Iasi trains its young people for the jobs of the future: more than 200 applications for the 120 free scholarships Generation Tech, offered in partnership with Iasi City Hall and the Intercommunity Development Association of the Iasi Metropolitan Area (ADI ZMI)

• Generation Tech was launched for the first time in Iasi on 26 September and offers 120 training scholarships for young people, in partnership with Iasi City Hall and the Iasi Metropolitan Area Intercommunity Development Association;
• More than 200 young people with an average age of 21 have signed up to receive a scholarship and train in the skills of the future;
• Generation Tech offers digital and IT skills training programs for youth and includes the following 7 specializations: Project Management, Java, Full Stack JavaScript, Web Design, Web Development, Digital Marketing;
• Young people chosen in Iasi will be part of a national learning community, with the opportunity to collaborate with peers in other cities and enter the employability programme at the end of the courses;
• Generation Tech is one of the longest-running and most impactful IT and digital skills training programs for young people just starting out, both beginner and advanced. Training programs last between two and four months. They include weekly meetings and sessions with specialist mentors, micro-project work sessions, employability workshops and interactive activities and competitions;

More than 200 young people from Iași and the Iași metropolitan area have already applied to the Generația Tech training programme, more than half of them (66%) being from Iași municipality. Applications continue until the end of October: Generatiatech.ro/Iași. The main training modules for Iasi fellows are: Project Management, Java, Full Stack JavaScript, Web Design, Web Development, Digital Marketing.

About the stages of the Tech Generation programme

Generation Tech is a 3-stage training program: enrollment, actual training, employability. The application round for training grants started in Iasi on 26 September. At the end of the first 4 weeks of natural selection, the Generația Tech team will select the 120 most motivated and dedicated participants who have qualified for the scholarships. After another 4 months of training, the fellows/participants will enter the third stage, the employability stage. During this period they will build their portfolios, work in micro-project teams with mentors and HR specialists, and be exposed to job opportunities from local and national companies.

The average age of the participants – called explorers in Generation Tech – is 21 years old (72% of them), so they can easily be employed or become freelancers upon completion of the training period. Young people under 18 (21%) and over 25 (7%) also participate in the programme.

Along the way, young people will also practice soft skills (communication, time management, leadership, critical thinking), which are crucial for a career with a future. One of the Tech Generation modules built in this direction by Digital Nation learning architects is “Learn to Learn”. In it, explorers will learn how to learn more effectively, how to build a high-performance environment and how to choose their goals well.

At the October 24 event, the most active explorers enrolled so far connected with the learning community and mentors in the program. In addition, they had the unique opportunity to meet and be encouraged by representatives of the local institutions and business environment that support the Generation Tech program in Iasi: Iasi City Hall and the Iasi Metropolitan Area Intercommunity Development Association (ADI ZMI).

“Iași is one of the most attractive regions in terms of career development and job opportunities. Through the series of free scholarships we offer together with our local partners, we hope to contribute to the tech and digital development of the whole region. We invite local and national companies with important branches in Iasi to support the Tech Generation by offering new scholarships or by getting actively involved in our employability program with which we continue the training of young people after graduation.”said Paul Apostol, founder of Digital Nation.

“Digitization has brought tremendous benefits to the entire city. We try to think ahead in all the projects we develop for the community, both in terms of infrastructure and harnessing local youth potential. We believe that Iasi promotes itself not only through its history, culture and local natural beauty, but also through the new generation of professionals to whom we want to offer as many opportunities as possible here. Generation Tech is an impactful, professional programme that we wanted to support as part of the local strategy to develop the city and the region into a new digital and technological hub.”says Mihai Chirica, Mayor of Iasi.

In addition, Grigore Nepotu, Executive Director, Intercommunity Development Association of the Iasi Metropolitan Area (ADI ZMI), declares “The challenges in the IT field, the growing competition, the existence of an IT HUB in continuous development, the young human resource eager to learn have led us to implement in Iasi the “Tech Generation” Program, implemented by Digital Nation with the support of the Intercommunity Development Association of the Iasi Metropolitan Area (ADI ZMI) and Iasi City Hall. Thus, we will create a group of specialists who will be able to collaborate for fixed or indefinite periods in different IT projects.

Digital competence development programmes should become part of all forms of informal, formal and non-formal education. We would like to have continuity in the implementation of this project and offer scholarships to young people who want to develop their digital skills on a yearly basis.

Among the benefits of the “Tech Generation” participants presented during the discussion, we mention some of the most important ones for the explorers: the development of digital capabilities, as well as the creation of new local employment opportunities and the prevention of youth migration.

We are confident that this program will add value in an area that is emblematic for Iași and we want to make a tradition of its implementation in the municipality of Iași and the Iași metropolitan area.”

Generația Tech is a national training program in IT skills and digital marketing created by Digital Nation. Generația Tech is supported in Iași by the City Hall and the Intercommunity Development Association of the Iași Metropolitan Area (ADI ZMI).