Building job-ready, mid-level tech talent pipelines across multiple locations is a major challenge for global organisations. In fact, 90% of organisations worldwide face a tech talent shortage, which gets even more complicated at mid-level. With demand outstripping supply, creating clear pathways for underrepresented groups – including women –  has never been more critical. 

Financial services giant Deutsche Bank decided to tackle this challenge head on. To accelerate diverse, mid-level hiring, they partnered with Code First Girls, the world’s largest provider of skilled female tech talent, operating across over 130 countries.

Together, we launched a high-impact accelerator programme for female technologists with 1.5+ years of technical experience based in London and Berlin. After completing a 16-week training programme, 12 individuals successfully moved into Java engineering roles.

With results proven, the programme is now expanding to Bucharest, Romania, supporting the upskilling and hiring of Java and Python Engineers.

Landing a job at a ‘Big Four’ is a dream come true for many tech professionals. Fast-paced, exciting projects and the chance to work with high-profile clients make it the perfect launchpad for a career.

Yet, women currently make up just 26% of the UK’s tech workforce. 

Deloitte, part of the Big Four, is on a mission to change that. For the past five years, they have joined forces with Code First Girls to open new career possibilities for women – not just within the firm, but across the UK tech industry.

And it’s working. Since the programme with Code First Girls began, over 1,720 women have applied for roles at Deloitte. To date, Deloitte has hired 56 women into technical roles. Many of these hires are career switchers, coming from non-tech roles across teaching, small business ownership and charity organisations. This is proof that with the right opportunity, a career in tech is within reach.

Skills-based hiring is reshaping the tech talent landscape. According to LinkedIn, this meritocratic approach can expand the talent pool for a role by 6.1 times and support inclusion of underrepresented groups.

dunnhumby, a global data science company serving clients including Tesco, L’Oreal, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, knew that traditional tech hiring approaches weren’t enough in building a truly diverse workforce. Partnering with Code First Girls, they set out to hire talented women at entry and mid-level, focusing not just on coding but on broader skills like problem-solving, communication, and collaboration.

The results speak for themselves: 30 women have joined dunnhumby through the partnership.

Capgemini is a global leader in transforming and managing businesses through the power of technology. They are committed to breaking down barriers and building a better future for all with their Inclusive Futures initiative. They have also set bold goals for the gender gap: women to make up 40% of all employees and 35% of executive leadership. As part of their work to achieve this, Capgemini has collaborated with Code First Girls since 2021 to diversify their entry-level tech talent pipeline.

Over the last four years, Capgemini has sponsored over 1,500 women through free tech education programmes. These provide upskilling opportunities in Data & SQL and Python & Apps, and advanced education in Software and Data  Engineering and Data Science. More than 100 women have been hired into tech roles across their teams, and our work together shows no signs of slowing. Over 30 women are expected to graduate from Code First Girls’ advanced programmes and move into Capgemini roles this year!

With the representation of women in FTSE 350 companies declining by 8% in the past year, collaborations like this are more crucial than ever. Together, Capgemini and Code First Girls are not only addressing the gender imbalance in tech but also building the next generation of women leaders in the industry.

When most people think about cyber threats, they picture faceless hackers or futuristic technologies. But the reality is simpler and more human. Our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness, is people.

For GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence, security and cyber agency, this is a daily reality. They defend the country against ever-more complex cyber attacks, and know the UK needs the sharpest minds and widest range of perspectives to stay ahead. But here’s the problem: only 25% of the cyber workforce is female. From pay and opportunity gaps to stereotypes and cultural biases, women are often left on the sidelines. As a result, organisations across the UK miss out on the talent and diverse thinking needed to tackle today’s and tomorrow’s cyber threats.

Since 2021, GCHQ has worked with Code First Girls (CFG) to change that story. Together, we’ve delivered over 19,000 learning opportunities for women in tech, many from underrepresented backgrounds. This partnership has been transformational in changing the shape of the UK’s digital defences and creating a more secure nation.

