Lyons announces new Assured Skills Academy with Newry company FD Technologies

Economy Minister Gordon Lyons has announced 20 high quality training places on a new Assured Skills Academy with Newry company FD Technologies.

Economy Minister Gordon Lyons

Funded by the Department for the Economy, the FD Technologies Data/Systems Analyst Assured Skills Academy will see 20 successful applicants receive eight weeks of industry-relevant, pre-employment training at Southern Regional College’s Newry campus.

Participants who complete the Academy will be guaranteed an interview for a role as a Data/Systems Analyst in the First Derivative business area within FD Technologies.

Highlighting the opportunity, the Minister said:

“I am very pleased to announce 20 high quality training places on this Assured Skills Academy with FD Technologies and Southern Regional College.

“This is the first Assured Skills Academy with FD Technologies. It is an excellent opportunity to gain training in a cutting edge sector and be strongly positioned for a role with the company.

“No experience is needed – I urge everyone who is eligible and interested to apply.”

Mark McGivern, Senior Vice President at FD Technologies, commented:

“We’re delighted to engage with our very first Assured Skills Academy. Across FD Technologies, especially in our consulting business First Derivative, we are committed to recruiting and developing local talent to support our next phase of growth. The Academy offers a tremendous opportunity for successful applicants to learn and enhance key data and systems analysis skills while also building broader technology and digital capabilities for the FinTech industry. We look forward to the Assured Skills Academy playing an important role in the ongoing growth and development of our local workforce.”

The Academy will deliver training in a range of areas, including project management, Python, software fundamentals, software testing, introduction to cloud technologies, RDBMS/SQL and Excel.

Brian Doran, Principal and Chief Executive of Southern Regional College, said:

“SRC is delighted to be working in partnership with DfE and FD Technologies to offer this fantastic opportunity for 20 people to develop advanced digital skills in one of the key economic priority clusters as defined in the 10X Economy strategy. This Academy will provide real-world training and experience to participants, with the guarantee of a job interview for those who complete the programme.”

Applications for the FD Technologies Data/Systems Analyst Assured Skills Academy are open until midnight on Sunday 2 October 2022. Training for successful applicants will commence on 21 November 2022 and run until 27 January 2023.

No experience is required but applicants must hold at least a 2:2 in any degree discipline, or have a Level 5 qualification in an ICT or STEM related subject.

For more information and to apply, visit Assured Skills (nidirect)

Notes to editors: 

1. Assured Skills is a pre-employment training programme run by the Department for the Economy. More information is available at Assured Skills Programme

2. To keep up to date with news from the Department you can follow us on the following social media channels:

• Twitter – @Economy_NI
• Facebook – @EconomyNI
• Skills to Succeed Facebook
• Instagram – Instagram – economy_ni
• LinkedIn – Department for the Economy NI 

3. For media enquiries contact the Department for the Economy Press Office at pressoffice@economy-ni.gov.uk .

Share this page