The Social Switch Project supports young Londoners who are underrepresented into sustainable tech careers and training. Delivering training courses to channel their creative skills into positive outcomes, career coaches, collaborating with leading organizations across London, are working to support those most in need to access work experience and long-term employment. Richard Smith, Operations Manager for the Social Switch Project at Catch22, discusses the importance of bitesize steps in empowering young people into the technology industry.
‘Whilst we have high levels of youth unemployment and high levels of vacancies in tech roles, there are limited routes into tech roles without substantial training and qualifications. Those that do exist, including apprenticeships, often pay less than young people need to survive or support their families.
Many professionals and adults presume that because young people tend to spend a lot of their life online, they have transferable skills for the digital and tech sectors. This is true to an extent – young people are familiar with devices such as mobile phones, tablets and computers – and entry roles in digital marketing and graphic design are achievable by building brands online, but the same doesn’t ring true for more technical trades such as cyber security and coding. Young people are often required to gain qualifications to enter technical sectors and there are often many months or years of training and learning required to gain the skills and knowledge to successfully land a tech-based role.
The Social Switch Project takes a holistic view of a young person’s situation and breaks down the journey towards a lucrative career in tech through a phased action plan – so when a young person approaches or is referred to us, we find out where they are at that day and what it will take to achieve their desired outcome.
Often a young person tells us they want a role such as Cyber Security Engineer but may have left school at 15 without any qualifications. Together we look at what that journey will entail and agree that this is our long-term goal – it is possible, and you can achieve it, however we need to complete many courses and it’s going to take some time. The next question is: what support do you need in the short term? Because securing work, regardless of what job that is, is arguably the most important breakthrough towards living a healthy and happy life. Once in a job you will meet new people, different people, new ideas, interests and backgrounds. You’ll begin to form relationships with ‘work mates’ totally different to your current mates you grew up with or lived close to. New people, new experiences, new mindsets. So, we talk about the now and explore entry level jobs in retail, security, construction etc., and create a plan to achieve this. It’s easier to plan and work on your future employment when you know how you’re going to be able to pay rent this month.
Next, we have to consider the training required to achieve the long-term career goals. This might mean 2 years full time education (and maybe an additional year without prior learning or GCSEs), so again, we need to look for “a qualification” instead of “the qualification”. There are many providers online (such as Google Garage, or Udemy) who offer free or very cheap courses to give young people a flavour of the sector they are looking to develop skills in. Some of the courses are as short as four hours but that feeling of passing a course or receiving a certificate is a first-time experience for many of our participants. You can achieve, you have achieved and you’re going to build on that achievement now
In summary, the journey to securing tech jobs without qualifications and experience isn’t easy. But by breaking down the journey into smaller wins engages those who are furthest from the tech sector and inspires growth.’
Find out more about the Social Switch Project.