Capgemini & CodeYourFuture awarded for digital partnership

Capgemini is committed to opening doors to digital careers. The company is a diverse collective of free-thinkers, entrepreneurs and experts, all working together to unleash human energy through technology, for an inclusive and sustainable future.

Capgemini and CodeYourFuture (CYF) have won an edie Award for their digital academy partnership. Through the partnership with CYF, Capgemini helps CYF train refugees and disadvantaged people to become software developers and develop their digital skills to gain employment in the tech industry.

Limited digital skills are a barrier to employment

According to the UN Refugee Agency, there were more than 130,000 refugees living in the UK as of mid-2021. It is difficult to estimate unemployment among refugees in the UK, but in 2018, Tent estimated that around 70 per cent were unemployed. Limited digital skills is one barrier to employment.

At the same time, the UK faces a digital skills shortage. In May 2021, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills estimated that 518,000 additional workers are needed for roles in the three highest-skilled groups in the digital sector in 2022, equivalent to three times the number of computer science graduates the UK has produced over the past decade.

Supporting individuals to become software engineers

Capgemini is committed to ensuring that digital transformation creates an inclusive and sustainable future for all. This means opening doors to technology careers for people who are currently far from the digital skills job market, such as refugees whose studies or career journeys have been interrupted.

Capgemini aims to open up digital job opportunities by collaborating with CYF. This UK-based non-profit supports refugees and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to become software engineers. They started collaborating in 2018, when Capgemini became CYF's first corporate partner offering support from start to finish for its free software training programme. In 2021, Capgemini renewed its commitment and agreed a three-year partnership to sponsor a place on the programme for 100 trainees annually.

Capgemini is opening doors to technology careers

The programme offers participants web development training followed by specialist skills options in later months, including project management, quality assurance, and cloud and platform engineering. Trainees are given help to gain employment and taught the soft skills needed at work, such as presentation delivery and teamworking. Many participants have never coded before or have little experience in the technology sector. Over 70 per cent of trainees have a refugee or asylum-seeker background and 75 per cent are living below the poverty line, according to CYF.

Capgemini plays an active role in supporting a CYF community of coders ready to help one another. Its employees run sessions on what it’s like to work in technology. These include immersion workdays at the company's offices, insight sessions on pathways into technology careers, homework clubs, and Capgemini also offers one-to-one mentoring for programme participants. More than 500 Capgemini employees have volunteered to help with these sessions.

Capgemini's impact in preparing graduates for employment

In 2021, Capgemini sponsored 128 trainees and helped run four CYF courses in London, Birmingham and Manchester. The company also assisted classes in Glasgow with job opportunities and support from volunteers during 2021. Capgemini continues to offer CYF insights into market demand based on what its clients are requesting, helping evolve the programme curriculum to best prepare graduates for employment.

Across all CYF trainees sponsored by Capgemini since 2018, 71 per cent have gone onto employment or further education as of May 2022. Capgemini's partnership with CYF won a Better Society Award in 2022 for National Commitment to Skills and Training.

As of May 2022, Capgemini has employed 71 CYF programme graduates. The partnership helps the company extend employment opportunities to talented people from groups that are underrepresented in the technology sector and its business, supporting its commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace. One of Capgemini's CYF graduates, Madiha Khan, was a finalist in the 2021 Women in Tech Excellence awards in the Outstanding Returner category.

“Every door seemed to be closed because of my social status, but CodeYourFuture opened one big wide door for me – and changed my life by giving me this opportunity. I am a full stack web developer now! I’m more confident and have more skills. I’m ready to go out there,” says Davinder, who was an asylum seeker and found employment following his CYF graduation.

Developing employment in the technology industry

CYF, a UK based non-profit organisation, believes in a future where everyone has a real opportunity to lead a thriving life and trains some of the most deprived members of society to become web developers and helps them to find work in the tech industry.

CYF students are trained in web development by volunteers from the tech industry, putting a strong emphasis on collaboration and product development through tech projects. 70 per cent of CYF eligible grads have started tech careers. Graduates work in established companies like Capgemini, the FT, BBC, STV, Deloitte, and startups like Adzuna, Sensible Object, tlr and WeGotPop.

CYF's values are:

Be kind and open
- growth is not always easy. If everyone treats each other kindly and are open to giving and receiving feedback, they build the trust needed for growth
Be part of a supportive family
- this value comes from how its trainees talk about CYF - that CYF is like a supportive family for them. At CYF, there are people who accept and support one another in challenging and successful times. The acceptance and support that people give each at CYF other creates a safe, trusted space, a space that helps trainees and volunteers continue growing and developing and also reassures newcomers that they are in the right place
Empowerment and representation are key
- whether a trainee or volunteer, CYF believes everyone knows what’s needed for the organisation to thrive, and trusts and supports people to make the changes they believe are needed
CYF wants to have a real impact in the world
- CYF wants to create long-term, measurable impact in society. It knows that by helping people make tangible, positive changes in their lives, like starting well-paid tech careers, it can improve their social mobility and reduce inequality