Facebook has thrown its weight behind the government's Year of Engineering campaign, supporting the push to encourage young people to explore engineering and technology careers.
The social network joins some 1,400 other partner organisations in supporting the campaign, which has worked throughout 2018 to tackle the lack of diversity in the engineering sector and show young people what opportunities could await them if they were to pursue careers in the industry.
Thus far, the government claims the campaign has given young people more than 750,000 direct experiences of engineering, which have included behind-the-scenes tours to challenges linked to the engineering behind football, robotics and the environment.
With Facebook on board, the children participating in the campaign had the opportunity to hear from Facebook engineers on the potential for careers in technology this week at the World Skills UK Live show in Birmingham. As part of its support for the campaign, Facebook has launched a mentorship programme designed to give people from disadvantaged backgrounds mentoring from Facebook engineers.
All this forms part of Facebook's commitment to invest in the UK's engineering industry and increase the flow of people with technology and engineering skills into the UK.
"Engineering is a creative, trailblazing career that shapes the world around us, yet too many young people are in the dark about the opportunities it offers," said government envoy for the Year of Engineering Stephen Metcalfe MP.
"Leading technology companies like Facebook play a vital role in inspiring the next generation of engineers and innovators, and it is wonderful to see so many young people given the opportunity to discover first-hand what an engineering career could look like."
