KINGSTON, Jamaica – The second cohort of software coding trainees at the Amber HEART Academy have received job offers from Amber Group Limited, after successfully completing the one-year skills development programme.

On Wednesday, the 40 new coders were presented with job letters from the global technology company, along with their National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) certificate, at a graduation ceremony held at the HEART/NSTA Trust Stony Hill Campus in St Andrew.

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Daryl Vaz, who attended the ceremony, commended the graduates, noting that they will play a key role in Jamaica’s transformation into a knowledge-based society.

“Imagine a Jamaica where we no longer join lines to do business – a Jamaica where all our transactions are done online at the click of a button from the convenience of anywhere in the world. That, graduands, is where all the hard work you have done now will come in,” he said.

“As a government, we are ensuring that we, too, will be ready for the fifth industrial revolution that developers like you will create. [We are] strengthening the cybersecurity framework to ensure that as we move online, laws are there to protect us against those with nefarious intent,” Minister Vaz added.

The Government is revising the Cybersecurity Act and is working to establish a cybersecurity authority that will provide complementary coordination services to ensure continued growth in Jamaica’s cyber resilience.

Coding professionals are in high demand. Positions such as security consultants, data protection officers, cloud security architects are available in almost every industry.

They also work independently and offer their services via digital platforms like Upwork and Etsy.

Amber HEART Academy is a public-private partnership between HEART and Amber Group and is the brainchild of the group’s founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Dushyant Savadia.

The academy engages unattached youth from across Jamaica, providing them with skills training in technological areas such as data analytics, cybersecurity, and mobile and web application development.