Scottish companies and universities will be taking on interns from the CodeClan Youth Academy.
The partnership with Baillie Gifford is aimed at giving young people experience of how technology-driven businesses operate.
The 14 interns will be taking up their paid internships at FreeAgent, Stellar Omada, Heriot-Watt’s Robotarium, DirectID, Inoapps, Cademy and Lane Media, in addition to CodeClan and Baillie Gifford, following a four-week coding bootcamp.
CodeClan chief executive Melinda Matthews-Clarkson said: “Education is one of the key pillars required if Scotland’s tech community is to reach a tipping point and establish itself as a truly leading technology hub.
“CodeClan Youth Academy demonstrates that, with more buy-in from across the Scottish business scene, we can help to address this pressing concern.”
Yvonne Robertson, chief of information systems staff at Baillie Gifford, said: “We have been really encouraged to see the CodeClan Youth Academy get off the ground, we hope it can be the first of many to come, and to echo Melinda the success of the initiative will rely on even more companies coming forward to support the academy.”
The Youth Academy caters for people aged between 16 and 21, providing them with the kind of programming skills required in an industry environment. Students completing the course should be able to carry out tasks equivalent to the role of a junior front-end developer.
Dermot Murray, vice president of technology at Inoapps, added: “The digital skills crisis means that it is proving ever more difficult to source future talent, and it is therefore vital that we invest and grow our own talent through programmes such as this.
“Inoapps has had a long partnership with CodeClan, having recruited over 30 graduates from their Digital Skills bootcamp into a wide variety of digital roles, and we welcome this new initiative.”
The Youth Academy’s second cohort begins in October.
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