Women Returners

Women TechStart supports women looking to enter the technology sector after a career break. 

If you have a growth mindset,a desire to work full-time in technology and a logical approach to problem solving then this could be the program for you!

The programme is 12 weeks of training and includes certification. It is free and is a full-time commitment.

Women Techstart also leads to work placement and employment opportunities with blue chip companies like Version1 and VMware. 

What does the program involve?

The training programme is normally facilitated over a 12  week period on a full time basis. It is a combination of formal training, self-directed learning and participants are also provided with individual coaching sessions. 

The majority of the TechStart programme is currently delivered online via Zoom, with a couple of in-person events incorporated into the programme.

Each programme typically has 20 participants. For many previous participants, this is the beginning of their new professional network as they enter into the world of Technology. 

FAQs

Training Programme Content

The training is over twelve weeks and is a combination of professional skills and technical skills.

Professional Skills training: 

There are core sessions in the Women TechStart Professional Skills programme. It is divided into clearly themed sections, aimed to cover broadly the core competencies required for individuals entering  today’s technology sector workplace from a career break. We place a particular emphasis on transferable skills and how skills learnt in a previous industry or role can be applied in the technology sector. We also look at skills acquired when women are involved in unpaid work outside of the workplace. The purpose of the professional skills content is to equip and empower women to make the move into the world of tech with confidence. The flow of the programme is as outlined here. The duration of the professional skills training is approximately two weeks.

• Self Management: Expectations and Learning Mindset:Growth mindset, Transferable Skills, Resilience and Setting yourself up for Success (self-awareness, self-accountability, values, time management and goal setting etc.)
• Teamwork: Psychological safety & collaboration, Innovation framework and Influencing skills.
• Communication: Emotional Intelligence, Presentation skills (virtual and in-person), storytelling structures, inner critic and limiting beliefs.
• Preparing for today’s workplace: Navigating the new hybrid workplace, unconscious bias, LinkedIn, networking and mentoring.
• Design Thinking: This training is delivered in a workshop style. It equips participants with the skill set required to contribute effectively to initiate innovation in your place of work. Participants will collaboratively practice design thinking on real-world problems and opportunities. Together teams will gather insights, frame problems, ideate, prototype and test to create a potential new product, service, way of working or a business model of value to stakeholders.

Technical Skills training: 

The majority of the twelve weeks of training is centered on technical training.  Modules covered are listed below. Some of the topics covered will include certification on successful completion of exams. (Not all modules include certification).

• Introduction to Programming

• CyberSecurity 

• ISTQB Software Testing Foundation

• Azure Fundamentals

• Introduction to Networking/Security/iCloud

• Agile PM

• Business Analysis

• Java Programming

• Java with unit testing

• Web Applications

• Database Encryption & Secure Programming

• React Framework

Opportunity for continued learning:

In addition to online classroom based learning, participants have access to Pluralsight, an e-learning platform. This means participants can:

• Access a wide range of courses 

• Identify potential areas of interest, e.g., Project Management

• Self-Study

• Popular courses include:

• Communication Skills, SQL, Data Literacy, HTML, CSS.