Manchester headquartered Northcoders – the coding bootcamp for the North – has received funding for four scholarships from global technology consultancy ThoughtWorks that aims to encourage more women to pursue a career in tech. Each scholarship for the full time 12-week coding course is valued at £6,000 plus an extra £2,000 bursary is available to help with living costs.
According to research by Manchester Digital – the independent trade association for digital business in the North West of England – just 19% of the tech roles in the North West are held by women. These scholarships are a step in addressing the underrepresentation of women in the sector.
Northcoders recently expanded into Federation House. It offers courses that are designed to help satisfy the increasing demand for developers across various industries and sectors in the North of England.
The courses aim to give graduates the opportunity to learn coding to an industry-standard level and to ensure they have skills, initiative and attitude well beyond what is usually expected for an entry-level software developer.
To date, seven cohorts – with a total of 129 students – have graduated. The business employs 19 full-time members of staff. Northcoders offers an industry-led curriculum, which is constantly in review against its hiring partners’ needs. Hiring partners include ThoughtWorks, Barclays, Apadmi and MoneySupermarket.
James Brooke – co-founder of Northcoders – said: “ThoughtWorks probably don’t even know this – but we have an internal standard that should guarantee that any of our graduates who want to work there should be reach their technical standards for entry. There is such a synergy between us, and especially between our values. I am over the moon that four people who otherwise wouldn’t have had such a stellar future ahead do so because of ThoughtWorks’ generosity and belief in us”
Nikki Jones – Graduate Experience Lead at ThoughtWorks – added: “As a business we recognise the huge underrepresentation of women in tech. These scholarships are a clear and practical way of empowering aspiring female technologists from all backgrounds by supporting their learning and development.”
