For a second year, Barcelona Digital Talent is to give out over 700 grants to promote digital training

• The initiative seeks to continue supporting professionals and promote training in digital skills
• The grants are valued at €1,415,679 and are given to 67 courses at 16 different training centres. Furthermore, 1,044 places are to be awarded in state-run schools or on programmes with a social approach

17 June, 2021

Barcelona, 17 June 2021.- A campaign is launched today to give 766 grants to attend digital training courses. The initiative has been implemented by Barcelona Digital Talent, a public-private alliance promoted by Barcelona, the Cercle Tecnològic de Catalunya, Barcelona Tech City, 22@Network, Foment del Treball Nacional, Barcelona Global, Barcelona City Hall, and the Regional Government of Catalonia, with a view to making Barcelona the capital for digital talent.

This project is valued at 1,415,679 euros, which not only cover the 766 grants to study at private training centres but also the 1,044 places to be awarded in state-run schools. 133 of the grants for private training centres will be given a 50% discount, 55 a 35-40% discount, 85 a 25-30% discount, and 493 a 20% discount. 16 private training centres are taking part in this initiative, including Nuclio, Ironhack and UPC School. These grants are given to 67 recipient programmes, which are mostly intensive and provide sufficient employability to enter the market in areas of digital know-how, such as web development, big data, UX/UI, digital marketing, cybersecurity and digital business, among others.

This is the second campaign of its kind with which Barcelona Digital Talent seeks to continue supporting professionals in their ongoing training through theoretical and practical skills for a sector without unemployment, in which salaries are more competitive and career prospects are more stable.

According to data from the latest Digital Talent Overview 2020 report, the digital sector continues to include the most sought-after profiles, despite the crisis. The talent gap, however, continues to grow. In the last two years, demand for digital talent in Barcelona has increased by 80% while the supply of digital professionals has grown by only 23%. This data shows the need for trained professionals in order to be able to fulfil the high levels of demand.

Interest in training

This year Barcelona Digital Talent pursues two major milestones . Firstly, to provide access to technological training, with more complete grants that provide access to qualified courses at an acceptable cost to a larger number of students. Secondly, to boost quality training initiatives aimed at practical training and market requirements, with the ultimate goal of promoting student employability. According to Jordi Arrufí, Director of Digital Talent at Mobile World Capital Barcelona, “access to training in digital skills must be democratised to guarantee new opportunities for professionals”. Arrufí also concludes: “the competitiveness of our economy involves reducing the digital talent gap, and we still have a long way to go”.

To follow the progress of students receiving the grants, Barcelona Digital Talent monitors their careers once the course has ended. For example, the evolution of three success stories that fully represent the potential of reskilling must be highlighted. Reskilling is the process of learning new skills to leap from one profession to another, in this case with a closer link to the digital sector.

The first success story is that of Marta Camacho who, after seven years in tourism, decided to make a career change and join the world of programming: “It was then that I came across a bootcamp that gave me the basic knowledge in a very short time. Although the first few weeks were hard, because this was a new sector to me, I ended up with more knowledge than I thought, and with a basis that enabled me to start developing the skills I wanted to focus on”. In terms of her search for work, “after a few months of looking, I was given a job as a frontend developer in a startup from the financial sector”, adds Marta.

The second example is that of Marc Sadurní, which decided on a career change after years in the nutrition sector: “I decided to go for broke and get into programming. I joined the bootcamp without any prior knowledge of programming. It took eleven very intense weeks, and at the end I was offered a job in a company from the technology sector. I now work as a front end developer at Tekman Education, where we meet specific needs of teachers and students”. Marc doesn’t regret his change in direction at all: “It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I now have a lot more quality of life, in terms of both working hours and salary, and responsibilities, among others. I would recommend it to anyone who isn’t happy in their current job”.

Lastly, Constanza Simioni, an Italian-Argentine woman who settled in Barcelona four years ago. She has a degree in Communications Sciences, specialising in Design and Communications, and is now a UX/UI designer. “I started my master’s degree because the pandemic made me realise that I needed to expand my professional horizons to include the digital sector. I think 2020 has shown us that we should adapt to the new parameters of consumption and to an increasingly competitive professional market”, says Simioni.