The need for digital skills & exposure to tech is more important than ever

Are members of the Forces community adequately prepared for modern careers?

This morning as I was reading through my daily news reading list, I came across what many of us in the tech world get incredibly excited about - further progress in using technology to enhance the productivity in both our professional and personal lives.

Tom Warren who wrote an article in The Verge about "The biggest Microsoft and Meta partnership since the Windows Phone days", detailed what is currently known about the new partnership, centered on bringing the power of Meta's VR to Microsoft Teams and gaming. If we forget the latter for a while as it is less relevant, and concentrate on the MS Teams element of the article, we are increasingly witnessing a push for investment into technology for the purpose of supporting more flexible and remote working as well as enhancing collaboration in modern working environments regardless of geographic divides.

This is all great and has been happening for a number of years, but now as it starts to dominate considerations for ways of working, the digital divide is growing. For all of us working within the Forces community ecosystem,?we are getting a more accurate feel for just how much the digital divide is already inhibiting many from accessing employment due to digital poverty from a lack of access to internet - to the greater issue of a lack of digital skills.

One of the primary reasons that TechVets was created, was to stem the flow of Service leavers following traditional pathways into careers that are already being affected by automation, machine learning, and shallow AI, and will increasingly be impacted out to 2030 as demand increases and development and adoption speeds up. There are some outstanding common skills that we see within the Forces community that are in-demand across most IT career paths and at a time where HR teams are struggling to find suitable candidates. Take the article by 麦肯锡 titled 'Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work' which sets out 56 delta's across 13 skill groups to help define the skills that will help people succeed in careers not just now but in the future.

When we dive further into this, we can clearly identify a significant number of those delta's within the cognitive, interpersonal, and self-leadership quadrants that are common skills within those that have served in the military. Additionally, many of the skills within those three quadrants are generally regarded as more difficult to learn - certainly within a shorter timeframe. BUT...the quadrant where there is still a lack of skill of experience, is in the digital delta's and this is where the work of TechVets is concentrated.

• Exposing people to IT career paths, skills, and industry knowledge
• Supporting them with relevant upskilling
• Enhancing their career change journey
• Staying with them throughout their new career

For any of you working with the British Forces community and know of those who have the desire to upskill and gain greater exposure to digital and tech, send them to TechVets where we can provide the support they need.

Alternatively, if you are in the US, Canada, or Australia, then get in touch with our global partners...

• VetSec (US)
• Coding For Veterans (Canada)
• Vets in Cyber (Australia)

Through collaboration we can build on the strengths of the Forces community to support the digital economy.

Read more about this topic here.