2023 has been a tough year for our candidates, with a record high number of available candidates on the Summer of Tech platform, and a low number of job opportunities. Against this backdrop and with the generosity of our sponsors, we’ve provided more financial assistance to our candidates than ever before. 

The teams at ANZ, Spark, Qrious, CCL, Pushpay & FNZ chose this year to leverage their sponsorships to help support underrepresented people & those facing financial barriers as they started out on their journeys into tech careers.

With their support, we were able to give financial aid to 57 candidates in our programme, 17 of whom were hired through Summer of Tech this year. A massive mihi to our sponsors for providing that extra assistance to kick start those tech careers!

ANZ, Spark, Qrious & CCL contributed funding to our Impact Scholarship pool which was set up to help Māori, Pasifika, female & gender diverse candidates.

Impact Scholarships were given to 27 candidates to help them in their journey towards a career in tech. Among these candidates were:

• 7 Māori & Pasifika 

• 20 women

• 2 gender-diverse people

This funding supported candidates with travel & accommodation expenses for recruitment events, professional clothing & shoes for interviews, software licences, laptop upgrades, professional association memberships and extracurricular courses to help candidates upskill.

Pushpay & FNZ contributed funding to our financial support pool, for candidates who faced financial barriers to attending our Meet & Greet events or relocating for their Summer internship. 

Financial support went out to 30 candidates, including:

• 18 women

• 1 gender diverse person

• 2 Māori or Pasifika candidates

This funding supported candidates with flight costs, bus tickets, accommodation costs, covering lost income for time off to attend recruitment events, and data top ups so candidates could attend our online Meet & Greet. It also supported candidates who landed Summer internship roles with their relocation costs.