Kainos & Microsoft offer women a new way into Data Science

Date posted
8 March 2019
Reading time
6 Minutes

Kainos & Microsoft offer women a new way into Data Science

This International Women's Day, Kainos is partnering with Microsoft to help attract and upskill women seeking to return to work after a break or to transfer from other sectors. Under the banner of #BalanceforBetter, the one-day bootcamps are designed to help women of all ages to pursue a new, rewarding and creative career in Data Science.

With a new report revealing that 80% of businesses surveyed said they plan to hire a Data Scientist in 2019, there are clearly many career opportunities in this area.

This demand is compounded by the prediction that more than 500,000 highly skilled workers will be needed to fill digital roles by 2020 that's three times the number of people who have graduated in computer science over the last ten years. Of those, only 5% have been female. Kainos' bootcamp will play an important part in helping to address the tech skills gap and increase diversity in the industry.

Hosted by Data professionals from both Microsoft and Kainos, candidates will be encouraged to develop the digital skills they need to embark on a career in Data Science.

The Kainos bootcamp is one of nine being held across the UK and participants will complete Module 1 of the Data Science Microsoft Professional Program (MPP). Successful completion of the module offers a Certificate of Completion, funded by Kainos. Candidates then complete a further nine modules over six months to achieve the Data Science Microsoft Professional Program (MPP).

Kainos, Microsoft's 2018 UK Partner of the Year, continues to grow and has career opportunities for Data Engineers and Scientists as well as opportunities to embark on a degree apprenticeship. Candidates accepted to the Data Science programme have the opportunity to access roles in leading employers like Kainos following completion of the bootcamp.

Aislinn McBride, Architect at Kainos, said: 'We are looking for women with a passion for learning who want to try something new. The programme will enable them to explore data using a variety of visualization, analytical, and statistical techniques. It's great to be able to offer opportunities for women to build careers with an innovative company like Kainos, just like I have.'

Kathryn Gilchrist, Recruitment Manager for Kainos, said: 'We are thrilled to be partnering with Microsoft and are looking forward to welcoming women who want to learn new skills and start building a career in the technology sector. We want to bring women from a range of backgrounds together and give them an insight into data science and engineering, which suffer from a shortage of female employees. We need to move the dial on getting more women into the tech sector, and that starts with having a passion for learning and trying something new.'

The Kainos bootcamp will take place onMay 2nd in our Birmingham office. You can find out more about this exciting initiative and apply at https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/athome/digitalskills/women-in-tech/.