CodeClan, Scotland’s digital skills academy, said today that it has placed 501 graduates in employment since the first graduation in 2016, “further demonstrating the unique professional software development (PSD) course is exactly what recruits and employers need”.
The milestone “proves that the collaborative approach to working with industry has helped bridge the digital skills gap in Scotland,” it said in a statement. CodeClan now works with over 240 industry partners, from start-ups to global organisations, “many of whom repeatedly appoint talent from CodeClan’s graduate pool”.
The PSD course has seen almost 90% of its graduates, seeking employment, finding a job within six months and 70% securing work within three months of completing the course.
It is continually modified to encompass industry’s feedback and CodeClan has also focused on other softer skills, including; wellness; project management; agile working; working as part of a team and thinking differently.
“Having a holistic approach to what is needed in the software development arena is the long-term approach for our graduates,” said chief executive Melinda Matthews Clarkson, “not only to get a job in the industry, but to maintain and grow in the roles.”
In addition, its ‘sponsored student’ programme allows employers to retrain and up-skill existing employees, perhaps to save from redundancy or through a digital transformation plan, and the new mentoring and client experience programmes give CodeClan students a unique route to employment.
“One of the advantages of our business model is being able to adapt quickly to industry requirements. It also encourages building new relationships across sectors, regions and specialities in Scotland, growing our network and informing our strategy,” added Matthews Clarkson.
“Digital skills will continue to be in demand and the speed at which the demand will grow, will only be more rapid. We’re ready! The new Data Analysis course will be a big part of this, with growing enquiries and discussions around its capabilities and how it can scale and support businesses in Scotland.”
Rory Bennett, head of engineering at xDesign, who has hired Rob Wilson, the 500th placement, commented: “We’re delighted to have Rob join us as a software engineer at xDesign. Rob stood out because of his strong problem solving skills, his ability to adapt to challenges and for having a keen willingness to learn.
“We know that through the CodeClan experience he has picked up core development skills that are important to us and that we can help him build upon.
“We initially looked at CodeClan to help us quickly evaluate a number of junior level candidates who have shown their competence in a variety of different development tasks. The speed networking event allowed us to quickly figure out who was likely to be a good fit for us and do so in a much more time efficient manner than if we were to set up a full phone interview process for all possible candidates.
“It’s been a good experience collaborating with CodeClan to tap into their junior talent pool, it’s certainly something we would look to do more of when hiring in the future.”