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Pegasystems and WithYouWithMe have partnered to enhance the employability prospects of veterans after their service, while providing tangible benefits to the Australian economy through effective training and digital skills.
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Pega and WithYouWithMe are aiming to make technology roles more accessible for veterans and address underemployment among ex-military personnel with their new partnership by focusing on individuals’ potential, not experience.
Through the free online training programs powered by WithYouWithMe, veterans transitioning into civilian careers give ex-military personnel the skills required to pursue careers as IT professionals. The 12-week courses can equip students with skills in IT support, software engineering, cyber security, data analytics, intelligent automation and/or systems engineering, and project support.
One of the roadblocks that veterans face post-service is being unable to identify and apply the skills they learned in the military to civilian work. For Pablo Quintana, former sailor in the Royal Australian Navy and WithYouWithMe program participant, hearing about the partnership changed the way he thought about how he could transfer and apply his skills.
"Leaving the Royal Australian Navy, I found it difficult to adapt to anything new," Quintana said.
"I went from being a cook in a café, to a janitor and was even considering working at a fast-food restaurant.
"I couldn’t believe I’d get paid to learn and upskill in their low-code platform, and then be offered a job at the end of the training straight away, it almost seemed too good to be true."
The partnership is designed to build-up a talented pool of digitally trained professionals that will provide a valuable contribution to a modern Australian economy, Michael Evans, vice president Australia and New Zealand at Pega, said.
“I am pleased that through this partnership we are enabling Veterans to enhance their employability, post their service, into tangible roles that recognise the inherent skills that they acquired during their service," Evans added.
In the last two years, WithYouWithMe has trained over 1,600 veterans, with 1,380 placed into employment directly, 92 per cent of which were retained permanently in the first 18 months.
To turn Aussie diggers into developers in two weeks, Tom Moore, CEO and co-founder at WithYouWithMe, said there are plans to scale the program with Pega.
"We tested 30,000 veterans and found that 67 per cent have the same aptitude traits as the best software engineers, yet often they’re not given a fighting chance," Moore said.
"When veterans are empowered and trained by Pega on their low-code platform, they are able to break through into tech roles that were previously inaccessible to them."
The program recognises the inherent skills that veterans have acquired during their service and is designed to place participants in projects that require the specific Pega qualifications in process automation to help fulfil the digital skills gap.
With the support of Pega, WithYouWithMe expects to train over 500 veterans in 2021.
[Related: PwC Australia and SecurityAdvisor strategic alliance bolsters data-driven cyber capabilities]
