In 2021, polling completed for the Institute of Coding (IoC) shows that 70% of employed Brits were looking to switch careers and 66% wanted to reskill with tech courses. Furthermore, 71% of respondents believed that the tech industry is made up of people solely identifying as heterosexual, 83% believed it’s led by men, and 70% said it is run entirely by people of white, British ethnicity. Through our research and polling, it was clear that factors were actively discouraging young people from pursuing digital skills education and careers.

In line with these findings, the IoC, Karmarama and Plan for Jobs launched a new campaign called Shift CTRL to empower and support a larger and more diverse group of people into careers in digital through the IoC-led Skills Bootcamps.

The campaign was profiling cultural voices who are positive forces in the digital world.

Episode one started with Eshita Kabra-Davies, founder of By Rotation – the world’s first peer-to-peer fashion rental app. Eshita talked about how she upskilled in digital to change careers from finance to app entrepreneur.

Our partner for Episode Two of the Shift CTRL series was Timothy Armoo, CEO and founder of Fanbytes – one of the world’s leading Influencer marketing agencies. As an industry leader, Timothy shares the importance of digital in his career and the world around us.

For Episode Three we partnered with influential British chef and restaurateur Ed Baines of Randall and Aubin. Ed talked about how digital and tech can help your business in unexpected ways.