An Indigenous software testing training course is now being offered in Saskatchewan for the first time.
PLATO Sask Testing started providing software testing training to 14 Indigenous students at the University of Regina’s College Avenue Campus on Monday.
“What we’re doing is trying to develop and create an Indigenous IT workforce,” PLATO Sask managing director Denis Carignan says. “We received a significant amount of interest in the course and had many strong applicants among them. It was just a little north of 50 applicants.”
Program graduates will be offered jobs with PLATO Sask Testing after spending four months in class and completing an eight-week paid internship.
“Not everyone accepts it,” adds Carignan. “Those that do accept get a chance to build a career in software testing. We’ve had incredible success in other cities, with an 85% completion rate. Students enter the program with no testing experience and graduate six months later with the skills they need to succeed as a software tester and begin their career in IT.”
PLATO Sask Testing is a partnership between PQA and FHQ which delivers outsourced testing solutions in the province and is part of a network of Indigenous software testers.
“These 14 students are motivated and excited to build skills in a fast-growing and critical segment of our economy, the IT sector,” said Thomas Benjoe, CEO of FHQ Developments. “FHQ is encouraged by the early demand for PLATO Sask’s services and eager to support the students’ success.”
This year’s in-class sessions are scheduled to finish on November 1.
“It’s great that PLATO Sask is a technology company working specifically with Indigenous people,” says program participant Rena Littlepine of the Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation. “It’s a first in Saskatchewan and I’m eager to be a part of it.”
The internships will take place into 2020.
(Photo courtesy of Denis Carignan.)