How businesses can bridge the skills gap
In Gloucestershire this week the cyber and education sectors aired the issues they need to overcome if we are to provide the talent businesses need to grow, and the solutions began to emerge.
“When I went to talk to my sixth form about not going to university and doing an apprenticeship instead they said ‘we can’t help you’,” Rowan Edlington told the Bridging the Cyber Skills Gap conference at Blackfriars in Gloucester.
“I had to do all the preparation for an apprenticeship, for interviews, on my own - while also forced to go through applying for university anyway; an application I later withdrew.”
It wasn’t that she wasn’t going to get the grades for university, she was predicted top marks, it was that she knew university was not for her, and neither were A-Levels for that matter.
In short, Edlington knew her own mind, but she was discouraged by those who could have helped her.
The former A-Level student was part of a five-strong panel, the second of two groups, at the Blackfrairs event staged by CyNam (which represents cyber sector businesses in the county), Gloucestershire College, the University of Gloucestershire and supporting businesses.
All were there to try to get a better understanding of how everyone can work together to help talent access a fast-growing sector of our economy.
As the delegates at the event heard, Edlington’s story has a happy ending. Through sheer determination she won a cyber degree apprenticeship at EDF, based here in Gloucestershire, her passion for physics and her enthusiasm convincing the energy firm to invest in her.
But the point of the debate was how to remove such obstacles from anyone else’s way, to raise awareness, share views, solutions and stories and show willingness to work together.
Tim Atkins, of Cynam, said: “We had a conversation a year ago about how to bridge the skills gap and a lot of information came out of it.
“We took that away, thought about it a lot and decided we wanted to keep the conversation going and see where it took us.
“We applied for some pots of money, and got them, and we’ve been able to start trying to bring about change - but we must keep talking.”
That investment has allowed the partnership to launch the likes of the Tech Talent Lab and the Cyber Launch Pad - both designed to help businesses access apprentices easily - with all the paperwork, bureaucracy, interviews etc done for them, and the salaries paid by someone else too.
The former is an initiative involving the South West Apprenticeship Company (SWAC) and Gloucestershire College, which you can read more here. The latter the university, which you can read about here.
Andy Bates, chief finance officer for Gloucestershire College, said: “We’ve listened hard to a lot of what businesses told us and continue to. That’s what this event is about, but we also know they may not tell us everything. We have to try out new things and keep the conversation going.”
Why? The college has plenty on its plate, CyNam is a successful organisation with 5,000 members and the university - which was also at the event front and centre - has just been given £8 million to supercharge its computer school at its Park Campus.
“We are doing it because we care. I live in Gloucestershire, my children go to school here, I have friends in the same position, we know the businesses.
“We are part of this community. We see the possibilities of continuing to talk and to keep experimenting to see what works,” said Bates, reflecting the passion of everyone involved in driving the skills gap initiative along.
As panel member at the event said the college was already pushing the educational boundaries to deliver what was needed. It is is the only further eduction college in England to offer a cyber degree apprenticeship certified by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), for a start.
“It’s ratified by the University of West of England,” said Mark Higgins a senior assessor and training at Gloucestershire College and previously of American tech giant IBM.
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Industry was presented on the first panel by a current IBM employee, Gavin Kenny, assistant partner in the cyber services group, and Alice Price, head of early careers at Tewkesbury-based Amiosec, a firm with a £15 million-plus turnover and almost 80 staff.
Questions for this first panel came from Barry Tugwood and Heidi Hardacre, of Business West, in their final year of a three-year engagement exercise with businesses across the region to understand their needs and concerns around cyber, digital and AI.
Their research another piece of the regional picture and more proof of the determination from numerous quarters to work together and deliver meaningful progress.
From the 121 interviews with 331 employees that make up the data for the Local Skills Improvement Plan research Tugwood and Hardacre produced three key questions which they put to the panel; how to deal with a fear of AI, the expense of upgrading systems, and is training for cyber simply too narrow?
“As far as AI is concerned, you have to remember it is just a tool. Yes it will change roles. It will change how we do things, but it is there to augment your workforce,” said Kenny.
“It may be able to compare data better and quicker for your business, but you still need someone to be able to interpret its findings and make a decision.
“The young people coming into the new roles will still need the knowledge in their heads to know how to do everything. AI might replace certain roles, but not the need for good staff.”
Higgins said: “I recall when I was at IBM having Watson explained to me. People were terrified. But that was 10 years ago and we are still here.”
Watson being IBM’s breakthrough computer system first revealed in 2011 and capable of answering questions posed in natural language.
“If you come and talk to the college or the university and build relationships you may well take on an apprentice.
“They can help make sure you are up to speed with new ideas and better able to cope with change so you can use these new technologies to your advantage,” he said.
Price added: “The point is, there is a learning process that still needs to happen so businesses can understand what AI is now.”
