Technology has become so wholly ubiquitous, ingrained within the minutiae of practically every industry that the word itself has arguably lost its meaning.

The ‘tech skills’ shortage doesn’t escape this criticism. It’s a become an umbrella soundbite, which  compromises any meaningful discourse – failing to reflect a landscape that encompasses a huge variety of skills and entry points.

Even the idea of a ‘shortage’ is an unhelpful oversimplification, as it likens skills to a supply-chain commodity, failing to convey the multitude of routes and pathways which are able to build and provide the required skillsets.

It’s a sentiment certainly not lost on Alex Clyne, Co-founder of Jump Digital, who is trying to disrupt the outdated mystique of ‘tech’ and make it exactly what it should be for everyone to access a career in – tangible.

“The word tech is such a 1970s/80s terminology,” says Clyne, but also says “it’s more important now than ever to admit it’s okay not to know all the answers”.

He adds: “Only one person in our organisation has a computer science degree but we’re working on NFTs, quantum computing solutions, blockchain and the education required to enable the workforce in these areas.”

Engaging tech in a better way

There’s an enduring narrative in Scotland – that’s well-intentioned – that we’re striving to be the next Silicon Valley – and it’s maybe not the aspirational endgame we should be actively seeking as the tech innovation hub is currently facing an exodus to lower-cost areas like Texas and Georgia.

“That doesn’t have to be a bad faith argument”, as Alex says: “Instead of trying to create the next Silicon Valley – which we’ll never do anyway – we should be looking at the industries that we’ve already distinguished ourselves in, things like STEM, education, tourism, oil and gas, renewables, food and drink, etc.

“How do we enable them to be smarter?”

A lot of the discourse has started to centre around grassroots education with regards to tech, for example – should kids learn to code in school?

Alex says: “C++, which is an old product, has become the flavour of the day and now JavaScript is back – these things are like waves, and now the huge growth in Low Code.”

In Alex’s experience, it’s when people move into work that they want to have lateral movement in their careers.

Offering flexible means of taking on new skills, in digestible courses that demystify the unapproachability of the broader tech concern is something very much in Jump Digital’s purview.

Alex says: “With the first master’s we offered (in Digital Marketing /Disruption Leadership), what we found was that 54% of the people that took the course were female, in a sector that’s running at around 90% male.

“Why? They could do it when it suited them – for example, we even had people doing the course while on maternity leave.”

There’s a lot to be said about an educational/upskilling framework that creates digestible, flexible engagement with salient tech topics that are actually useful for employers and offer individuals exponentially more career options.

Alex expands on this, saying: “Traditional university programmes are now under threat, especially longer courses and multiyear degree paths, as people are looking for short career/employability programmes, with accreditations that employers will understand and require.”

He adds: “It’s very important that digital/data/tech skills can be taught in isolation, along with topics such as new business models, Climate and innovation etc.”

This is the thinking that led to the Jump Digital team’s latest offering

The Digital Pilot’s Licence

Created, and greatly supported in its development by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority), the Digital Pilot’s Licence (DPL) is comprised of five accelerator programmes, delivered fully online, and accessible 24/7 at a pace that learner’s control, with support available.

The NEERSF DPL offers four programmes; Digital Marketplace; Driving Value from Data; Climate Solutions and Wellbeing, each teaching in-demand digital skills., optional Business Blockchain.

Speaking about the DPL, Alex says: “We did some research back in 2019 with an industry advisory board and went to industry-leading organisations and asked, ‘if you had a magic wand, how would you train your staff going forward?’

“Five themes emerged: We want our people to understand data and digital at a level that’s holistic; understand what works; why it’s important to understand; accommodate people to work from home and finally, understand the bigger issues around environmental concerns so they can become better citizens. All this, as well as stretching them with an emerging technology.

“From that, we derived the Digital Pilots Licence, which is now credit levlled at SCQF Level 7.”

The courses are well underway, available to those living in Aberdeen and across Aberdeenshire, delivered over 12 weeks at 15 hours per week.

Is there actually a skills shortage and demand for digital/data-savvy employees?

According to Alex, you can’t just take it as a skill shortage, there must be reframing as to how we consider the problem.

“I think there’s a myriad of macro factors – issues like not having computer science teachers in the Highlands is a real challenge for those who live there.”

There are lots of great coding initiatives going on in Scotland, Alex’s concern is that it’s seen as the “silver bullet” and from a business point of view it’s – as Alex says – “nice to have but not essential as kids will grow up with coding as a core skill anyway, through gaming like Minecraft, Roblox etc”.

Alex expands on this: “Digital is moving so fast, that we can just buy what we need when we need it, and then bring in skills for short periods if we have to.”

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The advent of low code further adds to a compelling argument around a holistic view with regards to tech education and upskilling. This holistic view, analogously, can be expanded to take in the Scottish tech business community, which, according to Alex, has to collaborate better.

“Personally, I get frustrated in Scotland operating in silos – all in the same technological space without talking to each other, and we don’t even recognise Blockchain, one our hottest education products over the last three years.

These conversations don’t work in silos; business takes a holistic approach and works across the way. At the moment, we are risking becoming technological echo chambers.”

Conversely, according to Alex, the discussion around jobs within the tech ecosystem is seemingly mired in anecdotal evidence, confirmation bias and even the occasional bad faith argument.

“People, over the last six years, keep saying to me that there’s 15,000 digital/ data jobs available in Scotland. Again frustratingly, I would argue there isn’t. I keep asking, what are the vacancies? If we know what they are, we can do something about it,” says Alex.

He adds: “We need to take a 10-year view – what are we going to need in a decade’s time? What are we planning for in 10 years? The technological landscape will be fundamentally different – for that alleged 15,000 jobs, lets fix the crucial ones, macroeconomics will take care of the rest.

“Considering where we’ll be technologically in 10 years’ time and adjusting the skill and educational rollout to meet that is what’s more important.

“The world’s moved on and moving faster and faster by the day. Start planning for the future and stop applying 20 century solutions to 21^st Century problems.”