In order to enhance the professional development of women graduates of the Digital Talent for Chile program, SENCE and Digital Talent kicked off the third version of the “Mentoring Women X Digital Talent” program; an initiative that connects women with outstanding leading IT companies for four months, to strengthen their skills and competencies, boosting their employability in the sector.
In this version, the program has the participation of the renowned companies IBM, TATA, NTT Data, Kibernum, Apiux, Globant, Microsystem and Deloitte, who will provide more than 100 places for personalized mentoring.
The kick-off ceremony was attended by Romanina Morales Baltra, National Director of SENCE; Jeannette Escudero, Executive Director of Digital Talent; beneficiaries of the program and Catalina Vinet, graduate of the UX/UI Design bootcamp who shared her experience and the benefits she obtained by participating in the initiative during the year 2023.
“The Mentoring program is a concrete example of SENCE’s commitment to gender equality in the world of work and digital jobs in particular, an industry that still sees significant gaps,” said the national director of SENCE, Romanina Morales.
“We hope that this initiative continues to report successful results, providing networking and learning opportunities with professionals from important companies in the industry and vast experience in the sector,” concluded the helmswoman of SENCE.
Jeannette Escudero underscored, “To narrow the gender gap in the IT industry and achieve a 50% representation, we need to support women throughout their employability journeys. Initiatives like this program are vital, as they foster both professional and personal growth, empowering women through personalized support from professionals within the technology sector’s key companies.”
The “Mentoring Women X Digital Talent” program is a free initiative that seeks to strengthen the skills and competencies of women graduates of the Digital Talent program, promoting their labor insertion in the IT sector. It lasts approximately four months and consists of personalized mentoring sessions with leading IT companies, including professionals, management teams and managers.
Catalina Vinet, a graduate of the UX/UI Design bootcamp, shared her testimony as part of this program in 2023, where she was mentee of Loreto Román, SAP practice leader at IBM.
About her story as a student of the Digital Talent bootcamp and subsequent mentoring program, she said: “my resume was blank, I had done everything, but I never specialized in anything. I didn’t know about communities, networks or feminism (…) I went out of my comfort zone, I wanted to look for something else and I started looking for free courses, Sence courses and I found something called bootcamp of Digital Talent in UX/UI. I applied, and as time passed, the pandemic emerged. Eventually, they contacted me to convey that I had been selected for the course. However, due to the pandemic, the entire program would be conducted remotely. At that time, I felt disconnected from technology—I only had basic knowledge of Word and Excel. Uncertain if I could cope, I came to understand that success would hinge on my commitment and effort. Consequently, I made the decision to resign from my job to fully dedicate myself to this opportunity.
Finally, he added: “I was able to visualize that all my past experiences were useful and that everything added up. When I realized that I could do it, from that moment on I told myself that whatever I set my mind to, I will achieve it if I make an effort. I started freelancing, after three months I had my formal job and I met communities of women where they taught me confidence, I heard other women’s stories and I realized that we were not alone”.
Digital Talent for Chile
A public-private initiative that, since 2019, has introduced a pioneering training model in the country for job retraining and upskilling in higher-level digital skills and introduced the bootcamp methodology, with intensive and applied training to incorporate people into the labor market.
The governance of the initiative is made up of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Sence, Sofofa, OTIC Sofofa, Corfo, InvestChile, ACTI, CPC and the Inter-American Development Bank and is executed by Kodea and Fundación Chile.
This project is part of the fiscal pact measures announced by the Ministry of Finance to increase productivity and human capital. With IDB support, it plans to expand training programs in digital skills, increase coverage, update the design of the Digital Talent program and increase coverage to 50,000 people by 2026.
