Bridging the Gap Between Education and Work

Al Del Degan

It’s no secret that there is a shortage of tech talent in Calgary. In fact, the problem is much larger than that. Companies across North America, and even in Europe are having trouble finding qualified and experienced people.

In Alberta, the government acted relatively quickly to provide funding for various tech training programs over the past few years. The plan was to help the unemployed and underemployed pivot their careers into tech. Unfortunately, once people complete these reskilling programs, they have difficulty finding jobs in their new field because they lack practical experience. To be clear, it isn’t that they are not capable. In fact they are very capable, but companies have a misconception that without extensive experience, these people are not able to be productive, and require hand-holding.

What adds to the issue is that the government itself, doesn’t even hire any of the people they have funded to take the training programs.

How can the innovation ecosystem solve this chicken and egg problem where you can’t get a job without experience, but you can’t get experience without a job?

What if there was a program in the middle that could take in career pivoters and provide mentorship and hands-on experience while these people are job hunting?

It’s time for a new idea. Actually, a New Idea Machine! We fill the gap between education and experience by gathering new grads from

bootcamp and short-form educational programs that teach tech to people who are pivoting their careers. These people are put into teams with a product manager, a UI/UX designer, multiple full-stack software developers, and when applicable, data scientists and AI/ML specialists. Together, these teams explore and grow their experience working on real industry projects, mentored by senior industry professionals.

As they work on their agile projects, they gain valuable experience working in cohesive teams, often learning new technologies and techniques that make them better at their craft.

These people are incredibly passionate and excited to explore new ideas. Contrary to what some might expect, they don’t need hand-holding and work together to help each other grow their knowledge.

The best part is that any company can come and hire directly from our pool of talent. It doesn’t matter if you are looking for an entire development team, or a very specific individual, we can help reduce the risk, and time it would normally take to find those new hires.

New Idea Machine, at its core, is a custom software development company that can build your software for you. We support the future of our innovation ecosystem in Alberta by hiring and mentoring new career pivoters so that soon there will be ample tech talent available.

Our services include:

Rent-a-coder - expand your team temporarily by one or ten, for three, six, or twelve months. Feel free to send them back to us when you are done, or hire them onto your team permanently.

Custom Software Development - we can take on any size project and we are not afraid to learn new technologies. We can expand or shrink your team size as needed to meet your milestones, or respect your monthly budget.

Talent Funnel - Why waste time and money putting up job ads and sifting through resumes hoping to hit the jackpot on your own? Especially when we already have proven talent that can match your requirements. We have people from all of the various training programs in Calgary and even from across Canada.

We are doing something very different, and our model is proven. Each week, more talent joins us, and more companies are coming to us for both development projects, and new talent for them to hire.

For more information, or to get in touch, please visit our website at https://NewIdeaMachine.com