The ‘opportunity divide’ in the tech job disconnect
Additional news tabled at this year’s Pluralsight LIVE 2019 saw the company’s philanthropically-driven ‘social enterprise’ division Pluralsight One now partnering with the US national workforce development non-profit Year Up.
The mission is to address what has been called the ‘opportunity divide’ for underserved young adults by building technology skills that strengthen pathways to professional employment.
The company says that, in the USA, there are currently 5-million young adults disconnected from stable career pathways — while there are 12-million jobs requiring post-secondary education that will go unfilled in the next decade
A reflected trend?
As a modern western economy, we can only assume that figures are somewhat similar (or at least reflective and reflected of this trend) for the UK, the rest of Europe and onward into other first-world developed nation economies.
This creates what we could call an ‘equity problem’ for millions of young adults that have the talent and motivation but that lack opportunity.
It also creates a ‘business problem’ for companies that have opportunities but lack the talent to fill them.
Accelerant for opportunity
The Pluralsight One and Year Up partnership aims to meet these problems by creating what the company likes to call an ‘accelerant for opportunity’ by empowering young adults with technology skills to access careers, grow as contributors and leaders and support the technology strategies of companies.
“Access to technology skills is one of the most powerful tools we have to create equality of opportunity in our technology-driven world, and by making Pluralsight available to Year Up students and graduates nationally we can ensure they have full agency over their lives and careers,” said Aaron Skonnard, co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight.
By accessing Pluralsight One’s resources, Year Up says that participants can develop the technology skills they need to flourish in their internships, move into full-time employment and thrive as they continue to build their careers over the years to come.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Pluralsight One to provide all our students and graduates — as well as our staff members — with free access to thousands of online courses and other tools that will help them hone their skills and stay up-to-date with the latest developments,” said Gerald Chertavian, Year Up founder and CEO.
The multi-year partnership with Year Up sees Pluralsight One providing a US$12.3 million, three-year product grant that includes tech strategy development and access to 6,500 licenses to the Pluralsight platform for staff, students and alumni in year one; with an additional 4,500 licenses each in years two and three to support annual youth cohorts.