A technology apprenticeship scheme inspired by the Standard’s Ladder for London campaign and backed by some of the world’s biggest digital companies will be launched today.
The Tech City Apprenticeship programme will give 500 unemployed young people the chance to learn the IT skills they will need to work in east London’s rapidly expanding technology cluster.
Apprentices will be given the opportunity to work for one of seven companies, including Google and Facebook, and dozens more companies are expected to sign up.
The programme includes courses in English and maths and IT skills at Hackney Community College, as well as training in online marketing and “front of house” skills.
The three-year programme, funded by the Government and Hackney council, is aimed at 16- to 24-year-olds and will officially start in January. Hackney Community College is also creating an apprenticeship training centre in the Olympic Park broadcasting centre, to train up to 350 young people a week in the skills needed to work in Tech City.
Tech City is a media and technology hub spanning Clerkenwell, Old Street, Shoreditch and the Olympic Park. Since being established in 2010, the number of technology-based companies in the area is estimated to have grown from 200 to 1,200.
The apprenticeship programme is being launched by Downing Street policy adviser Rohan Silva — who is also chairman of the Tech City advisory board — at the Future London conference at Canary Wharf today.
He said: “This is Tech City’s response to the Evening Standard’s fantastic Ladder for London campaign. Our apprenticeship scheme will give hundreds of unemployed young people the chance to work for some of the most exciting digital companies in east London, the fastest growing technology cluster in the world.”
