ParisCode! Salesforce Supports Youth IT Skills Development

By: Valerie Brokamp – Employee Engagement Manager, Salesforce.org EMEA Benelux, Nordics and South

Salesforce.org’s Future Ready initiatives help level the playing field so that young people are better equipped with what they need to succeed. Over the past year, Salesforce in France has championed a program to support young people in learning and developing IT skills to prepare them for tomorrow’s workplaces.

Aligning our program with the wider Municipality of Paris, ParisCode initiative that is supporting nonprofits and coding schools to train 2,000 new developers by 2020, we are focusing our efforts by training young people on Salesforce.

Leveraging our online learning platform, Trailhead and Salesforce employee’s time, via our Employee Volunteering Program we believe we can make a marked impact on the lives of young people, helping them explore technology related careers, and giving them the opportunity to gain certifications to showcase their talents and skill-sets. To date, 158 young people have earned Trailhead badges on Trails such as Developer Basics and Administrator via our program.

“ParisCode demonstrates that digital innovation can ALSO be a lever for social inclusion, a source of opportunity for all,” explains Julie Robin, Government Affairs and Public Policy at Salesforce France. “Like Paris, Salesforce is convinced that ParisCode can bridge the gap between needs of the market and the skills of jobseekers from all walks of life, regardless of gender or age.”

We were delighted to be able to run six events in collaboration with the city of Paris to support this initiative and drive momentum. At our annual Salesforce World Tour in Paris, we welcomed 80 students who participated in Trailhead sessions and two women who converted to digital jobs went on stage to share their journey and experience becoming digital marketeers. We hope by sharing these stories with our ecosystem of customers and partners more people will be inspired get involved and help the city of Paris provide more mentoring and job opportunities for tomorrow’s workforce.

Salesforce.org is also partnering with Social Builder to provide training for young women to gain the technical skills that will allow them to transition to technology roles. Read more about that here.