Scotland’s first not-for-profit digital skills bootcamp run by CodeClan has experienced an increased demand from young people from underrepresented groups in technology. The Youth Academy is a course aimed at giving young people the training and development to have a career in tech. 

The Youth Academy currently has 40 individuals between 16-21 on its waitlist, with the capacity to take on more if they receive sponsorship. CodeClan is now looking to Scotland’s entrepreneurial network to ‘pay-it-forward’ and sponsor a spot for a student to attend the summer academy. 

“Across Glasgow and Edinburgh, there is a high percentage of secondary schools in Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) zones, and we really want to change the trajectory of young people by giving them an opportunity to transform their lives through jobs in tech,” said CodeClan CEO Loral Quinn. 

“We don’t want to look back in twenty years’ time and realise that we didn’t take action when it was most needed,” said Quinn. 

The cost for sponsoring a student through the Youth Academy is £3,000, and CodeClan also implores organisations to cover a further £10,000 to allow the sponsored students to go through a 16-week professional software developer and 14-week professional data analysis programmes. 

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CodeClan has successfully placed over 2,000 students with over 300 organisations with hiring partners such as Skyscanner, FanDuel, Baillie Gifford, DC Thomson, BlackRock, Tesco Bank, and Sainsbury’s Bank.

“CodeClan’s youth academy model is an outstanding initiative that creates genuinely life-changing opportunities for young people while simultaneously expanding the talent pool for Scotland’s tech companies, and all using CodeClan’s proven training excellence,” said Mark Logan, Scotland’s Chief Entrepreneur. “With scale participation from individuals and businesses across Scotland, the scheme could be transformational in both economic and societal terms.  There’s no better way for the tech community to contribute to Scotland’s future.”