Codeclan targets more female applicants

The newly appointed chief executive of digital skills academy Codeclan is targeting more female applicants as part of a push to help more women net Scottish tech roles.

The appointment of former IBM senior executive Melinda Matthews Clarkson was revealed last month, and she has launched a Digital Women’s Group to help drive the initiative, seeking to this year make bursaries available for women in conjunction with top Scottish companies as well as for male or female applicants who face financial constraints.

Codeclan said a quarter of its graduates placed in tech roles to date have been female, and nearly half of the first class of 2018 in Edinburgh are women. The skills academy, which runs it software-development course in Edinburgh and Glasgow, is aiming for women to total 40 per cent of its graduating classes by 2020.

Matthews Clarkson said: “Narrowing the gender and diversity gap in the workplace has been unequivocally shown to increase productivity and perspective… While one organisation can only do so much, we are confident that our working group will allow us to team up with even more advocates from the business scene. We also intend to engage with some leading Scottish companies to support a bursary scheme for women which we know will be a big difference maker.”

Codeclan, part of the Scottish Government’s digital skills investment plan, also said former Skyscanner talent acquisition manager Kim Watson has joined and will head career development. 0 CEO Melinda Matthews Clarkson leads the drive