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The tech education company signed a MoU with NTUC’s U associate initiative, which aims to provide networking support and skill set sharing avenues for PMEs

General Assembly – Web Development Immersive. Photo Credit_ David Tan Rui Guan

It is no secret that Singapore’s economy is experiencing a bit of rough ride. Executives in white collar sectors such as banking and media are seeing their jobs displaced. In Q3 2016, the Republic saw 4,100 layoffs, which is an 18 per cent increase YoY from 2015. While this may spell doom and gloom, another report by the Info-communications Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) showed that the labour market actually has plenty of job vacancies — currently, there are 15,000 tech jobs waiting to be filled.

To plug this gap in the workforce General Assembly (GA) is partnering up with the government’s trade union National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).

Today it signed a MoU with NTUC U Associate, an initiative by the union to help professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) network and share skill sets and ideas, to develop training workshops and engagement programmes which will equip PMEs and startup founders with the necessary tech skills for Singapore’s burgeoning digital economy.

NTUC U Associate and GA will organise a series of workshops called Tech & Digital Learning Days. They will cover fundamental courses on technology and digital skills such as coding, digital marketing, user experience and user interface design.

Also Read: MAS to boost fintech skills among tertiary students through MOU with 5 polytechnics

It will also hold events featuring industry experts from various sectors including the government, banking and startups to speak about the tech-related jobs and skill sets they are looking for. After the participants graduate, both organisations will offer career coaching support to help graduates get tech job placements in companies.

GA offers three categories of courses:

• Immersive 10 – 12 week programmes in web development and UX design (for career changers) where students will build about five projects (including  pro-bono client project) so that they have a solid portfolio when they graduate.
• Part-time 10 – 12 week programmes in digital marketing, data analytics, data science, product management, front-end web development and UX Design;
• Workshops – bite-sized classes (three hours – two days) that introduce fundamentals and core concepts in design, coding, business, and data.

For career changers, GA partnered with IMDA under the Tech Immersion and Placement Programme (TIPP) where it will offer Singaporeans a subsidy of S$7,000 (US$4,900) from the immersive programmes.

Aziza Sheerin, Regional Director, Singapore, General Assembly said that the new partnership between GA and NTUC will target both professionals looking for a mid-career switch, as well as people who wish to pick up new skills to remain relevant in their jobs (for example marketers who want to pick up digital marketing or SEO knowledge).

Obviously to qualify as a proficient programmer will require years of training, thus Sheerin said GA will encourage its graduates to pick up new programming languages / skills, and contribute to open source projects, to build up their portfolio.

GA claims its programmes have seen moderate success; its graduates have have been hired by companies including DBS, OCBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Thoughtworks, Palo IT, Honestbee, and Trade Gecko.

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Image Credit: David Tan Rui Guan

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