Almost a quarter (22%) of 16-17-year-old have decided to pursue a career in tech since the pandemic. That is according to research from UK Talent Works, which surveyed over 400 UK students and tech professionals in the early stages of their careers on their education and the journey into tech.
The survey also found that most young tech professionals are encouraged by their academic establishment to join large organisations upon graduating (46%).
In fact, graduates are often encouraged to overlook small and scaling companies and 23% are given no career advice at all.
Women Found it Harder to Find A Tech Job
However, when it comes to starting their careers, only 7% of young professionals found it ‘very easy’ to find their first role, and women were more likely to find it hard (31%) compared to men (21%).
A fifth of all respondents (21%) also felt that tech courses at university, do not provide valuable post-degree business insights, emphasising the gap between the university experience and entering their first tech role.
When asked who encouraged them into technology, parents (27%) and teachers/the education system before university (24%) were the top choices, followed by professors/the university system (18%) and role models (15%).
Women were more likely to be encouraged by teachers/education (54%) than men (29%), whereas men were more likely to have parents that took STEM subjects (44%) than women (21%).
However, when it came to young professionals ranking their tech education, women were less likely to rank their tech education as particularly good (17%) compared to men (26%). Over half of women (54%) also rated the guidance they received as ‘poor – neutral’ compared to only 41% of men.