Avanade, the leading Microsoft solutions provider and Techionista Academy, the leading Dutch IT & Tech Academy for women, have joined together to address the lack of female talent in the technology industry by offering Microsoft Azure Certified Data & AI courses for free to women across Europe. Starting in May 2022, the courses, lasting 16 weeks, will be available in 7 European countries including: UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium. Participants will become an employee of Avanade on day one of the course, receiving a competitive salary, with the promise of a guaranteed job on completion
Data professionals in high demand
This initiative not only looks to boost female representation within the IT/Tech workforce in Europe, which in 2021, was only 19%1, it also aims to address the ongoing competition for talent in the tech industry. The World Economic Forum expects 97 million jobs2 to be created worldwide between 2020 and 2025, with almost all requiring IT/technical knowledge and skills. Specific roles in high demand include data analysts, data scientists and, machine learning and AI specialists. Although European governments recognize the issues and are increasingly investing in IT and technology training (Digital Education Action Plan3), organisations such as Avanade are also looking to see how they can expedite a solution.
Sharing the same mission
“Like many large IT and tech companies, we continually compete for the best talent, while also looking to attract more female talent to create a more diverse workforce. We feel it’s really important to help women understand the opportunities open to them in tech and gain the skills needed for an enriching career,” said Annika Grosse, Europe Data & AI lead at Avanade. “We’re proud to be working with Techionista Academy, which, like ourselves wants to inspire, motivate and educate women wanting to work in the IT/tech sector.”
Vivianne Bendermacher and Tamira van Roeyen, Managing Directors of Techionista Academy share their excitement to be working with Avanade: “It’s great to see companies like Avanade not only opening the doors to more female talent; but also, specifically wanting to invest in them. Together we will make a difference at European level,” says Van Roeyen.
Bendermacher commented: “We are pleased that more and more companies see the urgency and need for retraining and further training of women in particular. If we don’t enrich women with IT skills now and retrain them for future-proof tech jobs, gender diversity in the labour market will only continue to decline.”
Registration for this opportunity closed on the 31st of March.