Why I’ve joined the IT crowd straight after leaving school
The information technology industry is growing — and you don’t always need a degree to forge a career in it.
Abi Stokes, 19, chose not to accept university places she had been offered and instead used her A-levels to gain a place on the Capgemini apprenticeship scheme. She is now one of its software engineers.
Abi says: ‘I didn’t want to run up three years of debt, and this workbased apprenticeship means I am working towards an industry-specific degree, while building a career in the IT industry and getting paid.’
As a mobile consultant, Abi, from Solihull in the West Midlands, can be at any project, any day.
She says: ‘A year ago I had never coded in my life, but now I know seven coding languages. I write code, develop it, test it, implement it, test it again and fix it.
‘It’s rewarding to work hard on a piece of work and then to finish it and think “I did that”.’
Sasha Morgan Manley, Capgemini’s head of graduate and apprenticeship schemes, says: ‘Our new degree apprenticeship programme allows young people to build the academic and practical skills needed for success in the tech sector.
‘There is no set candidate profile for those we choose for our degree apprenticeship programme, but we do like to see enthusiasm, commitment and a strong desire to pursue a career in IT.’
See capgemini.com
AROUND a quarter of companies plan to hire more IT employees this year, and staff most in demand are programmers and app developers, project managers and help desk/ technical support staff.
Research by Oxford economics predicts an extra 46,000 more digital jobs in London in the next ten years, and the Government has announced plans to double the number of tech jobs in the north.
Sky also offers apprenticeships as well as graduate jobs — see
workforsky.com