Our PIABO Charity Project: How the Digital Career Institute Trains Talents For The IT Industry
The tech sector is considered one of the most important future fields in Germany – many companies are desperately looking for qualified software developers. Although many people from different backgrounds are looking for jobs, companies have great difficulty finding the right talent and filling the vacancies. That's why PIABO has decided to launch a charity campaign in cooperation with the Digital Career Institute at the end of last year (2019). Our idea was to support a company, committed to education in the technology sector, with a donation and press work.
© DCI Berlin
The vision of the Digital Career Institute (DCI) was a perfect match for our endeavor, as the DCI strives to give everyone – regardless of their background – access to a career in the tech industry. As pointed out, the job market has long been suffering from a severe shortage of skilled workers – especially in the IT sector. In order to change this situation, the DCI developed a one-year state-certified course program, building upon their initial founding idea to form an initiative to help with an educational program during the refugee crisis. Namely, in 2016, the founders wanted to grant refugees a perspective for the German job market by offering professional training in web development and online marketing. Today, the DCI not only opens its doors to people with a refugee background but also enables any other inquisitive career changer to receive training in the tech industry. Thus, everyone who successfully completes the one-year program has a certified degree. However, even if it is high-quality training, it cannot be compared to a university degree.
Inspired by DCI's vision, at the end of 2019 PIABO decided to run a charity campaign instead of giving away Christmas presents. Instead, we wanted to use our greeting cards to raise awareness for the DCI, and its wonderful mission. We had exactly two things in mind:
- To call for donations : Because with increasing applications and students, the DCI needs larger premises and the technical equipment for them.
- Generate media attention for the project: In a three-month PR campaign, we took over the press work pro bono, according to the saying: If you do good, talk about it.
Our small, joint project has now come to an end. We were able to develop a couple of compelling storylines and thus spread the mission of the DCI in the media. You will find a selection of articles below:
t3n reported about the young women Julia Heidinger and how she became a web developer. In this regard, they were talking about possibilities to find a job in the IT industry referring to the best-known academies in Germany. Among the examples, the DCI was presented: "Today, the offer is directed at everyone, in accordance with the common idea of the industry that truly everyone can attend further education institutions – regardless of their previous education. According to the providers, the most important thing is motivation.”
- Coding Bootcamps on t3n
To get to know one of the founders better, it is worth taking a look at the founder interview with Steffen Zoller. The former managing director of kununu talks about employee motivation, his biggest hurdles, and his wildest start-up experience.
- Founder portrait on deutsche-startups.de
Last but not least, the DCI has also become active during Corona times. The check.point eLearning platform has entitled the Digital Career Institute (DCI) as a prime example of the seamless continuation of teaching life at German educational institutions in an unusual situation
- Use at times of Corona: From classroom teaching to the virtual classroom on the check.point eLearning platform
We continue to enjoy a strong partnership today and will continue to follow the growth of the DCI in the future.
If you are interested further in the project, you can find more information here. The project was led by Dominik Kratzenberg (info@piabo.net). Author of this text: Laura Schlensak.
