Launching UpCamp, to democratize access to IT jobs

A new spinoff of Abstracta is already running at full speed. UpCamp offers companies a product that seeks to insert inexperienced people into the IT industry through internships with a comprehensive approach to learning processes. 

UpCamp was born. Yes, we like to say that it was born, because we dreamed and gestated it for a long time. It is very difficult to get a job in IT without previous work experience. But how to help expand access to the labor market and respond to the needs brought about by the growth of the industry?

With the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, there has been an impressive upheaval in the IT job market. Today we can fill positions in companies all over the world, and searches are becoming more and more specific. As a result, access for those without experience in the field can be quite complex.

As we told you in this article, today we are experiencing a “hot market”, in which there are more job vacancies available than qualified people to take them. However, the needs of the industry are growing every day and more people are needed to cover them.

At the same time, there are countless people interested in joining the labor market of the booming IT industry, as it offers great possibilities for growth and better salaries.

In the midst of this situation, UpCamp was born, a spinoff of Abstracta that offers first quality work experiences to people interested in the IT universe. 

UpCamp democratizes access to the industry by offering first job opportunities. On the other hand, it collaborates in the training of new professionals, so much needed by the industry today.

What is UpCamp?

The UpCamp spinoff offers companies the possibility to have internships and incorporate inexperienced people into the IT industry. Companies provide access to internships, paid or unpaid, and use UpCamp as a platform to carry them out. 

UpCamp brings a multidisciplinary approach and a holistic view of the learning process. It takes a holistic approach to care for people, accompanying and supporting them throughout their learning processes. In addition to fostering healthy work environments, this results in greater involvement, commitment, and better growth prospects.

With a 100% remote work modality and flexible schedule, the duration of the experience is an average of 2 months, with a dedication of 6 hours a day. The roles offered are Developer, Manual Tester, QA Automator, and DevOps, but others can be added if needed.  

At the end, if the conditions are met, the idea is that participants can start working in the companies that offered them internships through UpCamp.

We are pleased to announce that Abstracta has officially become UpCamp’s 1st client, with the incorporation of 10 interns in 2021. In 2022, UpCump plans to incorporate 70 interns in total, in Uruguay and Chile.

Talking to its CEO

Valentina Tortarolo is the brand new CEO of UpCamp. After more than 5 years working at Abstracta and a lot of growth, she ventured into the creation of this spinoff together with her Abstracta colleagues Rodrigo Quintana and Martin Trianon.

Later, the team was joined by Valentina Fernandez and a wonderful technical team.

UpCamp was officially born in November 2021, with Abstracta as the main investor and the financial support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). 

“We would not have been able to undertake this initiative without the experience of our ReconverTite program, which promotes gender equality in the IT world. Thus, UpCamp was also born as a response to the learning we had in ReconvetTIte”, outlined Valentina.

In her own words, UpCamp is a platform that articulates, accompanies, and accelerates the process of inducting people into the IT industry.

“The industry is growing enormously, there are more business opportunities every day and it becomes evident that more hands are needed,” she introduced. And she continued: “The only way to add more people is to assume that when they enter they are not going to have experience, and to plan the most efficient way to accompany them.” 

Technologies are advancing by leaps and bounds and today their potential is unimaginable. But in order to be able to carry out more projects, create good quality software, and continue advancing in the development that all this is already generating, people willing to work on it are needed.

The CEO of UpCamp explained that, beyond benefiting the IT industry and democratizing access to better job opportunities, the incorporation of people without experience in the area is part of strategic thinking. 

“If we don’t incorporate new people into the industry, companies end up ‘stealing’ talent from each other, causing salaries to go up. If salaries go up, rates will inevitably have to go up for companies to remain sustainable. If rates go up, the region will become very expensive compared to the global supply, and we will be left out. It is that simple and that necessary to increase the IT workforce”, she specified.

Why do you think there are so few opportunities in IT for people without work experience?

The process of teaching someone else to work can be an uphill struggle for the technical teams that accompany people without work experience. So, on the one hand, we have people who don’t (yet) know how to work in IT but are eager to develop themselves. On the other hand, there are people with experience who do not feel motivated to support or do not know how to do it. Added to this is the high cost of dedicating exclusive time to it.

What can a person with no IT work experience bring to our industry?

Their unique and fresh look. Often people without experience are able to show us more clearly the opportunities for improvement and are encouraged to be more creative. Also, when they come from other industries, they can extrapolate their knowledge and experience. So, considering the current context of the IT market and its needs, this is a great opportunity.  

How does UpCamp plan to collaborate from your place?

Currently, we offer the service in Uruguay and Chile, but we want to grow more and more. We have a commitment with BID Labs to impact 1400 lives in 3 years in Uruguay and Chile. We aspire to be a global company because we understand that the problem to which we contribute is not foreign to other regions.

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