Mayden Academy Diversitech Fund

Our lovely friends at Mayden Academy have recently announced their Diversitech fund and we want to shout this from the rooftops! This new funding scheme has been designed to encourage more people from underrepresented groups to embark on careers in coding and increase diversity in the UK technology industry.

The aim of this fund is to increase diversity in the tech industry. We believe the best teams are made up of diverse individuals with different experiences and backgrounds. This fund will open up software development as a career choice to underrepresented groups from the industry to help improve diversity and ultimately help build the best teams possible.

The fund will offer a discount on course fees for Mayden Academy’s Full Stack Track course to individuals from groups which are underrepresented in the tech industry. These groups include, but are not limited to: women, black, Asian and minority ethnic individuals, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The fund is awarded on a discretionary basis, and may cover anything from several hundred pounds to the full cost of the course. It is awarded based on a combination of factors including underrepresentation, financial need, and other adversity.

This fund comes in addition to our existing deferred tuition offered via EdAid, which gives all UK and EU students the chance to delay paying the course fee until they have graduated and have their first coding role. A combination of Diversitech Funding and EdAid deferred payment can be applied.

The fund has been made possible through the generous contributions of our hiring partners, a group of forward-thinking tech companies based in the South West. Contributing hiring partners include Redington, Play Sports Network, LoveHoney, blubolt, Seccl, RIVIAM, Maydenand Altran.

Diversitech Funding can be applied for following acceptance onto the Full Stack Track course.

Mike Oram, director of the Academy said: “We’re hugely grateful to our hiring partners for making the Diversitech Fund possible and for taking such an active role in making the tech industry more inclusive. Programming offers so many opportunities to develop and grow in your career, and we believe those opportunities should be open to everyone.”

Adam Jones, CTO of Redington said: “As a tech business, we know that diverse teams make better products and deliver better services. Supporting initiatives like the Diversitech fund allows us to drive positive change in our industry.”

WHY OFFER A DIVERSITECH FUND?

The lack of diversity in the tech industry, coupled with a shortage of new talent and rapid growth, has been widely researched and reported.

Tech Republic believe there is a potential $400 billion additional revenue in the US alone if they solve the diversity problem. Tech Talent Charter say “Just 17% of Tech/ICT workers in the UK are female, only one in ten females are currently taking A-Level computer studies, and yet there is a looming digital skills gap where the UK needs one million more tech workers by 2020.”

According to a study done by Fortune, black professionals hold only 5% of the jobs at large tech companies and Latinx professionals hold about 7% of the jobs. The Tech Nation 2018 report found that “48% of people felt that gender diversity in their local tech ecosystem was low, 40% felt that ethnic diversity was low and 33% perceived a lack of age diversity”, while their 2018 report on diversity and inclusion in UK techfound that the proportion of women represented on tech company boards has remained stagnant over the past 20 years.

ONS Labour Force Survey says “Whilst employment in IT professional occupations has consistently grown in the last decade and is forecast to grow by 1.42% over the next decade, the representation of females within IT and Telecoms occupations has steadily declined.” A 2018 report by the Edge Foundation estimated that skills shortages in technology are costing the UK £63 billion a year.

INTERESTED?

If you have never tried coding before and aren’t sure if it is the career for you, come along to one of our free taster sessions. In 2 hours you’ll have the chance to use some CSS, HTML and Javascript to build a simple computer game. It can be that quick to pick up these skills!

COME TO A CODING TASTER SESSION

If you think that coding could be a career you’d love, take a look at our course, the Full Stack Track. We’ve designed it to cover everything you need to get your first role as a junior developer, and work with employers to ensure it covers everything that is most needed. You’ll also have a trainer who is with you the whole way through, supporting your learning every step of the way as well as connecting you with tech employers for your new career.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE FULL STACK TRACK

If you’re sure that this is something you want to do, apply for the course. We’ll invite you to our next assessment day, these are usually held every few months. At the assessment day you’ll have a chat with the trainers and do a problem solving test. If accepted onto the course, you can then request to apply for Diversitech Funding.