Funded Software Development spaces now available to Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire residents
Written by James Adams
We are delighted to announce that we will be working alongside D2N2 to offer funded Software Development Coding Bootcamp spaces on our upcoming coding bootcamp starting on March 18th to eligible residents within Derbyshire and Nottingham.
The funding is offered as part of the successful bid from D2N2 to the Department for Education to offer residents training opportunities as part of the Skills Bootcamps program. Skills Bootcamps are flexible training courses for adults aged 19 and over. They last up to 16 weeks and offer participants a job interview on completion. Employers are able to use the scheme to hire new staff or upskill existing staff.
The D2N2 has a core focus on Digital Skills as highlighted in the D2N2 Local Skills Report published in January of 2022. The report provides a detailed analysis of the digital sector in the D2N2 area, noting that at the time it comprised 29,000 jobs and generated £1.8 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA). The report went on to highlight that the sector is characterised by small firms, with a notable cluster in Nottingham's Creative Quarter.
Whilst Digital can easily be defined by generalist characteristics of Software Development agencies, and Digital Design, the report highlighted the cross-cutting Influence that digital technology plays across all sectors. The report identified that the sector itself is not an effective measure of its influence due to its widespread impact. The report effectively highlighted that there are 36,000 jobs across eleven core digital roles, more aptly highlighting the impact and importance of Digital skills for the region.
In a further report, the FSB worked within the D2N2 region to produce an in-depth analysis of the skills requirement and improvement plan, known as a Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP). The D2N2 report highlighted local labour market intelligence mirrored the national imbalance in the uptake of digital occupations by gender, with women and girls being underrepresented,. The report also highlighted a significant skills shortage in the digital sector. With the report highlighting that employers are finding it challenging to find employees with the appropriate digital skills. The demand spans general and specialised digital skills due to the rapid technological evolution across various sectors.
The Tech Educators coding bootcamp seeks to address some of the areas highlighted by these in depth and focussed reports. As an organisation, the Tech Educators bootcamp attracts students from a diverse range of backgrounds - supporting an accessible and progressive digital economy. The Software Development coding bootcamp has been proven to create positive outcomes for students and local employers in other regions, a feat the Tech Educators team are looking to achieve alongside D2N2.
“We are delighted to be able to offer funded spaces in partnership with D2N2 under the Skills Bootcamps program” said Tech Educators founder and CEO, James Adams. “The skills reports outline clearly the demand for high quality, cutting edge technologies and the recent LSIP for the region highlights the challenges of keeping “digitally relevant” with skills and frameworks. We continue to develop our courses and offer to stay at that leading edge, as seen with the recent news about the relevance of PostgreSQL and us moving to Next.js in our course offering. The only UK provider to work with such a framework. Working with a partner that understands these challenges and being given the opportunity to support local residents and employers is a real win-win-win. When we told the team the news of the opportunity, everyone cannot wait to get started. The student journeys and outcomes is what makes everyone here tick and getting to have a wider impact across the UK, it’s a real buzz within the team.”
All interested individuals can attend a free Coding Bootcamp taster session to understand if the Software Development bootcamp is the right course for them, upon completion of the course students who meet the DfE eligibility criteria are invited to apply for a funded space. If a student isn’t eligible we welcome applications for a Tech Educators scholarship.
About the Author
James has 8 years with Fortune 200 US firm ITW, experience of managing projects in China, USA, and throughout Europe. James has worked with companies such as Tesco, Vauxhall, ITW, Serco, McDonalds. James has experience in supporting start-up and scale up companies such as Readingmate, Gorilla Juice and Harvest London. James completed his MBA at the University of East Anglia in 2018.
