As Smart Towkay has covered multiple times, it is no secret that the digital revolution is well and truly upon us. The Singapore Government has long outlined the urgent need for businesses to digitise and digitalise their operations. The Covid-19 pandemic has only made these exigencies even more urgent.

The workforce is also required to step up in terms of competence with digital skills. As Singapore continues to make its way out of the recession, employers may see an increased need to bring in new hires - employees who are well-equipped to thrive in the new post-Covid digital reality.

To help address some of these needs, a joint national initiative was launched – #GetReadySG. It is a partnership between Microsoft, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), and Generation, a global non-profit focused on education and employment.

What is #GetReadySG?

Essentially, it is an initiative that aims to upskill job seekers looking to switch to a tech career, through Generation’s expertise in providing industry relevant training, and help to match these job seekers with employers in the industry through Microsoft’s rich ecosystem of customer and partner companies who need to hire skilled tech manpower.

Government schemes and funding then help to reduce the costs of such investment in training and onboarding manpower for the employers.

As a one-stop training and hiring solution for the tech industry, there are currently three schemes under this initiative.

Track 1: SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme – Company Training (SGUP-CT) Microsoft Tech Program

This train-and-hire track is a SkillsFuture programme that helps to train young professionals and mid-career job seekers in the relevant digital skills before having partner employers take them on for a 6-month fully subsidised apprenticeship. This arrangement is more suitable for employers who do not need to bring in a new hire immediately but are looking to expand their talent pool in the near future. Since trainees will come onboard only after receiving training, the employer does not need to fork out any expenditure other than what is legally due for an industry apprenticeship. The latter then gets the opportunity to assess the trainee during the apprenticeship before deciding whether to offer them a permanent role in the company.

Track 2: IMDA TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) Company-Led Training (CLT)

As the name suggests, company-led training requires the employer to be more involved in the training process. The employer receives a pre-screened trainee with a relevant background immediately but must work to align with Generation in terms of allowing the trainee to complete their training modules and certifications alongside work. The trainee will undertake part-time training while making sure to also fulfil his job obligations.

Funding support for the employer comes up to 50 percent of the trainee’s salary during the training period and 30 percent of the training cost.

What job roles are being trained for and supported

For the next intake, both programmes are currently running for two job roles in particular: Full-Stack Developer, and Cloud Support & DevOps.

Cloud Support & DevOps

IT organisations have traditionally kept development and operations teams as separate units, but DevOps, an integrated functioning model, has become increasingly viewed as the superior model for improved collaboration and rapid delivery. This typically means that DevOps frequently comes into contact with cloud solutions.

The role of DevOps and cloud support is thus to deploy infrastructure and applications using automated tools and pipelines, manage and maintain existing cloud deployments, troubleshoot errors for cloud infrastructure, and coordinate with other stakeholders as part of the development or operations process.

The training curriculum under the SGUP-CT programme is as follows:

Junior Full-Stack Developer

As the name suggests, a full stack developer writes code that designs and implements software both for the front end and the back end of a business’ digital operations. After deployment, the developer will also need to maintain the software by fixing bugs and adding new features if and when necessary. Coding competence must be such that it is legible for others to understand and work with.

The training curriculum under the SGUP-CT programme is as follows:

How can employers join as a partner?

Employers who are interested in joining the #GetReadySG initiative as a partner may contact Generation at getreadysg@generation.org.

A signed Letter of Intent would be required by Generation as an indication of the employer’s commitment and planned volume of hiring. Subsequently, employers will receive a Snaphunt invite to view and manage apprenticeship applications.

Snaphunt is a remote hiring platform. Not only can applications be viewed and subsequently shortlisted or rejected, other options such as requesting applicants to submit a pre-recorded video interview are also available. Snaphunt is also integrated with Zoom, such that requesting and conducting a face-to-face interview via Zoom meeting can be done directly on the Snaphunt interface.

Once the employer has confirmed their chosen candidates with Generation, the process will move on towards onboarding them for their respective apprenticeships, depending on which programme the employer has signed up for.

When is the next intake for new hires?

The latest intake is looking to commence at the start of September 2021, with candidates to be confirmed by 13 September. By the end of September or early October, the relevant administrative processes (signing of non-disclosure agreements, finalisation of training plans and progress trackers etc) should be complete and the apprenticeships will commence from 11 October 2021.