Alberta announces $1.9-million investment in program aimed at getting women into tech jobs – Calgary Herald

Article content

Alberta is investing nearly $2 million into a program to help women gain employment in Calgary’s tech sector.

Article content

Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides made the announcement Thursday, saying his government will provide $1.9 million to an Amazon Web Services (AWS) pilot program that will assist up to 40 women with training and connections to the local IT and cloud-computing sectors. The provincial investment is part of a two-year research and innovation grant.

“Today’s investment will be used to provide the tuition costs for up to 40 participants, as well as a monthly stipend to help assist with living costs during their studies,” said Nicolaides. “One of the things that makes this program unique is the fact that it will be the first in Canada to be women-focused. The fact is, while there has been a boom in tech, only 26 per cent of tech jobs are currently held by women.”

Article content

The program, titled AWS re/START, is currently accepting applications and will begin March 2, running over a 20-week period. The AWS program has been running similar programs for several years, helping underemployed and unemployed people enter the workforce. Amazon, alongside the Momentum Community Economic Development Society, will slightly alter this program to promote it to women in Calgary.

AWS will provide the program’s curriculum and labs while Momentum will work with the women to address barriers in the field. Local mentorship group Chic Geek will help participants with mentorship and career path supports.

“We know that women have the motivation and the work ethic to succeed in IT careers. They just need the right training opportunity momentum,” said Momentum director of operations Donna McBride. “These women will increase the pool of local talent available to our growing tech sector, leading to stronger economies in Calgary and Alberta.”

Article content

McBride said the program will provide a flexible learning environment with a mixture of virtual facilitator and in-person classes.

Nicolaides said the government will monitor the effectiveness and success of the pilot and determine if it can become a permanent program with continued funding.

“We want to explore effectiveness, we want to validate the efficiency of the program and ensure that it’s meeting the objectives and the results,” said Nicolaides. “Of course, if it ticks all those boxes and we see success in terms of women taking advantage of the opportunity and finding successful career opportunities, then I think it’s something that we should definitely look at to continue further.”

The investment comes after Amazon announced in November that it would invest $4 billion to establish a cloud computing hub in Calgary.

At that time, Premier Jason Kenney called the investment the largest tech investment in Alberta’s history.

The move will ultimately create 950 full-time jobs across Canada and is only AWS’ second such data region in the country, complementing one established in Montreal in 2016.

dshort@postmedia.com