LAST October, Harvey Wheaton declared: “Scotland is experiencing unprecedented growth in the digital sector with lots of tech start-ups launching. The transformation of the Scottish tech scene over the last decade has been astounding but everybody is talking about the shortage of talent."
The chief executive of CodeClan, Scotland’s first digital skills academy, was just the latest to sound the alarm. Minecraft developer Chris van der Kuyl had told Westminster MPs that the lack of qualified staff was impacting on the growth potential of Scotland’s digital industries. Scotland's finance secretary John Swinney had publicly acknowledged the volume of complaints from businesses about the lack of digital skills in this country.
As we report today, CodeClan has been a success. It experienced such demand for places at its Edinburgh academy, which steeps its students in the intricacies of coding, that there are plans to open other venues in Glasgow and, possibly, Aberdeen. The operation is supported by the Scottish Government, Skills Development Scotland and the digital technologies trade body, ScotlandIS. Mr Wheaton today talks knowledgeably about the skills gap that has been allowed to grow in schools so far as the digital world is concerned. He is right to do so.
Scotland has an impressive record in the digital world, continuing a long tradition of innovation and entrepreneurialism. But Mr Wheaton, amongst others, has not been slow to recognise that the skills gap has led to a shortage, measured in the thousands, of programmers skilled in coding. Where is the point, some might ask, in Scotland being so creative but seeing so many programmers’ jobs being taken by people from overseas? To study at CodeClan’s academy is not cheap – it costs each student £4,500 for an intensive 16-week-long course – but its success indicates without doubt that this is an idea worth pursuing, given the importance of the tech industry to our present and future economy.
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