One-third of the 20,678 tech candidates trained by FDM Group over the last 20 years have had no previous experience, qualifications, or background in STEM, claims the FTSE 250 firm and professional services company.

FDM Group’s open arms to people from different backgrounds have enabled career-changers, graduates, ex-forces and women returners to gain specialist skills and qualifications in Compliance and Risk, Business Intelligence, IT Service Management, Business Analysis and Development (Java).

Rod Flavell, Chief Executive Officer, FDM Group said: “The technology industry offers an exciting career path for everyone and we’re thrilled to have reached the milestone of successfully launching the careers of 20,000 people over these last 20 years.

“With the global pandemic causing chaos for businesses and uncertainty for a whole generation of new graduates, FDM will continue creating job opportunities for graduates, offering high quality IT training to recognised industry standards. We will also honour our commitment to diversity and inclusion by recruiting people from diverse backgrounds.”

FDM Group’s data shows that since the year 2000, 72% of its successful career placements have been in a technical role, with candidates now enjoying illustrious careers working in areas such as business intelligence, cybersecurity, data services and infrastructure. They have also secured positions in major enterprises including large banks, management consultancy companies and global media outlets.

The remaining 28% of career placements were in business roles within technical companies, and placement locations have ranged from New York and Leeds to Singapore and Hong Kong.

FDM Group has multiple offices globally and traditionally delivers its training courses in classroom environments inside its physical offices. However, due to COVID-19, the company moved its nearly 6,000-strong corps of employees to a remote working environment with full IT operations in place within just four days.

FDM Group recently announced that its new online programme, containing 90 training classes involving 500 trainees, take place every day

This year the company has reported median gender pay of -2.1% for 2020, an improvement on the -1.7% figure for 2019 and 0% for 2018 and 2017.