Digital Skills Festival returns to Manchester

The annual festival aims to establish Manchester as a leading digital city, providing networking and training opportunities for future digital workers.

This year’s Digital Skills Festival will be hosted from the 13-16 of February at The Lowry Hotel, and is open to anyone currently involved with or interested in tech and digital industry. Sponsored by keynote businesses such as CDL, AutoTrader, and Code Nation, the festival invites professionals from successful digital businesses to train, educate, and engage with future tech insiders.

The event will open with The Digital Skills Conference. Here, industry leaders from Manchester Digital, MMU, University of Salford, BBC, InnovateHer, and more, will give talks and offer workshops on salary, rewards, inclusivity, and diversity in the field. The conference will also review the annual digital skills audit, identifying last year’s successes and failures within the industry.

Unique to this year’s lineup, the Digital Futures: Computing, Curriculum, and Careers event has been designed with educators in mind. This event will feature inspirational speakers within tech education. Professionals will also be hosting workshops in interactive digital innovation, ed tech, and related careers.

For those interested in seeking tech jobs, the festival is hosting a Talent Day from 11 am – 3 pm on the 14th of February. As the largest digital career fair in the North, this event features representatives from over 50 digital, creative, and tech companies. Professionals will be welcoming conversations with potential recruits in development, design, project management, digital marketing, user experience design (UX), and much more.

This event also includes panel discussions, clinics, seminars, and workshops about boosting employability in tech roles. Students may also be interested in CV clinics, placement programmes, and graduate initiatives.

A report released last year by the British Chambers of Commerce highlighted that the UK technology and business industry is experiencing a significant digital skills gap. This festival, run by Manchester Digital, a not-for-profit organisation striving to make the Manchester region the UK’s digital industry hub, hopes to contribute to closing that gap.

You can book your free ticket to The Digital Skills Festival online: https://www.manchesterdigital.com/events/digital-skills-festival-2018.