44 DEBATE
We see a lot of our technology and digital workforce aspiring to work in the city. They use Lancashire as their stepping stone to working in Manchester or Leeds or London. Our biggest challenge is retaining people.
TS: Young people and apprentices are often seen as the fix, the ‘shiny things’ who are going to bring in the know-how. Although there is a degree of truth in that, sometimes it’s about transforming the whole business and upskilling everyone to bring them up to speed so that digital becomes part of everybody’s role.
ML: When you are problem solving you don’t necessarily need a very technical background. You just need to understand what the problem is and the tools needed to solve it.
ZD: We are doing a lot with schools to educate people on what digital looks like and what a career can look like for men and women. We’re trying to do more of that because we still hear people say, ‘Why would I want to go and have a job in tech?’ or ‘It’s mainly for men’.
AJ: It’s about focus and the only way that we can change the figures is by having targeted transformational plans to make it happen. You have to keep working at it. We have to try to soften the word ‘digital’ because all of our businesses have got a digital facet. We also need to focus on young people.
DA: My head of sales is 21 and is quite brilliant. She is the future of the company but regularly goes into meetings made up of men aged over 50. It is very daunting and I’ve had to support her and help with her confidence.
SI: I’m pleased that many people are now saying, ‘Can we drop this word digital?’ It’s something I’ve said for a long time needs to happen.
When it comes to building apps, websites or software the number of female applications that we have received for the roles has been incredibly low.
However, we’ve been working with a Manchester company that runs bootcamps called Code Nation. It says the number of females coming into web, app and software development and cyber security is incredibly encouraging.
KH: One of the projects that the Fast Track Digital Fund has been working on is that
bootcamp-style approach to learning. Where we’ve started to think about removing barriers to females applying to courses, we’re getting some amazing numbers. Keep an eye out for the ‘Fast Track’ projects that are coming out.
AW: It’s about making sure all individuals have the right skills and in terms of younger people we keep the talent in Lancashire. Stopping the ‘brain drain’ is really important.
ME: Out of every 100 CVs we get, only three of them are female, which is disappointing.
You can’t just simply think,
‘We’ll just do it in Zoom and it’ll work fine’
Writing code is going to become more commoditised, it will become much easier. We’re already offshoring it to a large degree. AI and machine learning will actually make the role more obsolete.
That clever, problem-solving skill; identifying a challenge a customer might have and then interpreting and customising a solution to match and overcome it, is going to be far more important.
YR: Role models for young girls are so important. We need more female role models to blog, to be part of recruitment campaigns, to be visible.
AO: It is about perceptions. I knew a girl who I thought needed to go off and do a degree in computer science. Her analytical skills and problem solving were amazing. She said she’d love to, but her parents wanted her to pursue a career in medicine and computer science wasn’t going to help with that.
Everybody’s got their part to play, it’s not just about changing the perceptions of girls, it’s about their family members, parents and peers.
KH: A lot of females suffer from ‘Imposter Syndrome’ because they’re in an environment where they are often very much in the minority and struggle with confidence. That is something we need to address.
• For more information on the research conducted by the LDSP on Lancashire’s Digital Landscape visit:
lancashireskillshub.co.uk/ digital-skills-partnership
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