COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the UK’s workforce by seeing a widespread transition to working from home. Alongside this, 2020 highlighted the need for diversity and representation across the UK’s Tech sector; with only 5% of technology leaders identifying as female, and only 5% of the UK’s Tech talent identifying as coming from a BAME background.
School of Code is on a mission to get many different types of people into Tech. They are closing the digital skills gap by turning diverse cohorts of people into work-ready full stack developers suited to remote, Agile teams. The bonus: It’s free to attend! Funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority, corporate sponsors, and employer partners levels the playing field and eliminates barriers to entry. Employer Partners include The Economist, Santander, Purplebricks, Bravissimo and other companies that all share School of Code’s passion for diversifying the Tech sector.
The new bootcamp starting on Saturday 27 March will offer 40 people across the West Midlands the opportunity to gain coding skills on a flexible basis whilst accommodating their existing employment, business or caring commitments. Independent and peer learning throughout the week will accompany set class times on Wednesday evenings and every other Saturday. Like previous bootcamps, learners will take part in two real-world projects that will allow them to showcase their new technical skill set. By offering this versatility in the learning experience, School of Code hopes to widen participation in the tech sector across all socio-economic groups.
Arshi Sheikh, current Bootcamper, said: “It was inspiring to see people from all backgrounds come together to support each other and learn to code. There was a low entry barrier and the only real requirement was a desire to intensely learn and be challenged. It’s accessible to everyone.”
This proven model has seen 85% of previous bootcamp cohorts successfully placed into digital roles throughout the UK. Whether they started the course as a paleontologist or a classical guitarist with no tech experience, they have all learned the technical, problem solving, and creative skills required to join high-performing tech teams and make an impact immediately.
