Funding support for training for careers in the tech industry
It is widely recognised that the tech industry in Scotland is suffering from a skills shortage – this was highlighted in the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER, also referred to as the Logan Report) commissioned by Scottish Government and published in Summer 2020. In fact, the problem is wider than this – many industries, including financial services, media, manufacturing, and others, are now heavily dependent on digital technologies and as a result are also trying to attract digital talent from a relatively small pool of candidates.
One of the major sources of digital talent is the further and higher education sector, with a broad range of courses available across a variety of disciplines. There are also a number of providers of cross-skilling and retraining options that offer routes for people with different skillsets to get the digital skills that will open the door to these career opportunities for them.
One of the challenges that some people face, however, is the affordability of these learning opportunities – while the rewards of getting into such careers are very appealing, the initial investment can represent a barrier to people who want to take this route.
In recognition of this, Sottish Government created the Digital Start Fund, administered by Skills Development Scotland and now in its third year. This offer funding for eligible people that can offset part or all of the course fees that must be met. Supporting diversity, inclusion, and equality of opportunity in the tech sector is one of the areas of focus for the Scottish Tech Army and many of the organisations whose courses are eligible for funding from the Digital Start Fund are active partners with us, as are a number of the corporate organisations with which we work and that have explicit objectives around attracting talent from more diverse backgrounds.
Examples of learning programmes offered by our partners include:
CodeClan – Scotland’s Digital Skills Academy offers intensive (12-16 weeks full-time) courses in Professional Software Development and Professional Data Analysis, providing training in two of the core disciplines required in tech and tech-dependent companies.
New College Lanarkshire – offers shorter (3 days) update/re-skilling courses in coding, networking and cyber security, as well as their longer courses leading to certificate/diploma qualifications.
Amazon Web Services – runs, in partnership with delivery organisations, an intensive, 12-week course under its re/Start programme, designed to give participants a through grounding in cloud engineering principles and practices, as well as working with tech employers to source job placement opportunities.
Datakirk – offers a Fundamentals of Data Science course aimed specifically at people from BAME backgrounds, running one evening a week from November 2020 to March 2021.
Information on these and other courses eligible for funding are available on Skills Development Scotland’s Digital World web site.
The Scottish Tech Army works with all of these partners to complement their formal education programmes with opportunities for their students and graduates to gain practical experience of putting their skills to work on tech for good projects, offering them hands-on experience of real-world projects delivering social benefit, the opportunity to work alongside and learn from more experienced volunteers, and the opportunity to start building their network in the tech industry.