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Porto Tech Hub requalifies graduates for the IT industry

Business association launched a post-graduate course in automatic testing of programmes and applications. Companies lack these professionals.

Porto Tech Hub requalifies graduates for the IT industry
Dinheiro Vivo · 26 Jan 2023
Porto Tech Hub, a business association focused on promoting Invicta as a technological centre of excellence, and the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) decided to bet on the training of professionals specialised in automated testing of technological programmes and applications, after having detected a lack of these skills in the labour market. The two entities created the SWitCH Quality Assurance post-graduation and opened the door to all graduates, regardless of their area of knowledge. The course starts on February 27th in an after-labor regime and, for now, it has 27 openings.

According to Luís Silva, president of the Porto Tech Hub, "companies really need this type of professional resource", who can perform automatic tests, which are faster and more accurate than manual ones. In fact, the course is also open to people who work in manual testing and want to gain knowledge to perform automated testing and, in this way, evolve in their career. One of the particularities of the post-graduation is that it is open to people with or without a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) background, requalifying resources for the job market in Information Technology (IT). For Luís Silva, this openness is an added value. "By coming from other training areas, they look at problems in a different way" and this approach is positive for companies, he says.

The employability rate is high, guarantees the president of Porto Tech Hub, but reminds that "requalification is not easy, it requires motivation and resilience". It is not only about attending classes - from 6.30pm to 10pm, 16 hours a week, in a total of 32 weeks - "it takes effort and work", he stresses. The fact that the programme of this post-graduation course was discussed with the companies that make up the Porto Tech Hub and planned by ISEP "as an effective response to the market" guarantees a professional outcome. The course, which has an associated fee of 3200 euros (there is the possibility of bank financing), is taught by professors of the Computer Engineering faculty of ISEP.

According to Luís Silva, the courses of Porto Tech Hub "are very disputed" and if there are many candidates it is possible to open more than one class. The association has the ambition to launch new editions of SWitCH Quality Assurance. For this first post-graduate course in the area of quality testing, applications end on 15 January. Luís Silva reminds us that the screening of candidates is the responsibility of an external entity, AkaPeople.

In May, the Porto Tech Hub will open registrations for the seventh edition of SWitCH, a professional requalification training programme for the IT sector, also available to graduates from all areas. According to Luís Silva, more than 300 people have already passed through these courses, and the employability rate reaches 92%. To facilitate access to the labour market, students are given the possibility to carry out a paid internship in a business environment. There are nine months to apply their knowledge in technological companies, with a gross salary of 1050 euros.

Porto Tech Hub was formed in 2015 by action of Critical Software, Blip and Farfetch. Today, the non-profit association brings together 34 technology companies in the North, which seek to develop the region's technology ecosystem by sharing knowledge and information. The Porto Tech Hub's major event is an annual international conference on technology.