Tata Consultancy Services, India's leading IT firm, has unveiled a new initiative in the UK designed to help encourage more young people into digital careers. In partnership with The Tech Partnership and MyKindaCrowd, has created a resource pack to help teachers educate young people about possible roles in the IT industry, and the steps they need to take to achieve that ambition.
"Digital technologies are playing a defining role in all aspects of our lives and this trend will continue to grow. As a result, there will be an increase in demand for employees with digital skills, and hence more young people need to choose the right education, to give them the required future skills," said Nupur Singh Mallick, HR director, Tata Consultancy Services UK & Ireland.
"At TCS, we believe that businesses must take action to help educate and inspire young people about the potential advantages of a digital-skills-based career," she said. "The TechFutures Careers Resource Pack is a key part of our IT Futures programme, a series of TCS-led initiatives designed to foster enthusiasm and engagement among young people and address the long-term challenges limiting the growth of the UK's digital talent pool."
"It is vital that we have a secure talent pipeline to ensure the future success of the digital economy. These employer created resources will help to inspire the future tech workforce about the fascinating careers that are available to them in the tech industry," said Sue Nieland, director of Education for The Tech Partnership.
"It is encouraging that businesses are proactively looking to help shrink the digital skills gap. Forging links with schools and teachers, and providing them with dedicated resources to inspire them and provide them with new skills is excellent in helping students explore what careers will suit them," said William Akerman, MD, MyKindaCrowd.
Currently, there are no teaching resource packs of this kind available for this topic. The research, which assessed the challenges and issues that schools currently face found that although young people are well-versed in using technology, there is a lack of knowledge of how that technology is created and little understanding of the breadth of technology career.
Bringing together industry insights, practical lesson guides and activities, The TechFutures materials are designed to address this deficit, TCS said in a statement.
TCS volunteers will also be hosting a number of sessions in schools in partnership with MyKindaCrowd based around the resources. TCS and MyKindaCrowd have already run over 50 similar sessions and will be doing 60 more in the next 12 months.
