by Eran Lasser, Founder and CEO, Wawiwa Tech Training
I love tech training. Technology education has the power to change people’s lives for the better. Tech professionals drive innovation wherever they are, build new products and services, and disrupt entire industries. Because of all of this, they are always needed and get great jobs with high salaries.
Back in my army days as a Commander at Mamram, Israel Defense Force’s tech training unit, and throughout my career as Founder and CEO at John Bryce Israel and dozens of tech training centers in 7 different countries since, my conviction intensified.
Several months of proper tech training, encompassing both knowledge and skills, can be life-changing. Individuals without formal Computer Science degrees can enter the highly exclusive technology ecosystem, young people can choose tech careers at their 20s and more experienced people from all professions can switch careers to tech in their 30s and even 40s. It is possible, and I know the way. My partners over the years and I have shown the fast track to tech to over 50,000 people.
I decided that it’s time for me to take my passion for tech training and the mission to reskill people to tech jobs to the next level. Today I’m introducing my new venture, Wawiwa Tech Training.
The Global Tech Skills Gap
For several years now, the world is facing a huge tech skills gap. Today’s markets are in dire need for professionals to fill various technology roles – such as software developers, UX/UI designers and cyber security specialists — but there aren’t enough such professionals out there. Accenture predicted that by 2028 the G20 countries (including the U.S., India, Brazil, UK, Germany, and Mexico) could miss out on as much as $11.5 trillion of cumulative growth promised by intelligent technologies – if they can’t meet the future skills demand.
Many multi-year Computer Science degrees focus on knowledge and theory that are distant from the industry’s needs for practical software competencies, hands-on experience, and personal skills, thus widening the gap between education and practice every year. At the same time, students and graduates of other degrees aspire to get lucrative tech jobs but cannot find an effective path for their professional reskilling.
COVID-19 Impact On Education
If the tech skills gap wasn’t enough, the world had to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic over the last months. The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified the need for practical tech training.
Dozens of millions of people around the world were fired by their companies and deal with unemployment. Many realized that their roles are not in their companies’ critical path for growth or survival. Many others realize that this global crisis offers an opportunity to choose a different career.
While millions of people are “on the bench,” millions of tech jobs are opening and cannot be staffed. Governments are struggling for ways to help the workforce shift from industries and functions where unemployment is high, to the technology sector where talent is in high demand and supply is consistently short.
The pandemic has also intensified businesses’ need to go digital and remote – to sell, work, collaborate, and provide customer support online. Digital was big and growing even before Covid-19, but due to social distancing, everything that was conducted face to face before now requires an adequate digital alternative.
A recent Wipro survey about the state of IT infrastructure revealed that 81% of enterprises deem the reskilling of their existing workforce as the primary path to adapt to new technologies.
Online training platforms, like Coursera and EdX, are also booming, and many are flocking to online courses as the future of education. But very few actually complete online courses, and even fewer get a job following an online course that they’ve completed. There are many reasons for that.
Introducing Wawiwa Tech Training
The effective way to train and reskill people for tech jobs, I believe, is still “hybrid” and “blended.” This includes both frontal classes in physical classrooms, and online learning. It is primarily live and adapted to a class-size audience with sprints of asynchronous on-demand learning. It includes not only listening to experienced industry trainers, but also even more hours of hands-on practice, individually and in small groups. It’s not either-or, it’s this-AND-that.
The world needs effective tech training at scale. People need to learn both the up-to-date technical knowledge as well as the required professional skills that are needed to perform a tech job successfully. Businesses need more tech people and want them willing, ready and able now, not in 3 or 4 years following a degree in computer science or software engineering.
I have founded Wawiwa Tech Training to bridge the global tech skills gap, one ecosystem at a time. Over the past three decades I have been fortunate to co-found and manage tech training centers in seven countries and three continents. These training centers all became national brand names within a year or two. Today these training centers stand for quality tech education and a great supply of top technical talent to the local ecosystem, occupying lucrative tech jobs. By now, I was lucky to transform the lives of at least 50,000 people who were skilled, up-skilled, or re-skilled to get their jobs.
Wawiwa is my way to reskill the world at scale. I’ve gathered an experienced team of executives with decades of EdTech and training experience to serve as Wawiwa’s management. We now take our collective know-how, content, tools, and technology global, with a mission to reskill the world on the fast track to tech.
Wawiwa bridges the tech skills gap by reskilling people for tech professions in high demand. The company establishes local tech training centers with partners around the world to skill, reskill, and upskill people for tech jobs. The company utilizes a proven training methodology, cutting-edge content, digital platforms for learning and assessment, and strong industry relations, to deliver training programs that result in higher employability and graduate satisfaction. This, in turn, also creates a strong training brand and a sustainable business for Wawiwa’s partners.
Let’s Partner
We’re looking for the right partners around the world for launching together local Wawiwa Tech Training Centers. From my experience, successful partnerships for tech training are usually formed with leading universities and colleges; large enterprises, software integrators, and IT service providers; local schools and training centers for non-tech topics (such as language schools); as well as affluent businesswomen and businessmen, local entrepreneurs with a passion for education.
I’d be happy to connect and explore various types of collaboration. If you want to meet or talk, please write to me at eran@wawiwatech.wpengine.com.
I’m excited about this new journey and our vision for Wawiwa Tech Training and I look forward to bridging the global tech skills gap, one ecosystem at a time. Thanks for reading!
