BeCode – training untapped talent into professional web developers

Mission

BeCode wishes to bridge the gap between the companies desperately looking for digital talent and the “untapped” potential talent of the job market through web development training programs for anyone with true motivation – with a specific focus on NEET youngsters, long-term unemployed, immigrants and women in tech.

Problem statement

Unemployment has risen to a staggering 23% in the main Belgian cities (with up to 26% youth unemployment) – with a whole generation of youngsters & professionals being left without a purpose, often without any prospect for improvement as they have been growing up in poor areas. Unemployed people cost our government 36.600 Euro per year (VDAB study).

At the same time, 10.000 digital jobs in digital professions remain open across Belgium without any suitable candidates being available on the job market, severely straining our economy and endangering the growth of our companies. 9 billion Euro could be added to the GDP by 2020 by increasing the use of digital tech.

Furthermore, youngsters are likely to be interested in new technologies and respond well to applied learning methodologies, allowing them to learn at their own pace and through projects that are relevant to them, as well as avoid ex cathedra “knowledge transfer”.

We therefore aim to provide competitive and responsible coding programs, accessible to all – providing support for securing a sustainable profession. The program focuses equally on technical skills development as social skills, including the development of socially acceptable behaviour.

The program is free of charge for the students, who acquire 24/7 access to the classroom as well as all necessary hardware.

Motivation is the key driver for selection, no prior knowledge of or experience in digital skills is required.

Web developer training

BeCode provides a 7-month full-time training program (followed by an in-company internship), focusing both on the digital and soft skills required to successfully join the digital work force – where thousands of job vacancies are currently available. Sufficient coaching by professional web developers will be included.

The program makes use of a very applied learning program, ensuring that even those that dropped out of high school will feel quite at ease in this “web developer agency”-like environment. Student work on real-life projects and interact on a regular basis with representatives from the business and NGO partners providing the projects.

Additionally, a “learn by teaching” component is included, boosting the self-confidence, sense of purpose and self-esteem of the students, while providing an additional social impact.

The project will support actively the student’s search for a suitable internship position as well as a job opportunity following the training program – and will include tips & tricks on how to secure a job, provided by HR experts from the field.

Project components

  1. ECOSYSTEM – Awareness creation on digital skills and a digital economy/society & contributions to a coherent ecosystem: BeCode will organise and/or contribute to campaigns, code initiations, workshops and events aimed at awareness creation on the importance of digital skills – and will develop partnerships with other stakeholders in the field to reach the specific target groups of the project (e.g. NEET youngsters), such as Let’s Go Urban, Atelier de Futur, Missions Locales, social housing projects, gaming platforms, etc. – through these “first encounters” the program wishes to demystify technology, lower the entry barrier and boost the self-esteem of potential candidates through a first “success experience”;
  2. FACULTY – Adapting and validating the content to have a maximum fit with the needs & expectations of NEET youngsters – in relation to the opportunities in the work force: continuous scanning of the job market, recruiting & training a teacher pool sensitive to the needs of the different target groups, tailored marketing campaigns to reach, gain trust with & convince the target group, testing & developing specific methodologies aimed at this target group – including both technical and social skills – as well as developing a pool of relevant projects, internships and job opportunities to inspire the different target groups and maximize employment rate within 6 months after end of internship;
  3. FACILITY - development & validation of a business case to ensure long-term sustainability & continuation of the project, beyond the current support, including a clear sponsorship strategy and a value proposition towards companies with a hiring need;
  4. TRAINING – Recruitment & selection of motivated candidate-students, followed by an intensive 7-month training and in-company internship (ca. 25 students per class with a healthy mix of backgrounds to ensure a good societal representation in the classes and guarantee an optimized learning experience), including “learn by doing” and “learn by teaching” elements – focusing both on technical and soft skills, preparing students for the work force in every aspect (incl. project management, time management, customer relations, presentation & networking, job applications, teamwork, etc) – with regular feedback and evaluation moments (both formal and informal), as it has been certified by Bruxelles Formation & VDAB Brussels – and QFor quality label certified.
  5. EMPLOYMENT SUPPORT – Facilitation and matchmaking to ensure a wide range of potential student projects (remote internships), in company internships and job opportunities to maximize the chance at employment – aiming for 80% (sustainable) employment within 6 months of end of internship: organization of workshops & meetups with company representatives as well as development & management of a wide variety of enterprise partners to guarantee constant influx of relevant employment opportunities, starting early on to build relationships between students & potential employments.

Goals and outcomes

The BeCode recruiting & training methodologies have already proven quite successful in attracting NEET youngsters & providing them a value adding training program, ensuring employment soon after graduation. BeCode will continue to perfect the methodologies, develop further enterprise partnerships and grow the reach in the community to guarantee a high-impact but relatively low-cost training program aimed at sustainable employment of the different target groups.

As such, the project provides added value on several levels:

  • Contributing to the local economy by providing well trained digital talent for companies growing and/or in digital transformation;
  • Providing relevant job opportunities for those who suffer in the current job market, for lack of degree, experience, funding or other causes for experiencing a mismatch with the current job offering but highly motivated and interested in new technologies;
  • Lowering the societal cost of unemployment (calculated at 36.600 Euro/year per unemployed Belgian citizen) through a relatively small investment (i.e. 5.000 Euro pp) compared to the average cost of professional ICT trainings (ca 15.000-20.000 Euro pp)
  • Lowering the risk of radicalisation with these NEET youngsters, who often end up in criminality for lack of alternatives and/or loss of purpose;
  • Growing awareness on the importance and the opportunities of digital skills, through workshops & code initiations, either self-organised or provided through partners programs (e.g. coderdojo, codefever, atelier du futur, digitaal atelier, etc.)

Impact assessment

The project will develop transparent and auditable tracking of metrics & KPIs, through a combination of a CRM system to monitor profile information (currently Teamleader) and student tracking allowing all stakeholders to contribute to the progress monitoring of students through certifications at the “micro skills” level through online badges using an open source secured platform. Such an approach has the following advantages:

  • enabling to check who received what badges and when – as well as certification through either a BeCode coach and/or an enterprise partner;
  • keeping students motivated as they are rewarded as they learn;
  • enabling companies to use a web interface to find interns and employees based on business and tech skills;
  • enabling training centers to create equivalences immediately and creating tailor-made learning path for non-traditional trainings.

Real-time dashboards can be provided. The project will assign an external auditor if so requested.

Sustainability

The project will develop multiple revenue streams to guarantee long-term sustainability:

  1. donations & sponsorships – either from companies or foundations (decreasing ratio over time)
  2. public funding – as the project aims to decrease the unemployment rates as well as reduce the risk of radicalisation, the societal benefit is clear (subsidies, social impact bonds, etc.)
  3. services for enterprise partners with a hiring need (increasing ratio over time):
  4. remote internships (student projects allow early access to the students and the development of a relationship with the preferred future employees, lowering the eventual risk of employment considerably)
  5. re-skilling programs for employees from companies in transformation as well as up-skilling & outplacement of companies who need to size down

teambuilding workshops for HR, marketing and IT teams – providing an interactive format to work on specific topics with the BeCode students.

Contact

Karen Boers

Managing Director

+32 473 76 42 49