Dundee Tech School opens doors to class of 2024

4th November 2024

Scottish Widows is due to induct the second wave of future tech stars today (Tuesday, 29th October) at its Dundee Tech School, following the success its first year of trainees achieved. 

The latest group of 24 digital skills students will work together on developing new ‘gamification’ content for banking and pension apps for Scottish Widows and Lloyds Banking Group’s other brands including Halifax and Bank of Scotland. 

The content which is being developed will be designed to help more people connect their pension and make it easier for them to plan their financial future, much like the popular Pensions Mirror tool, which was released last year and has had more than 500,000 views. 

The Dundee Tech School was set up in 2023 as part of a commitment to create a pipeline of 150 new technology-led jobs in Dundee and help address the current gap in tech jobs in the UK. Scottish Widows’ Rose Ulldemolins – recent recipient of the Digital Star Award at the Bupa Everywoman in Technology Awards 2024 – will continue to lead the school as its new intake of students begins an intensive year-long training and development course. 

This year’s students, who are training for roles including experience designers, product owners, quality engineers, and software engineers, will form two new teams on completion of training. The student group comprises a range of backgrounds, experiences, ages, and a near-equal gender split. 

As a key part of its pledge to invest in the future of Dundee, the Tech School is set to collaborate with the University of Dundee and Abertay University, alongside members of the local gaming community, on ‘GAMEJAM.’ A hackathon with an emphasis on gaming, GAMEJAM will see Tech school recruits and university students collaborate on a series of challenges designed to get them sharing knowledge and teaching each other. The event will be hosted by the Victoria & Albert Museum in Dundee on the 4th March. 

The School has been built as a platform for continuous training, beyond the year’s study its students initially undertake. Graduates from the initial 2023 intake – who collectively moved into roles within Embark –have already gone on to pursue further qualifications alongside their employment.  

The Tech School’s first year of delivering industry-leading training is already receiving recognition. Based on the success of students from its first year, the Dundee Tech School is a finalist for the Innovation Award at the Scottish Financial Services Awards.  

Jackie Leiper, Managing Director, Scottish Widows, said: “We’re extremely proud of the great work last year’s talented group have already delivered, including brand new gamification content in our app to make it more engaging and user friendly.  

“Making financial tools more intuitive is crucial to help drive financial knowledge and wellbeing for the next generation. It’s important for us that this investment in technology directly benefits the local area, and we’re looking forward to more collaboration with Scottish Enterprise to help Dundee maintain its reputation as a centre of excellence for digital innovation in the UK.” 

Lyam Walburn, Tech School graduate and now Junior Developer with Embark, said: “My time in the Tech School was transformative. The level of training and investment in us as developers was a massive confidence booster and it really helped prepare me for moving into the job. I’m already working with a team of developers and making a difference that I couldn’t have imagined.” 

Scottish Enterprise has supported the Tech School with a £1.2m training grant. The organisation’s Managing Director of Innovation and Investment Jane Martin said: “It’s great to see the latest intake of trainees begin their study at Dundee Tech School, and to hear of innovations already resulting from the project.  

“Through our missions approach we’re focusing support on industries - such as fintech - where Scotland has global strengths. We know growing these industries will help boost Scotland's productivity and create good quality, higher paid jobs across the country. Dundee Tech School is a fantastic example of this and has an important role to play in making sure future employees have the right skills for the industry.”
 

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Notes to Editor 

About Scottish Widows  

Founded in 1815, Scottish Widows is part of Lloyds Banking Group, the UK’s largest digital bank and financial services group. With nearly £170bn assets under administration and six million customers, Scottish Widows’ award‐winning product range includes workplace and individual pensions, annuities, life cover, critical illness, income protection as well as savings and investment products. Customers can access our products and services through independent financial advisers, directly, and through all Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland and Halifax branches. 

About the Dundee Tech School

The Dundee Tech School was founded by Scottish Widows to help solve the acute skills and recruitment challenge for technology businesses nationwide. With its people-first approach, this initiative frontloads essential learning, empowering students to develop their confidence, and commercial productivity within six months.  

The programme starts with an intensive eight-week training and development course in association with leading tech training organisation QA and Scottish Widows’ fintech specialists. 

The programme provides participants with a permanent role and a highly competitive salary from the very start of their employment. It is designed to embed participants into the Scottish Widows business for the long term, rapidly providing them with the skills necessary to excel in a career in technology.

About Scottish Enterprise 

Scottish Enterprise (SE) is Scotland’s national economic development agency and a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It supports businesses to innovate and scale to transform the Scottish economy by focusing on new market opportunities through targeted investment, innovation and internationalisation. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.