FinTech Wales celebrates 81% success rate in its first year of coding and data academies

FinTech Wales, in partnership with training provider iungo Solutions, has recorded an 81% success rate from individuals attending their ten-week coding or computing academy. A significant 62% of those who completed the course have gone on to roles within FinTech or Technology, and 19% have gone on to further training.

With the pilot of their first Coding Academy launched with Cardiff and Vale College just twelve months ago, FinTech Wales and iungo Solutions have since delivered further coding academies at FinTech Wales’ office in Cardiff and Coleg y Cymoedd in Nantgarw, and have plans to deliver more academies with CAVC, Bridgend College and other colleges across Wales.

The programs are designed around the skills and talent requirements of FinTech employers and are delivered to people who either want to retrain or are unemployed or underemployed.

Gemma Hallett, Head of Skills, FinTech Wales said: “Our skills strategy is to raise awareness of careers in FinTech, and create the talent required to support our thriving ecosystem. We are thrilled with the success we are already seeing from the academies. We develop a constant stream of ready-to-work data analysts, cloud engineers and software developers, who are then hired from organizations within our ecosystem. This is exactly what we wanted to achieve, and it is only the beginning.”

FinTech Wales and iungo Solutions have made progress in attracting a diverse range of talent into the industry, also recording that 41% of learners are from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background and attracting a range of age groups, from 18 to 18 . 62 years old. In addition, students with lower socioeconomic status (CDE) contributed to 47% of the cohort. While the gender breakdown was predominantly male at 76%, FinTech Wales, iungo and the participating colleges are working on a number of initiatives to encourage more women to apply to future academies.

As well as learning new skills in python, software design, programming, agile project management and more, the cohort gets a real insight into the FinTech sector, as FinTech Wales members including Admiral, Confused.com, Sero, EY, ActiveQuote, Dynamo Cover, de Novo Solutions and many more, visit the cohort during a series of weekly lunch and learn sessions to support the Academy’s initiatives and build meaningful relationships between industry and academia. The program then concludes with interviews with FinTech employers looking for new talent.

Ammar Akhtar, Founder and CEO, Finalrentals said: “I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of talent that was created from the Data Academy. Finalrentals has successfully hired three people as data and implementation managers, and they have made an excellent contribution to our company.

“Finalrentals moved to Wales from Poland having benefited from FinTech Wales’ accelerator programme, Foundry, which was a real catalyst for our growth. I am eternally grateful to FinTech Wales for welcoming me into Wales’ amazing FinTech ecosystem and now they continue to be a great support to us in creating the talent we need to grow the company and create value for customers ours.”

Jessica Leigh Jones MBE, CEO, iungo Solutions, commented: “We are delighted to have partnered with FinTech Wales to design and deliver the first employer-led Advanced Data Academy in Wales. We are extremely proud of the results achieved so far and will continue to work with those who have not yet found the right opportunity. Initiatives like this are an example of what can be achieved by working with amazing partners to drive forward a shared vision.

“We are delighted to be able to continue to deliver these academies with FinTech Wales and various college partners and look forward to scaling the Skills Academies model to meet the needs of FinTech employers, large and small, across Wales.”

Sarah Williams-Gardener, CEO of FinTech Wales, said: “We are thrilled to have so many of our Academy students starting a career or gaining the necessary skills for roles in the FinTech industry. It is extremely heartwarming to see organizations such as Finalrentals who came through FinTech Wales’ accelerator program and are now recruiting from our own computer academies.

“We will continue working with training providers, universities and our members to reduce the skills gap and fill vacancies. Together we can develop and retain the skills required to truly champion Wales as a leader in FinTech on the global stage.”

There are more academies currently in the pipeline, with colleges across Wales signing up to support future computing and cyber programmes. By September 2023, FinTech Wales expects to work with at least six colleges and offer eight courses that develop skills such as digital growth and full-stack software development.