Encouraging young people to develop tech skills
Young people are the future of UK tech. Discover how your company can help the next generation develop the tech skills needed to future-proof the sector.
Encouraging the next generation to develop tech skills is a positive step towards bridging the UK’s tech skills gap. According to a recent report by Accenture, failure to close the digital skills gap could see the UK economy forfeit as much as £141.5 billion of the GDP growth promised by investment in intelligent technologies over the next ten years.
Digital literacy is important in every career nowadays and the need for tech skills will only increase as companies continue to rely on technology post Covid-19.
CWJobs’ own research with Milkround reveals that 42% of students and graduates would consider a career in tech if they had the opportunity to develop the skills needed. With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at why it’s important to encourage young people to develop tech skills:
The demand for tech skills is growing
According to TechNation’s 2020 Report, UK tech employment has grown by 40% in the last 2 years and now accounts for 9% of the national workforce. As time goes on, the demand for tech skills is only going to increase, and the companies that thrive post-Covid-19 will be those who have the talent to drive performance and innovation.
In 2019, investment in the UK tech sector soared to £10.1 billion, making the UK the global leader in tech growth. And moving forward, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has unveiled a number of plans to support the tech industry following the coronavirus pandemic.
What’s more, CWJobs’ Confidence Index 2020 reveals that nearly half of IT decision makers believe their business will increase tech budgets in the future because of new learnings from Covid-19.
In order to keep up with demand, tech companies should aim to partner with schools and colleges to make students aware of the opportunities that exist in tech. Shireland Collegiate, for example, working with the Apps for Good programme, is partnered with Codeacademy and supported by Microsoft.
Tech skills are important across all job sectors
CWJobs’ More than Code report reveals that 80% of business leaders say that having a tech specialism is an important factor in their future hiring decisions across any sector. Cyber security (79%) is the most in demand tech skill for businesses, followed by data analytics (76%) and business intelligence (76%).
At CWJobs, we’ve seen job roles open up in a variety of sectors in recent years, from sport, to film and the automotive industry. In the sports industry, for example, 76% of business leaders say that cyber security is a top priority. In media and marketing, 66% of business leaders say that coding is an important skill for employees, with 60% of those in the automotive industry agreeing likewise.
Tech skills can foster an entrepreneurial mindset
Without tech entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos, Susan Wojcicki, Bill Gates and Jean Lui, the world as we know it today, would be very different. Tech skills can provide young people with opportunities to branch out on their own and set up their own businesses.
Whether working as an IT contractor, a freelance web developer, or founding a tech business, tech and digital skills enable young people to profit from the UK’s skills gap and develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
From a company viewpoint, tech skills can encourage intrapreneurship and help streamline processes, solve problems and develop new products. According to a recent white paper published by Deloitte, intrapreneurship ‘pays off many times over in terms of company growth, culture and talent.’
Some of the world’s leading tech companies like Facebook, Apple, Google, Sony, and Dreamworks, encourage their staff to nurture innovation, which often leads to the creation of new products and services.
Future-proofing the UK’s tech industry
In order to close the UK’s tech skills gap and future-proof the industry, companies need to ensure that they have a continuous pipeline of tech talent. Companies across all industries, not just tech, are struggling to find candidates that can transform their business.
OLPC uses education to combat the issues that burden children across the world. The program began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2005 and has provided more than 3 million educational laptops to children around the world.
The Computers for Children Project is an initiative from the Titan Partnership. The project aims to raise money to purchase computers for disadvantaged children in Birmingham.