LONDON, October 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

How does a digital agency, based in the heart of London's silicon roundabout, tackle the serious lack of skilled staff available to fill the vacancies created by one the fastest growing sectors of the UK economy?

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IT employment rose by an average 5.5% a year between 2009 and 2012. Around 17% of the 29,000 IT jobs in the UK are "hard to fill" vacancies due to skills shortages, according to a recent report from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) and e-skills, the sector skills council for business and IT.

Employment in the IT industry is expected to grow at nearly five times the UK average over the next decade, needing 300,000 more digital workers by 2020 to reach full potential, according to the e-skills/UKCES report.

So while it is clear that the demand for capable developers is growing, the clear message is that these developers need to have highly specialised skills to make them employable.

The team at Energy House Digital (EHD) believes it has a solution that will not only help them build their own team but also help fill the gaps in the sector as a whole by starting up the EHD Academy London.

EHD Academy London believes everyone should have the opportunity to empower themselves with the digital skills of the future and will offer courses focused on coding and digital marketing skills. The academy plans to ensure students gain both knowledge and experience to properly equip themselves for the demands of industry.

The instructors are full-time working professionals who deal with day-to-day industry issues including ensuring they are up to date with the latest trends, skills and the pressures of working to client demands and deadlines. These skills will be ingrained in students as they shadow the experts.

In the long run, the team also believe they can target communities where access to tech is significantly limited, actively seeking to teach those most in need of highly employable digital skills.

Yet for now they remain grounded, taking their first small steps in launching their Front End Foundations Course, which will run on weekends between 7 - 29 November 2015, teaching students to build websites from the ground up using HTML5 and CSS3.

Graduates of the Front End Foundations Course will be eligible for post-course internships with the goal of becoming a junior employee either with EHD or with one of their partners.

Future courses will focus on other digital skills including: Digital Marketing, SEO, Google Analytics, Adwords, App Development, Project Management and many other agency appropriate skills.

Those interested in the EHD Academy or one of their courses should check out the website ehdacademy.com or get in touch on 020 7183 9341.

Notes to Editors 

About Front-end Foundations: Deep-dive into the foundations of front-end web development. URL.

Outcomes: Learn HTML5 and CSS3, build static websites, learn in agency environment, working with clients and under pressure, internships.

Dates: 7 November - 29 November 2015, 16 January - 7 February 2016, 2 April - 24 April 2016

Contact for enquiries: Lawrence Fane, Academy Director, T: +44(0)20-7183-9341, E: lawrence@energyhousedigital.co.uk

SOURCE EHD Academy London