Two orgs aim to train thousands of students to meet tech sector talent demands.
Lighthouse Labs and TechNL are each receiving over $20 million in federal funding for their technology-focused education and training programs.
This week, the Government of Canada announced a cumulative investment of up to $48.3 million to Lighthouse Labs and TechNL with the goal of bolstering employment in Canada’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector. Lighthouse Labs is getting $21.2 million, and TechNL has been promised $27.1 million.
“The tech sector fuels the Canadian economy, and it’s critical that we match the rapid growth in the market with future-thinking training opportunities.”
Coding school Lighthouse Labs said the capital it is receiving will go towards its ICT Boost project, meant to make its courses available to 1,700 Canadians at no cost. Some of the programs eligible for this initiative include Lighthouse Labs’ 12-week bootcamps for web development, data science, and cybersecurity.
Since its inception in 2013, Lighthouse Labs claims it has introduced over 40,000 Canadians to coding and had over 2,700 graduates get careers as professional developers.
Lighthouse Labs has launched several initiatives for the purpose of expanding students’ access to its training programs, prior to the ICT Boost project. This includes a combined $1 million COVID-19 relief scholarship fund, which Lighthouse Labs said has helped over 150 people access its programs. It also launched a scholarship program for underrepresented groups in technology in 2018 that has since been put on hold while Lighthouse Labs offers the COVID-19 relief fund.
“The tech sector fuels the Canadian economy, and it’s critical that we match the rapid growth in the market with future-thinking training opportunities,” said Jeremy Shaki, CEO and co-founder, Lighthouse Labs
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TechNL is a not-for-profit membership association for Newfoundland’s tech and innovation sector. According to TechNL, the federal funding will be used to help people access training and upskilling through its Find Your Future in Tech program.
TechNL said it is working with eleven partners to deliver its new initiative, including Memorial University, ACENET, Get-Coding, The Leap Method, Women in Resource Development Corporation, and CoLab, among others.
An awareness and recruitment campaign is also part of TechNL’s initiative, which aims to demonstrate employment opportunities in tech for people in Newfoundland and Labrador. It plans to do this by connecting with people who are considering future career options as well as to those who are providing career guidance, such as teachers, parents, coaches, and mentors.
Featured image courtesy Lighthouse Labs.