In today’s fast-paced digital economy, securing skilled, diverse tech talent in Ireland is more challenging than ever. Despite being home to many of the world’s leading tech companies, Ireland continues to face a shortage of graduates in technology-related fields, especially women. To address this challenge, HubSpot partnered with Code First Girls to co-create a solution that would expand the pipeline of women in tech, offer practical training, and connect learners with real career opportunities. Through this partnership, HubSpot and Code First Girls tackled the barriers to entry, equipped women with remote-ready skills, and helped build a stronger, more inclusive base of tech talent in Ireland.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is the UK government body responsible for intellectual property rights, including patents, designs, trademarks, and copyright. 

Since 2022, the IPO has partnered with Code First Girls (CFG) to tackle the challenge of diversifying tech talent across the UK, and so far has provided over 1,000 women with the opportunity to upskill in tech subjects. 

For their most recent programme, the IPO focused on providing women in their local community of Wales with opportunities to get into tech. Hiring for tech roles in Wales is traditionally more difficult due to its location outside of London however, through this partnership, the IPO were able to build a diverse tech talent pipeline and place women into roles in their Newport office. 

This programme upskilled over 130 women in digital skills with our Kickstarter Classes, to build up a hiring pipeline. Candidates were then selected to progress into our advanced education, and upon their successful completion, the IPO hired these women into roles within their tech team. These CFG graduates are now working in positions such as Digital Delivery Apprentice Developer and Digital Delivery Apprentice Automation Tester.

Ordnance Survey have partnered with Code First Girls (CFG) to strengthen and diversify their mid-level tech talent pipeline, addressing the industry-wide challenge of hiring and retaining women in mid-level engineering roles. 

With 50% of women leaving tech before the age of 35, creating alternative career pathways is essential to ensuring that diverse talent not only enters the industry but also stays and thrives. Seeking a solution to bridge this gap, Ordnance Survey worked with Code First Girls to hire Data Engineers into their team at mid-level. 

How did they do it? 

Ordnance Survey sponsored women through our Mid-Level Accelerator – a learning opportunity provided to women who are ready to step into a mid-level technical role. The Mid-Level Accelerator is focused on giving women a strong blend of skills – technical skills, technical professional skills and tech innovation – to help them to confidently progress their career.  After this training, Ordnance Survey then hired these women into full-time, mid-level Data Engineering roles.  

This partnership not only opened up a new mid-level recruitment channel, but also reinforced Ordnance Survey’s commitment to fostering a more inclusive workforce – helping them maintain their position as the world’s #2 leader in geospatial capability.  

One of the UK’s leading insurers, Admiral, joined forces with Code First Girls to tackle the underrepresentation of women in tech in Wales and the West of England.  A diverse technical workforce is particularly challenging to achieve outside of the UK’s capital, where opportunities are more concentrated. Admiral understood that it was crucial to build alternative pathways for talent to enter the tech workforce, and developed a CSR initiative with Code First Girls to offer women in their local areas the opportunity to learn more about tech careers and upskill in tech topics for free. 

Through this initiative, Admiral enabled over 6,500 women to learn how to code, and upskill in areas such as Python, JavaScript, Data and Web Development. Of these women, over 120 went on to study further education with Code First Girls with our advanced programmes in Software Engineering, Full-Stack Development, Data Science and Product Management, all thanks to Admiral’s sponsorship. We are delighted to be following the progress of these women, with close to 60 of those that graduated in 2024 already having secured new roles or promotions – a number that is set to increase in 2025 as graduations continue. 

In 2024, CarTrawler partnered with Code First Girls for the launch of a CFGdegree programme for employee reskilling. The programme empowered employees with valuable technical skills to advance their careers and was delivered under Code First Teams. Participants learnt the fundamentals of coding, as well as being provided with the opportunity to join the Product & Technology team as a Junior Software Engineer.

• 19 participants from different internal functions (Business, Finance, Revenue & Customer) participated in foundational coding training in JavaScript

• Two employees were then selected for the 16-week CFGdegree, both joining the Product & Technology team as Junior Software Engineers

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