Taranaki Futures & Learner Me launch Tech Academy
Taranaki Futures and Learner Me have teamed up to give 16 Taranaki secondary school students the chance to get their start in the technology industry. Running one day per week during terms one to three, students on the programme will attend Learner Me where they will develop technology industry skills and gain real-world experience.
Backed by NPDC, students attending Tech Academy will build an innovate Taranaki Futures software service to showcase the size and breadth of different Taranaki employment pathways to their peers - a valuable source of information for all those seeking to make decisions about their future career pathways.
Taranaki Futures, a charitable organisation with a purpose to enable youth towards prosperous pathways, is excited to team up with Learner Me for this all-new programme. General Manager Belinda Mooney says “We are always looking for ways develop new pathways for Taranaki youth, and with the help of Learner Me students can get the skills they need to make a start in the technology industry right here in Taranaki”. As always, Taranaki Futures will be looking to keep the technology industry close to this activity as young people gain the skills needed to take their next step.
Set up as a real-world tech working environment, at Learner Me students will get a chance to try out different roles in the technology sector. The different roles covered on the programme will include software developer, user experience designer, graphic designer, business analyst, technology project manager and more. Learner Me is the private training arm of Taranaki’s biggest technology group of companies like Proformac Technologies, App HQ, Learn HQ.
Day one of the programme was this week, where students from across the region met for the first time. Caitlyn Scott from Opunake High said “it’s really cool to see how much coding goes into designing even a little thing” while Cody Campbell of Francis Douglas commented “the course is good for people not planning to go to university – this will help them get they experience they want without spending a lot of money and time”.
The need for the programme is well known to Simon Singh, Learner Me CEO. “There are over 300 employees working as technology developers/programmes in the region, and the sector is forecast to grow 15% by 2030”. As an employer in the sector, Simon knows when advertising a technology role it is unusual to have a high number of local applicants – most are applying from other parts of NZ or the world. Learner Me was founded to help solve this very problem and open up the sector to anyone in Taranaki.
To find out more about this programme check out Taranaki Futures Tech Academy.
