Grayce supporting skills bootcamps with Code Nation and the Growth Company

The Code Nation Skills Bootcamps are delivered in partnership with the Growth Company. Skills Bootcamps – part of the Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee, helping everyone gain skills for life – are flexible courses of up to 16 weeks for adults aged 19 or over who are either in work, self-employed, recently unemployed or returning to work after a break. Skills Bootcamps are delivered in partnership with employers to give people the opportunity to gain sector-specific skills that are in demand in their local area.

Sinead O’Sullivan, said:

“It was great to meet and hear how learners of all ages are using our technical skills bootcamps to help them into new careers or gain the skills and confidence they need to re-enter the workplace.”

“Skills bootcamps are unique, giving people the chance to upskill or retrain over a short period of time, with a clear line of sight to a job or workplace progression at the end.”

David Muir, Founder and CEO of Code Nation said:

“We were delighted to welcome Sinead and her colleagues from the Department of Education today so they could see the work we’ve done in the last year to create a new model for bridging the digital skills gap. I’m so glad Sinead could meet learners from our bootcamps, experience first hand the passion from our Code Nation colleagues who have worked tirelessly over the last 12 months on this project, and meet Grayce, a local employer, providing employment support and jobs for those who have been on our bootcamps.”

“These programmes have an important role to play in supporting adults into higher paid, more resilient jobs and by working in close partnership with employers, the bootcamps are designed to support skills gaps in the high growth and in-demand sectors we have in our region.”

Sinead met Sam Vickerman, Practice Director at Grayce who have recently teamed up with Code Nation to provide scholarship opportunities to Women In Tech throughout the North West. They discussed the initiative and shared how they also support Code Nation by providing guaranteed interviews at the end of the bootcamp. They also work with Code Nation to provide apprenticeship opportunities and help close the digital skills gap.

“At Grayce, we know how important it is to ensure our workforce is diverse, and has the technical skills needed to help our economy grow. The Code Nation bootcamps enable us to reach even more people across the region and help train technology specialists of the future.”

Said Sam Vickerman, Practice Director at Grayce.

Jon Paul-Rimington, Managing Director of the Growth Company Education and Skills commented;

“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Code Nation to deliver Skills Bootcamps in Greater Manchester and Lancashire. The Skills Bootcamps are proving to be a huge success – it is great to be able to provide adults with essential digital skills and support them into new job roles and access to new work opportunities for those who are self-employed. So far we have supported over 100 adults through Skills Bootcamps and look forward to supporting even more people in the near future.”

Roz Atherton, Head of Employer Engagement and programme director for the skills bootcamp project at Code Nation shared stories on initiatives to inspire more talent into the sector

“We’re utilising various funding routes, including AEB, to kick-start career pathways and fund learners, for free, into much needed roles in the region”

“I’m so proud we’ve trained 115 learners on the DfE Bootcamp initiative so far, have more than 30 employers involved and turned the dial on diversity, securing places for 48 women, in an area where only 19% of tech jobs are filled by women.”

Said Roz

Three of Code Nations learners were also present and reflected on their experiences throughout the Skills Bootcamp and the opportunities it provided:

Joe McCann (Alumni)

Joe is currently self-employed providing digital marketing services to clients, he wanted to utilise the Master Coding Skills bootcamp to further develop his knowledge of front-end principles to enhance what he could offer his clients and grow his business. He completed the Develop Coding 3 week AEB course prior to the bootcamp and felt this gave him a springboard to begin the Master bootcamp. Joe is now using our candidate portal to apply for a range of vacancies within the Tech sector. He is also working closely with out Head of Employability and is continuing employability training.

Basil Nagle (In Learning)

Basil was a Returns Manager for Premier Retail in Stockport until April this year when he was made redundant due to the pandemic. Basil has always had a passion for coding as a hobbyist, but didn’t know how to turn it into a career. He completed the Develop Coding course and loved the experience and jumped at the chance to continue his learning through the Master bootcamp.

Kasia Chromiec (In Learning)

 The pandemic gave Kasia the opportunity to evaluate her career, she currently works part time as an Administration Assistant. During the lockdown she utilised online resources to develop her interest in tech. She then enrolled onto our AEB funded Develop Coding course, she excelled and was highly recommended by the Instructor team to progress onto the Master bootcamp.

For further information on Code Nation or to discuss opportunities in the next tranche of bootcamp courses being run at Code Nation, please contact joe.buckler@wearecodenation.com

About Code Nation / the Growth Company

Code Nation is a pioneering and forward-thinking training provider, specialising in coding, software development, cyber security and extended reality. They run a variety of courses tailored for people at each stage of their coding journey. Their Mission is to help bridge the digital skills gap, creating employable talent, and will remain relevant and current by focusing on the 4 key areas of education:

· Inspiring residents to take their first step into digital and focusing on those hardest to reach in the communities

· Ensuring Code Nation courses are accessible to all, irrespective of gender, race, age, prior education attainment, affordability

· Offering a personalised learning plan and focussed on a positive outcome, whether further education or employment

· Working with businesses to develop and deliver our courses to ensure they meet the needs required to enter employment

Code Nation have trained over 3,000 learners in the last 3 years, including over 1,500 of the hardest to reach individuals in the Manchester area. Code Nation are working in partnership with The Growth Company to deliver free training to 200 unemployed via AEB funding to Level 2 standard, to 80 residents on lifelong learning programme funding to Level 3 and to 60 unemployed learners on the Code Nation 12 week immersive bootcamp, all of which will be inspired and potentially mentored or hired through the Grayce partnership.

Find out more information on Code Nation and what we do

The Growth Company is an award-winning social enterprise with a 30-year history of creating jobs, enabling growth and improving lives.

More information about the Growth Company can be found here: growthco.uk/

About Grayce

Grayce is an emerging talent management consultancy. Since 2012, it has worked with businesses to place thousands of skilled graduate professionals with them, as demand for skilled professionals in change, data and tech continues to grow. The consultancy works with businesses to rethink their talent strategy, build long-term skills capabilities and deliver digital transformation and change across the UK with its main operations in the North West.

Grayce are committed to becoming an Advocate of the Good Employment Charter in GMCA and adopt the Living Wage policy nationally.

Its Change+, Data+ and Tech+ Development Programmes are designed to equip graduates with the skills they need both now and for the future and to provide businesses with access to the very best, diverse talent for their assignments.

For more information visit grayce.co.uk/