“It set out a career path that I could envision, and it was something that I could work towards,” she said. “Whereas with my degree, I could complete it and graduate, but what comes after that, where am I getting a job?”
Alternative pathways
The program Ms Fernando took part in is called UST Step IT Up Australia, an accelerated, full-time training course run by global tech company UST that gives underrepresented Australians the skills they need to land roles in tech. Ms Fernando is an Indigenous woman from Wiradjuri country in New South Wales.
Amid surging demand for digital services accelerated by the pandemic, it is one of many courses that tech employers are now using to plug labour shortages that industry experts say cannot be filled by university graduates alone.
UST pays participants a salary from day one of training, and places them in a 12-month internship at a corporate partner at the end of the six-month training if they pass a series of tests to graduate. The corporate partner can then choose to hire them on a permanent basis based on their performance over those 12 months – as happened with Ms Fernando.
UST managing director Matt McCormack said the company’s clients are typically “tier-one corporates” like Macquarie that have a commitment to ethical, social and governance principles, as well as the resources required to accommodate a cohort of about 20 participants.
Mr McCormack told The Australian Financial Review the skills shortage had led to increased demand for UST’s courses.
“Everyone’s talking about tech shortages, right? You can’t get the labour, and it’s not the case that you can just bring people from around the world because there’s such challenges with the visa processing at the moment,” he said.
“So these programs are mechanisms to future-proof a talent market that we do not see improving in the short to medium term – we actually see it getting worse.”
A Macquarie spokesperson said the bank was supporting the program to “help develop talent and increase the numbers of underrepresented groups moving into technology”. “We’re working with UST on the Step IT Up program by providing mentoring and industry experience to those new to the sector,” they said, adding that an inclusive and diverse workplace was one of Macquarie’s strengths.
Simpler ways to code
Another organisation helping people without a university degree land roles in tech is WithYouWithMe, an Australian start-up that, like UST, started out as a company dedicated to helping former defence force members transition into the civilian workforce.
The company’s chief technology officer, Scarlett McDermott, said many tech roles do not require a university degree as the evolution of “really friendly user interfaces” and low-code development platforms means “the bar to get into your first tech role is lower than it’s ever been”.
“Low-code development is a way that you can build business applications without ever having to really write a line of complete code,” she said.
“You can sort of drag and drop components and modules that have already been written, so there are all kinds of careers in there.”
Ms McDermott said young people are particularly well suited to moving into tech roles as they already have high levels of digital literacy and “display above-average levels of abstract reasoning … which is particularly important for highly skilled tech jobs like software development and software architecture”.
Over the past year, WYWM has seen a 25 per cent increase in its Australian user base and an 85 per cent increase globally.
Tech Council of Australia CEO Kate Pounder said the wide variety of roles in tech meant the industry had many pathways into employment, including university degrees. But she said tertiary education alone “will not be able to deliver the number of skilled workers required by the industry”.
