Each project must be completed over 4 weeks. For more information on how to create and submit a project for TTBW, you can consult this article.

There’s no limit to how many projects an employer can submit to the TTBW program, especially if you are hiring for multiple roles or across different teams in your organization. The participants will be assigned in teams of 5, directly to the project through the program. That being said, we ask that you be mindful of the amount of participants you accept to work on your project, to ensure you can dedicate appropriate time to each participant.

Projects are assigned teams of up to 5 participants, which means your project should be able to be completed over 200 hours in total. If you think you will need more than this we recommend splitting the work and posting multiple projects to work with more than one TTBW team.

All TTBW projects must be completed over 4 weeks and in line with the cohorts below.

Each participant is expected to contribute 40 hours to the project. A project timeline can be adjusted, as long it still meets those requirements and if both the employer and the participant team are in agreement to do so. To adjust the project timeline that is recorded on the Riipen platform, the employer can make a request from the settings page on the match. Instructions for how to do this can be found here. The TTBW team will review and approve new date change requests within 2 business days.

In an effort to create a good TTBW experience for all parties, we have Terms and Conditions, which can be found here. Please take a moment to read through them. You will be asked to sign the T&Cs agreement when you post your project. We've also created a three strike system. This means that if any TTBW user goes against the Terms and Conditions, they will receive a strike. You will be notified via e-mail when/if you've received a strike. If you receive three strikes, you will be removed from the program and will no longer be able to participate.

Participants will be placed into a team of 5 and will be matched to your project by the TTBW team. Participants must start and complete the project work through the Riipen platform in order to receive their stipend payment. You are welcome to communicate with them outside of the platform as well. Participants will need a dedicated contact to answer questions and provide access to any resources they need throughout the project.

Participants will have support from the Technical Employment Program Manager (TEPM) at North Seattle College. They can provide participants assistance with:

Participants will be connected with the TEPM upon signing up and will have support via email, chat, and virtual on-demand appointments.

No, TTBW is a fully subsidized program. On successfully completing an employer project, each participant is paid a $1000 stipend by Riipen. For more information on confirming and completing an TTBW project please consult this article.

TTBW is different from traditional wage subsidy or grant funding programs that you might be used to. Riipen pays participants directly, which means that funding is attached to participants, not projects. Stipends are not locked in until a participant team has been matched to and started your project. Stipends are sent to participants as a one-time payment, which means that participants only receive payment upon successful completion of projects. Participants who do not fully complete the project will not be paid. Participants will not be permitted to take on more than one project.

No. Participants are neither employees of the organization they do a project for, nor of Riipen (who will pay their stipend). As such, participants do not qualify for any benefits and will not obtain any record of employment from either organizations. Upon joining the TTBW program, Riipen will require participants to submit their legal name, social security number, and mailing address so that we can issue the appropriate tax form(s).

No. While you are welcome to submit your project(s) to other courses and internship programs on Riipen, connections that you make outside of the TTBW program would not have the stipend attached, even if the participants are eligible. Participants will only receive a stipend if they have applied and been accepted to your project through the TTBW portal.