Breaking Down Barriers

For a while professions in tech appear on the lists of most promising career choices. According to Advance Consulting, in 2023 the IT sector grew by 21% in Brazil compared to figures in 2022. The same piece of research predicts that by the close of 2025 there will be 800 thousand vacancies in tech in Brazil.

Apart from the growth in opportunities, Brasscom (Association of IT, Communication and Digital Technology Companies) there is still a deficit of professionals in Brasil and the report points out a lack of 106 000 trained professionals.

This is the backdrop against which tech training is being delivered at Project Tamandaré and in partnership with Happy Child International. Estevan, 18 years old, tells me how he heard about the training.

“ A teacher at my school told me about the training in programming. I was already wanting to learn about this kind of work and this training inspired me to go on and study the Analysis and Development of Systems at the College”

The pathway for this young person goes beyond being prepared for work. It points to the beginning of breaking the chain of social inequality. According to some research completed by Locomotive Institute, less than a third of the Brazilian population are connected to the Internet, the poorest end up being disconnected for half of the month.

This is a reality that goes way beyond the citizens of Tamandaré which is registered on the Index of Human Development at 0.593, well below average in terms of measuring poverty and the vulnerability of populations.

Another important point is that the salary prospects for Estevan will be better than the national average, as he will continue to train professionally after college. He says:

“ I really liked the Programming Training. This is why I’ve come back to train in Digital Marketing to improve my skills”

According to the Robert Half Recruitment Brazil, the salaries in the tech area vary from R$ 6 000 to R$ 23 000, and with a projection for salary rise annually of 6.4%.

There is a Brazilian band called Magic Theatre and the lyrics of one of their songs says

“Hands out to the poor, heard by those who don’t see or believe”

Another lyric says

“Sandals in the sand and tarmac, we walk towards what we can’t see or believe”

Happy Child International has been those stretched out hands bringing new opportunities to young people like Estevan who keep walking, believe and want to make the most of new opportunities, consciously or unconsciously breaking numerous barriers to overcome social inequality.

• Written by Eduarda Teixeira