Tackling skills challenge must start in the classroom

Lawrence and Gail Jones

Meeting the skills challenge facing the tech sector has to start in school, according to Jonathan Bowers MD of UKFast Enterprise.

As one of the UK’s leading hosting and co-location providers, the business supplies dedicated server hosting, critical application hosting and cloud hosting solutions to the private and public sector.

The cloud firm, set up by Lawrence Jones and his wife Gail in 1999, saw its revenues pass the £50m mark last year.

And earlier this year the Manchester-headquartered business revealed plans to invest £4m to expand its network globally; launching new points of presence in Amsterdam, Seattle and its home city.

Recruiting talent is high on the company’s agenda. And John Bowers believes work to bridge the worrying skills gap in the sector needs to start at school age.

He says: “Schools aren’t teaching creativity at all, they are actually starving creativity. We need subjects that don’t have a right or wrong answer, the ability to try something and fail and try something again.”

UKFast also employs people in the business whose role is to ensure people have a career path in the organisation, he revealed.

Roger Longden is founder of OKR (objectives and key results) management consultancy There Be Giants, which is based in Bury. Earlier this year the business revealed it had hit revenues of more than £200,000.

Longden agrees with Bowers. He speaks of being a mentor at a school where 13-14-year-olds considering their course options were not offered anything business related as a subject. “I was stunned, he adds.

“Students are pretty much spoon fed through school, they need to be able to deal with some uncertainty and become creative thinkers.”

 

UK is experiencing biggest skills shortage in a decade

Julian Wells

The tech industry across the UK is experiencing its biggest skills shortage in more than a decade, according to recent reports. And Julian Wells, director at Fintech North, says businesses in the region are fighting over the best talent. He adds: “It’s not unique to the North, it is a national thing.”

He adds that it is a quality as well as a quantity challenge and warns: “It is not going to get any easier in the short term.”

Wells says: “We need to get universities working closely with businesses and to build a skills base that is more compatible with the economy. The way to solve the problem is from the bottom up, to look at schools and university as the starting point.”

He points to the Fintech for Schools initiative. Created by Innovate Finance, its aim is to inspire the next generation of leaders in the sector and raise young people’s ambitions for innovation in financial services.

Dr Shanta Aphale, business engagement manager at the University of Manchester, says that collaboration is already taking place: “We are really keen that our graduates are work ready and have the relevant skills. We work with employers to understand what they need.

“We work on the soft skills, things like picking up the phone, relating to people and how to manage a budget.”

David Harrison, KPMG’s private sector technology consulting leader, believes the North’s universities are one of its strengths. However, he adds: “There is still a challenge when it comes to the actual skills graduates are coming out with.

“Businesses working with universities will really become key in the next few years.”

It is not just the big cities like Manchester and Liverpool that are finding skills a challenge.

Burnley has a thriving tech sector. A Tech Nation report identified it as one of 16 “tech towns” in the UK that have a higher than average number of digital businesses.

Dave Walker is founder of +24 Digital Marketing, based in the town. The agency employs 15 and its turnover is heading towards the £1m mark.

He says: “The town has good links with Manchester and Leeds and we’re conscious we are competing against big organisations in these cities when it comes to talent.

“For instance, the arrival of Channel 4 in Leeds is going to attract more digitally-skilled and tech people.”

His business is based in The Landmark – Burnley’s old grammar school building which has been transformed into a thriving tech hub. Walker says its creation is in response to the skills challenge.

Developed by Burnley audio engineering business AMS Neve’s Mark Crabtree and Walker, its aim is to benefit local start-ups, businesses, individual entrepreneurs and existing large companies.

The Landmark is working closely with digital innovators in the area, providing a suite of workshops and spaces.

Walker says: “We want to encourage emerging digital talent to remain in Burnley and to create an environment that attracts talent from elsewhere. People have really bought into the idea of having somewhere to network and collaborate.”

The Landmark is also playing a role in developing the skilled workers of the future. Walker’s business has grown links with the local college to create a training programme and develop apprenticeships.

Students are given the opportunity to use the resources they need to become the digital pioneers Burnley needs.

Walker says: “We have to create our own skilled people. A couple of years ago we asked how we could improve digital skills training in the area and we came up with the programme.”

Two full-time members of staff at +24 deliver training and the specific skills of its team members are also utilised. So far 35 students have benefitted, with another 20 set to start this month. “We’re getting work ready people,” Walker says.

Students are given the opportunity to use the resources they need to become the digital pioneers Burnley needs.

 

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