UK public service pilots software apprenticeship

The UK Government is conducting a new accelerated apprenticeship initiative as part of its efforts to address the software development skills shortage being faced by governments around the world.

The initiative is seeing 22 career public servants from across six government departments take part in a pilot program aimed at imparting them with important and in-demand development skills.

The program is designed to shorten the traditional 24-month training period to just over a year. Apprentices will take part in a 12-week training boot camp before spending the rest of their placement in their department putting their skills into practice.

Another unique aspect of the program is its focus on training public servants with existing skills in their field with new complementary technical skills.

The UK Government Digital Service’s (GDS) Digital, Data and Technology Profession division received 182 applications for the program from across government.

The 22 successful applicants were selected in a rigorous selection process, and completed the placement stage of their training at the start of last month. The second-stage placement process is now underway.

After the program concludes, apprentices will complete a final assessment conducted by the British Software Society. Those passing the assessment will be awarded a Level 4 Software Developer apprenticeship which will entitle them to serve as junior software developers.

“Investing in developing our people is very important and we knew there were civil servants who had the potential and aptitude to become software developers but not the opportunity to pursue this,” Digital, Data and Technology Profession Head and GDS Director General Kevin Cunnington said.

“We wanted to offer them a chance to reach their full potential and enhance their skills whilst continuing to work for their department, enabling us to bring new talent into the profession.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/nd3000

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