Digital workflow company ServiceNow has teamed up with the Irish Refugee Council and Purpl Unicorn to offer an intensive training programme to refugees in Ireland.
The nine-week NextGen programme is designed to close the technical skills gap, and will offer a certified training programme to participants. It aims to help solve the tech skills shortage while also providing opportunities to underprivileged communities and addressing diversity and inclusion imbalances in the tech sector.
ServiceNow began operating the programme in 2019, and had a waiting list of 200 people for the pilot phase in Ireland. The programme aims to train every applicant, with 93 per cent of trainees being hired by ServiceNow, its partners or customers into junior developer roles.
"The tech sector as a whole must work collectively to make technology careers more accessible and to help support the grave refugee crisis," said Laurent Briant, director of global government programmes at ServiceNow.
“There is an enormous and diverse untapped pool of talent out there and it is our aim to make entry more accessible and equitable. We want to empower more people and give them the opportunity to work with one of the fastest growing technology platforms in the world.”
Applications
The NextGen programmes are now taking applications for courses up until November.
One participant, Syrian refugee Depp Maatouk, is currently in the bootcamp stage of the programme here in Ireland.
"I was a journalist back home in Syria. When I arrived in Ireland, everyone seemed to be talking about tech and coding," he said. "I quickly recognised that there are many opportunities here for those with tech skills and a good qualification. I really appreciate being accepted onto the ServiceNow NextGen programme and plan on upskilling as fast as I can."
