A Chat With: Will Callaghan from TechResort
By Donna Fielder and Sarah Cronk
Every month, we speak to people working in digital in and around Eastbourne. We caught up with TechResort’s CEO, Will Callaghan, to find out more about how TechResort started and what they’re working on this year.
Chalk: What led to you starting TechResort in 2013?
Will: “When my family first moved to Eastbourne from London, we saw there was such a strong community spirit. We wanted to add to this and, given my experience in digital, I decided to find out if I could do anything to grow the digital industry and build more digital skills for the workplace.
“I teamed up with a couple of like-minded individuals to see what we could achieve. And now here we are, approaching our 10th anniversary.”
Did you imagine TechResort would become the entity it is today?
“Starting something new, you never quite know what to expect. But we just took an Agile approach, doing small things, seeing worked and didn't. I knew it was going to be a long-term thing though. If you are going to be doing activities with 10-year-olds to help them get into the workplace, you know you're going to be doing it for at least 10 years!
“From our early work almost 10 years ago, we know we can make a difference. We have seen our students from back then take on real-life projects and get jobs. Everything they do is eye-opening. We learn from them and are often blown away by what they do.
“I hadn’t realised how varied it would be. The coding clubs we started out with have been a great success, but there's a lot more to it than that. TechResort is also about digital skills for life - the pandemic really highlighted the number of people that are marginalised by a lack of access and skills around digital.”
How are your new offices working out so far? And why stay in Eastbourne?
“We were previously based in East Sussex College, and that was great in terms of having direct access to students and doing work with them. However, for schools and adults visiting us, it wasn’t as easy as being in town. So we have now moved into an office in Cavendish Place. It’s easy to get to, a bustling place, and importantly we now have a front door. People can drop in during the day for learning sessions with us. We have staff there most days and it is essentially a shop.
“We founded TechResort in Eastbourne to help Eastbourne. We all live here and love it, and so there was no thought of upping sticks and moving out of the town.”
You work with a wide range of partner organisations - how do these alliances come about?
“Because we don’t get public funding for coding clubs and a lot of the other work we do, we are forever writing bids. Through those bids, we meet many other organisations. We do a lot of work with the Sussex Community Foundation which has provided a lot of funding, for example for laptop refurbishment and donation. We met The Blagrave Trust during the pandemic and we are now offering a work experience program, thanks to them.
“Also because we have been around a while, we’ve found out which organisations are on the same journey as us. For example, we met 100% Digital Leeds, who run Leeds City Council’s Digital Inclusion programme; we partnered with them and now we learn from each other. The longer we stick around, the more people like this we meet. Adur and Worthing Council came to us saying they wanted to create a maker space but didn’t know how, so they asked us for advice.
“We are getting known and putting Eastbourne on the map for Digital, which is great.”
How is TechResort specifically supporting schools with their ‘digital curriculum’ and careers advice?
“What we provide at TechResort is in addition to what students are already getting in schools. We have worked with three Eastbourne schools so far and we would like to increase this. It has been about opening the young people's eyes to the digital industry and giving them a real flavour of all they can do. For example, through a Coding Club at Cavendish School: it’s not as formal as regular teaching, we show them all the things they can explore and let them play and experiment. If something they are doing isn’t working, we don't dive in and plug it all in for them. We want them to be able to learn to fix it, giving them support along the way. We give them the message that it doesn’t matter that they don’t know the answers, they just need to be keen to explore and learn.
“The ideal for us is starting with students in Year 5 and then sticking with them as far as possible. Girls can drop out of this industry very easily and we want to do something about this. The latest Cavendish Coding Club had a cohort of 13 girls and 2 boys, so we need to find ways to support those girls.
“In addition to Coding Clubs and careers talks in schools, we also run a Teens’ Club at our office for any young people, where they can bring their own projects. Our message is that there is so much more in the digital industry in addition to coding - we explain all the different disciplines and how the industry needs all of them.”
How can schools get involved?
“We have the capacity and want to work with more schools. The problem is funding. We are yet to find a funder who wants to pay for coding and making clubs for children aged 10. There are funders covering work experience and activities for older children, as they are closer to joining the workplace.
“Our other work has enabled us to build up reserves to help pay for the coding clubs, but it is a finite resource. But if a school wants to get involved, we can potentially part-fund. Or it would be great for a local digital business to sponsor a coding club.
“It is also important that our public sessions, which are also for adults, are affordable.
“One message for parents is - don’t just bring your boys, bring your girls too! Don’t discount this area of work, as it is very rewarding and creative.”
Can you tell us a bit more about the digital inclusion toolkit and how this has been received/utilised by other local authorities?
“This started during COVID, with services moving online. Anyone without the skills, confidence, kit and/or connectivity to get online faced an issue. It has always been a problem, but the pandemic accelerated this.
“The government asked local councils to suggest digital projects that could help tackle the worst effects of the pandemic. I was working at Croydon Council at the time, as well as running TechResort, and we decided we wanted to make a website where the best digital inclusion advice could be published. Leeds Council had the same idea and so after both applying for funding, we partnered together.
“We created a website: digitalinclusionkit.org. This includes all the advice from TechResort and 100% Digital Leeds, as well as from other local councils around the country. It has lots of information for councils on how they can get digital inclusion programs started. Although the website is aimed at councils, it is relevant for other groups too.
“People love it. In a lot of councils, we have found they realise that digital inclusion is a problem as they are not hearing from their regular clients since their services went online. They wonder what they are going to do; that is where the digital inclusion toolkit comes in. We are saving them a lot of time and preventing them from reinventing the wheel.”
What are you most excited about working on in 2022?
“More digital inclusion toolkit activity, as it’s making a difference at scale across the UK.
“We would love to work with more schools and also do more at our new home in Cavendish Place. A lot of that will be work experience for young people and, if I had to pick one thing to focus on, it would be that. So many students haven’t had any work experience because of the pandemic and we, as employers, will start to feel the effects of that in the coming years.”
Can the Chalk community help with any of your projects? And if so, how?
“There are so many ways the Chalk community can help:
If you have laptops sitting around, please give them to us or Tubbs Computer Supplies.
Come along to our sessions - you will meet lots of young people and learn. You will also make friendships and relationships with students that will last.
We are thinking of running a ‘friend scheme’ for local employers to join. There will be a membership fee, which will pay for coding and making clubs in schools.
“We are open to conversation - if you have something you would like to do, come and talk to us, we want to hear about your needs. Government and councils move very slowly, so if we want to make difference, we as an industry need to make things happen.”
Finally, what advice would you give people wanting to start working in the digital industry?
“If you want a careers chat, drop us an email or contact us on social media (we’re on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn).
“As our sessions re-start after the pandemic, please come along. They are not all for young people, there are plenty for adults too.
“Learn about the various jobs in this industry. A lot of people focus on game design, which is superficially very appealing. But that can be very competitive and tough to get into. Read about the industry and talk to employers, as there is so much to what we do.”
📽 Watch our full chat with Will on TechResort’s YouTube channel.
