QA Wins Government Contract to Provide Digital Skills Bootcamps

@QA_Ltd, the UK’s leading digital skills organisation, has been awarded a Department for Education (@EducationGovUK) contract to deliver a programme of digital skills bootcamps.

QA’s bootcamps will take 500 people with little or no background in technology and equip them with the digital and soft skills required for entry-level tech jobs in as little as nine weeks.

Funded from the DfE’s £36 million National Skills Fund, the bootcamps will teach software development and data engineering skills, with potential further programmes to follow. This training will provide individuals aged 19 and over seeking work, or looking to retrain, with the skills needed to access sustainable, well-paid tech careers.

“QA is delighted to be part of this great government initiative to retrain 1000s of people across the country in high-demand tech skills,” said Paul Geddes, CEO at QA.

“With tech workers achieving an average starting salary of £30k*, these free digital skills bootcamps have the potential to change people’s lives, placing them firmly on the path to employment in well-paid roles in an industry desperately short of people with the right skills.

“Individuals with the attitude and aptitude to succeed in a tech career will be trained in entry-level tech skills. Learners will then complete tech projects based on real-world challenges, giving them the experience they need to stand out in the recruitment process. Having delivered a number of the pilot programmes last year, we know first-hand that bootcamps offer an efficient and accessible route to jobs for people from all walks of life while at the same time providing skills-strapped employers with work-ready tech talent.”

QA’s digital skills bootcamps will run from Summer 2021 until the end of March 2022, training hundreds of learners through a total of 20 bootcamps. Programmes will consist of pre-learning via QA’s digital learning platform Cloud Academy, instructor-led virtual sessions covering both technical and soft skills, practical experience, assessments and industry insight meetings with employers.

All participants will continue to receive support beyond the bootcamp to maximise success in finding jobs and provide further skills development in their new roles. A recruitment support manager will work with delegates to secure job interviews for local technical roles and successful finishers will also receive 12 months’ access to Cloud Academy, allowing individuals to continue to develop their skills while interviewing for roles and in the critical first few months of employment.

The contract award to run these bootcamps comes after QA’s successful pilot scheme in 2019 with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, rolled out under the Digital Fast Track Fund and funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. 

* Based on QA’s analysis of 50,000 open vacancies in ITJobsWatch.