CodeClan contributing to Scotland’s £20bn ‘data boom’ 

The goal of adding an additional £20bn to Scotland’s economy drew a little closer this week with the first cohort of students in digital skills academy CodeClan’s ‘ground-breaking’ Data Analysis course – the first of its kind in the country – starting work.

The students are at the start of a 14-week journey to become trained data analysts, with the ability to contribute to data-driven decision making and transform businesses through a more effective use of data.

Data skills are needed across all sectors of the economy. For the last several years, the role of data scientist has been voted the ‘sexiest’ in the world, commanding premium salaries. However, the opportunity for people from all backgrounds to rapidly re-skill as an analyst in a few short weeks, gives Scotland a unique opportunity to realise its ambition of becoming a world leader in data.

Developed in conjunction with industry experts including Effini and The Data Lab, the Data Analysis course has been built upon the same practical, hands-on teaching principles as CodeClan’s award-winning Professional Software Development course, which has to date produced over 700 new graduates for Scotland’s digital companies.

The course brings together the three key areas of data science: technical skills & coding (using the R programming language), business knowledge and maths & statistics.

Students will learn the entire process from capturing requirements and asking the appropriate questions for the business, through to communicating results clearly and effectively to stakeholders. The course incorporates elements of cyber security, ethics, privacy, User Experience (UX) design, visualisation and story-telling.

In line with CodeClan’s goal of producing effective, job-ready graduates, students will be able to work with real-world datasets, provided exclusively by CodeClan partners, to answer actual business questions for projects throughout the course.

Melinda Matthews-Clarkson, the CEO of CodeClan, said: “For the last two years or more business leaders around the world have declared that ‘data is the new oil’ in terms of its impact on the global economy. Demand for data skills has grown exponentially.

“We’re super-excited to have our first cohort of students join our Edinburgh campus, it’s the first of what we suspect will be a hugely valuable new talent pipeline for companies across Scotland.”

Brian Hills, Head of Data at The Data Lab, Scotland’s innovation centre for data and AI, said: “Scaling data literacy through widening access to training is critical in enabling Scotland to realise the benefits of data and AI for our economy and society. We are delighted CodeClan has launched this Data Analysis Course – the first of its kind in the UK – and we look forward to seeing the first cohort of graduates move into roles across Scotland and the programme scale successfully over the coming years.”

Dr Jo Watts, the founder and managing director of Effini, said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with CodeClan to develop this much-needed course.

“It provides a very different approach to teaching data analysis, focused on not just technical skills, or practical learning, but a complete approach to understanding the value to the business and how to present options to key stakeholders from the board downwards.”

Applications to study CodeClan’s new Data Analytics course are now open: https://codeclan.com/data-analysis-announcement/