Forging the Future: NukuDo and Tri-Starr’s Texas Cybersecurity Alliance

Summary

• San Antonio-based NukuDo has partnered with staffing firm Tri-Starr Talent to grow the city’s cybersecurity workforce.
• Participants in NukuDo’s six-month paid training program get recruiting and job placement help from Tri-Starr.
• The partnership was announced on March 19, 2025.
• It links training directly to jobs.

Training tied to jobs

San Antonio has one of the largest concentrations of cybersecurity work in the U.S., thanks to its military cyber commands and the companies that serve them. Employers there still struggle to hire. NukuDo, a local company that trains people for cybersecurity careers, announced on March 19, 2025, that it was teaming up with Tri-Starr Talent, a staffing firm also referred to as Tri-Starr Resources, to move graduates of its program into jobs.

How the partnership works

NukuDo runs a six-month paid training program for people entering security. Tri-Starr’s recruiters will work with participants on placement, connecting them with employers looking for entry-level security staff. The idea is to close the gap between finishing training and getting hired, which is where many career changers stall.

NukuDo describes the program as a mix of classroom learning and practical work. An earlier version of this article quoted an unnamed NukuDo representative; we could not trace the quote and have removed it.

The training

The program combines instruction with hands-on practice, and NukuDo works with local educational partners.

A quote from an unnamed faculty partner has also been removed because it could not be confirmed.

Hands-on practice

Participants work with the tools used in security jobs, which helps them show employers practical experience instead of a certificate alone.

A city short on staff

Studies of the cybersecurity workforce, including ISC2’s annual surveys, have found a large shortage of qualified people worldwide. Many organizations say they cannot fill open roles, which leaves them more exposed.

San Antonio is already known as a cybersecurity hub. A pipeline from training to placement helps local employers hire nearby and keeps graduates in the city.

Long-term Vision and Impact

NukuDo and Tri-Starr say they want a self-sustaining local talent pool, with past participants staying connected to the program and its employers.

A quote attributed to an unnamed Tri-Starr executive could not be confirmed and has been removed.

What to watch

The test of the partnership will be placement numbers: how many participants finish the program and land security jobs, and how long they stay. If those numbers are good, the model of paying trainees and placing them directly could spread to other cities with similar shortages.

Frank Jones, CISSP

Frank Jones has loved computers from the age of 13. Frank got his hacking career started when he downloaded a war dialing program that he used to detect dial up modems in his hometown of Chicago. Frank Jones now works as a JAVA coder and cyber security researcher.