Youth charity The Prince’s Trust has teamed up with Adarma, an Edinburgh-based supplier of threat management services, to launch a scheme aimed at empowering 21- to 30-year-olds to pursue careers in cyber security, and to push for a more inclusive and diverse profession.
The Get Started in Cybersecurity programme comprises a two-week course offering both classroom-based and on-the-job learning opportunities designed to give participants an enhanced understanding of the cyber security world.
It will cover various aspects of the industry, including a primer on commonly used industry language, an introduction to the digital security challenges facing organisations, and the practices and technology that can help them overcome these challenges and better protect themselves.
The Prince’s Trust will lead recruitment for the sessions and provide pastoral support for participants, while Adarma’s in-house experts will be on hand to deliver content and share their experiences. Adarma will also be offering apprenticeships within its operations, as well as potential opportunities across its network of partners, and will advise as needed on a programme of works to update the charity’s own cyber posture.
“We are delighted to partner with Adarma,” said Julia Beaumont, chief technology officer at The Prince’s Trust. “Adarma’s passion for solving cyber security challenges in the real world aligns with the ambitions of The Prince’s Trust to ensure that every young person should have the chance to embrace exciting opportunities. Cyber security is central to our own digital transformation here at The Prince’s Trust and Adarma’s help will be invaluable.”
Adarma CEO John Maynard, who also joins The Prince’s Trust’s tech leadership panel, alongside representatives from the likes of AWS, Cognizant, Deloitte and Google, said: “We believe that the cyber skills gap and the lack of diversity and inclusion within the cyber security industry is a self-inflicted issue.
“We have collectively failed to tap into whole segments of young people who have the capability and potential to make great contributions to the industry and, as an industry, we have created a number of barriers to awareness and entry into the field of cyber security,” he said.
Ultimately, said the partners, their ambition is to develop a wider employability programme, dubbed Get into Cybersecurity, which will upskill more diverse talent, such as neurodivergent people and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“We work with young people from all walks of life, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds,” said Craig Wilson, senior head of delivery at The Prince’s Trust.
“This partnership will do wonders to instil confidence, as well as provide the tools for participants to excel in an industry that has otherwise been illusive and closed off to them. We believe Get Started in Cybersecurity is a positive step towards making careers in cyber more accessible to all.”