Professor Cathia Jenainati, head of school, business, computing and social sciences, at the University of Gloucestershire, said: “I think the important thing is to be able to embed this technology safely in your business.
“It is important also to understand what might happen in five years’ time, say.
“Often we leave this investment too late it is a reaction process; people realise they need someone to understand what is going on, and they advertise for that role because the are desperate.
“There can be a reluctance to talk about how vulnerable your business is and plan.
“You can help solve that by having good relationships with the universities and colleges to make sure we are producing the people you need.”
Cost, however, was more of a challenge.
The panel suggested a similar transition was happening with most businesses moving to the ‘cloud’. It too involved investment, but companies had come to understand it saved money in the longer term.
“I think perhaps one of the most important things to pay attention to is taking your workforce with you.
“It is expensive to hire people. If you take your workforce with you can leverage their knowledge and offset the costs,” added Jenainati, hinting at one of the themes of the day - developing a culture of lifelong learning.
Kenny said it was possible for a business to survive without investing, if it had good service providers, but it was not without significant risk either.
“We do actually support one of two customers who have legacy systems so old they don’t even write viruses for them any more. But their systems are now vulnerable in other ways. They cannot escape the issues by doing nothing,” said Kenny.
All acknowledged cost was a significant hurdle.
Jenainati said: “This is where I think we need support from the government.
“Businesses can’t solve the issue of antiquated equipment on their own. We need to lobby, we need the support of government if this country is to become resilient in terms of cyber.
“Lots of other European countries have government support to update the functionality of systems that keep businesses going.”
Was the current approach to training too narrow in our training?
“Amiosec is looking at graduates, but also graduates from different disciplines, recognising that diversity breeds innovation and innovation is a driver of business,” said Price.
Jenainati said: “We do have a tendency to look at cyber security in its own right, and just concern ourselves with whether the data in a business is secure.
“It is about recognising much more than that. We need to be aware of what is going on around the world.”
Lifelong learning was embedded in IBM, Kenny said: “Mandatory training is part of being at IBM. You have to pass.
“There is a lot to be said for creating specialists. Abstraction is great for speed, but if coders were more aware and wrote safe code we wouldn’t need to be so concerned with security issues after the event. We all need to be aware of the bigger picture.”
Jenainati added that the university was proactive in its search for new cyber talent, actively scouting local schools and she reiterated its part in the apprenticeship-led Cyber Launchpad.
Its new computing centre, she said, would encourage companies to base staff permanently in workspaces in the building, allowing students and businesspeople to mix, and the university was looking to promote neurodiversity too.
The business/education mix is already in placed and working at Gloucestershire College, with cyber workspace Hub8 embedded in its Cheltenham campus.
Panel number two of the Bridging the Cyber Skills Gap event was when the aforementioned Rowan Edlington made her comments featured above.
The year two cyber apprentice with EDF, who described herself as neurodiverse, was joined by Max Vale from Origin8tive, Joe Sharp from CACI (which provides services to many branches of the US federal government including defense, homeland security, intelligence, and healthcare) and Joe Wells, a mature student at the University of South Wales.
Questions were put by Charlotte Smith, of CyNam, and the discussion immmediately picked up where the questions about education ended with the previous panel, beginning with was enough being done to encourage talent into the industry.
Edlington’s comments about being left out in the cold after proposing an apprenticeship route over university emphasised the need for education as well as business to be on board.
Wells’ story showed how some in education were already vigilant, spotting and encouraging talent and looking past traditional qualifications.
Wells told the room: “I was homeless for a spell. I had already worked various jobs, and then to try and better myself I started to teach myself website design. I found I had a real passion for solving cyber security challenges.
“I applied to university, but was rejected. The problem I really faced was that I had no GCSEs, no qualifications. I was told they would not accept me.
“Then one day I went along to an open day and started asking lots of questions.”
It was the enthusiasm and knowledge he showed at this point that won him a place on the course and he is now studying for a degree in his chosen subject.
Vale said his own story demonstrated how some businesses were already alive to the pipeline of talent coming out of the nation’s armed forces, but others needed to wake up to the possibilities.
After seven years in the military and a young family in tow Vale decided to enter civilian life, and found his leadership skills as an officer were well-suited to the ever-changing and challenging world of project management.
“What I think a lot of businesses don’t yet realise is that most people leaving the Armed Forces have between £3,000 and £6,000 of funding to help them retrain. They have already have security clearance at various grades.
“I know from the many people I have seen come through the ranks from many backgrounds that the very best thing you can do is believe in someone and give them a go. It will be worth your while.”
He suggested employers get in touch with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), an organisation run by the Ministry of Defence and Right Management to help former service personnel find new careers.
For Sharp, a former teacher now a software engineer and consultant for CACI, the mindset of lifelong learning and especially mentoring, was something that was key if industry and academia were to arrive completely on the same page and continue to inform one another.
Get that relationship right, he said, and you have another valuable piece of the virtuous circle everyone is reaching for.
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