Amsterdam Nieuw-West, September 30, 2020
TechGrounds launches in Rotterdam!
After successful locations in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, Zuidoost and Zaanstad Poelenburg, we will open a fourth location this autumn, TechGrounds Rotterdam! Together with our partners we are going to Rotterdam to bring more diversity to IT teams there as well, and make tech belong to everyone.
Since the start of TechGrounds, exactly one year ago, an opening in Rotterdam has been on the planning. In the Rotterdam region, we saw then, and still do, the same reasons for opening a location:
- A major shortage of IT talent on the labor market that will only increase in the coming years.
- A lack of diversity in IT teams. Women and people from all cultural backgrounds are under-represented in tech teams.
- There is a lot of untapped talent in “TechGrounds” neighborhoods, where people don’t know the career options in tech.
With a TechGrounds tech hub in the middle of the Rotterdam South district, we can activate a new talent pool, create opportunities, and bring more diversity to IT teams of companies.
Tech talent in Rotterdam
The first group of 25 talents will start the Web Development training in November. Through the municipality and local partners, we got to know the Rotterdam-Zuid community this summer to address participants and tell them about the possibilities in tech. The focus is on women (50%), cultural diversity and in particular on people who are currently unemployed or underemployed. We offer the training free of charge, without any pre-requiste knowledge required, so that we remove all obstacles for potential participants!
IT specialists in the making
The selected participants will be trained to become a Web Developer in 6 months, with possible directions such as tech support, WordPress developer, front-end developer, software tester, full-stack developer, back-end developer, etc. Via peer learning and self-directed learning, participants learn the IT and soft skills required to start as a junior IT specialist.
“This learning experience was completely new to me; I was allowed to learn at my own pace, regardless of the pace of my fellow students. Moreover, we were getting soft-skill lessons to prepare us for future interviews with recruiters. ”
Together we make tech belong to everyone
Of course, we could not get this far on our own. Our partners have made it possible to start in Rotterdam by supporting us with knowledge, their network and start-up capital. TechGrounds Rotterdam is supported by Rabobank Rotterdam, Betabit, Economic Board Zuid-Holland, SIDN fund, IT campus, Randstad, Programmabureau Zuid and UpRotterdam!
Last Friday, during the Upstream Festival, TechGrounds Rotterdam was officially launched. Together with our alumni Rowenda and Guillermo, alderman Barbara Kathmann and partners, we entered into discussions about our plans in Rotterdam and about how we can jointly bring more diversity to IT teams.
We invite organizations to participate
We invite partners to join, to get in touch with the new talent that is entering the labor market or to support the participants on their way to tech in the form of expert workshops, coaching and other in-kind contributions. Companies such as Booking.com, Rabobank, DEPT, Linkedin, HEMA, PostNL, KPN, XS4ALL, Randstad and ABN-AMRO are participating as partners and / or have hired participants.
Please contact us if you would like to hear more or meet participants!
TechGrounds
TechGrounds offers short-term IT courses in which untapped talent is trained in the direction of ‘AWS Cloud’, ‘Salesforce application management’ or ‘Web Development’. This has a specific focus on women (50%) and cultural diversity. Companies such as Booking.com, Rabobank, Dept, Linkedin, HEMA, PostNL, and Randstad are participating as partners and / or have hired participants.
TechGrounds is an initiative of TechConnect, originated by the Amsterdam Economic Board and the Brussels MolenGeek. For more information, visit: www.techgrounds.nl
