NCS partners with Singapore government to provide 1,600 tech opportunities

Singaporean technology services firm NCS has partnered with the nation’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to launch new work and training opportunities in the country.

The initiative is is part of the TechSkills Accelerator for the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and Polytechnics Alliance set up by IMDA, the nation’s digital transformation agency. One of the programmes, named Fusion, will see NCS, a subsidiary of major regional telco Singtel, train 400 graduates over the next two years.

The training will cover areas such as infrastructure, applications, software development, and cyber security. The programme will also support the graduates’ enrolment into a degree at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) or Singapore Institute of Management (SIM).

NCS also plans to launch another programme in 2023, targeting 400 ITE graduates in the following two years, where they will work and study part-time to attain a diploma in a technology-related field.

These two programmes complement the NCS’s ongoing Nucleus Programme which will see 800 university graduates recruited as digital specialists in the next two years, bringing the total tech jobs and training opportunities to 1,600. The company will also provide tech internship opportunities for 1,000 students from Institutes of Higher Learning in the same time period.

“NCS is committed to building the Singaporean core of tech talent to support Singapore’s digital transformation, providing multiple pathways of success for university, polytechnic, and ITE graduates so they can work with our regional network of clients and teams to advance communities through technology,” said Ng Kuo Pin, CEO at NCS.

“With our expanding presence in Asia Pacific and our growth of digital capabilities, we are well-positioned to provide our talents with opportunities to work on impactful projects, and nurture highly-sought after skills through tailored programmes like Fusion.”

At the beginning of the Fusion programme, employees are set to receive centralised modular training via a six-week bootcamp on foundational training in functional, behavioural and technical competencies followed by guided on-the-job training and coaching.

NCS will sponsor the course fees, provide apprenticeship-based learning opportunities, and regular job rotations to help tech talents grow their depth and breadth of skills and experience while on the job.

After graduating with a degree from the programme, employees will then have the opportunity to continue their development with NCS’s existing Nucleus programme, helping them to deepen their specialisation while pursuing a Master of Technology degree at the National University of Singapore’s Institute of Systems Science (NUS-ISS) or other industry-recognised professional certifications.

The work and training opportunities are sure to be welcomed by the Singapore government, especially since last year the head of the country’s bank warned that the nation would have to continue to depend on foreign workers to fill roles in the tech sector over the next few years due to a skills shortage.

Ravi Menon, managing director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said at the time there was a need to build a strong local tech talent pipeline, and advised individuals to secure a degree in a STEM subject to prepare themselves better for a job in the industry.