Coding week support continues

Thursday 25 February 2016

JT is to continue its sponsorship of National Coding Week this year, as a way of supporting the development of digital skills.

The annual week-long event, held in September, was launched by Jersey based business Codex, to encourage the development of digital skills among communities across the Channel Islands and UK. The aim of the campaign is to create opportunities for school leavers, job seekers and retirees to develop skills and to engage employers to offer employment opportunities to newly trained individuals.

Co-Founder of National Coding Week, Richard Rolfe explained that plans are in place to extend the reach of the campaign this year drawing on the success of the last two years: “National Coding Week has generated wider awareness and interest in learning coding skills among people of all ages and from all walks of life, which is what we set out to do and we are really proud of how it has been embraced. This year we plan to build upon that success and we are grateful to JT for their ongoing support to help us make this happen. We’re delighted to have access to the expertise and global reach of JT as we look to take National Coding Week to other towns and indeed new continents to encourage coding skills among wider audiences.”

Tamara O’Brien, JT said: “We’re very pleased to continue our commitment to support National Coding Week which has had a very positive impact on communities up and down the country as well as here in the Channel Islands.  It has attracted social endorsement from some very significant figures including the Duke of York and the Mayor of London. Learning digital skills can be life-changing and we applaud Richard, Jordan and new team member Michael Neves, for everything they are doing to educate people in coding and in highlighting the benefits that it can bring. JT’s wide global reach means we are able to support the organisers in taking the message to other countries and we’re really pleased to be involved in this important project.”

In addition to planning National Coding Week 2016, the organisers are also gearing up to present the first National Coding Week Awards. These will be presented on 29 February via video link from the Digital Jersey hub to 39 individuals and organisations from across the UK in recognition for their contribution to developing digital skills.

During the event, JT’s Head of Corporate Sales, Katie Corbett, will present the Women Who Code award. She said: “These awards build upon the success of National Coding Week and I am very proud to be representing JT at the awards event. The Women Who Code award is a very important one that recognises women who are succeeding in technology based roles, within our own business we have a good ratio of females working across our global locations and we can only see this number increasing as digital skills become more widely accessible and encouraged.”