Marginalized Americans interested in pursuing a career in technology received a boost yesterday with the launch of a free online training program.
The Agile Testing Bootcamp is a six-week program geared specifically toward upskilling individuals with non-technical backgrounds to obtain high-paying, high-demand technical jobs in software testing.
The program was created by Los Angeles software firm QualityWorks and is sponsored by the Count Me In Revival Grant.
Participants will be taught the foundational tools and techniques of software testing and will also receive support to find jobs that match their new skills. Job sourcing, job placement, and ongoing professional development mentorship by professional coaches after graduation are all included in the program.
Applicants have until October 5, 2020, to apply for the immersive program, which is taught virtually via weekly live sessions. To be eligible for the free training, applicants must have at least three years of experience in a professional capacity, be interested in the tech space, and be looking for new career opportunities.
Positive discrimination practices are being applied to give preference to applicants who are not white and to people who have been displaced as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19.
A spokesperson for QualityWorks said: "Software Testing is one of the most in demand jobs in the tech market. There are currently over 9,000 unfulfilled jobs in the US alone. Our six-week immersive software testing bootcamp is designed to teach software testing from scratch for individuals without a tech background."
QualityWorks said software testing bootcamps can get people started in tech careers faster than coding bootcamps, as the learning curve is shorter.
Over the past decade, the company has trained more than 150 persons from diverse professional backgrounds to become software testing professionals.
“We have successfully concluded two installments of our Testing Bootcamp, training over 70 individuals, 90% of whom did not come from a technical background," said QualityWorks founder and CEO Stacy Kirk.
"We’ve proven that the model works, and so we are super excited to be able to extend the program to support black and minority communities by providing them with the skillset to land good jobs in tech."