SoT2023 Report
2023 was a roller coaster of a year. We saw the highest ever candidate registration and engagement… and the lowest number of job listings since 2017. Our heartfelt thanks to our incredible team, and to our sponsors, volunteers, community and of course the employers who did manage to find spots for interns and graduates.
Here’s a roundup of our mahi:
2023 Candidates
In 2023 we had 6,141 registrations, with 2,964 live candidate profiles. This was our largest talent pool EVER, significantly more than 2022. We saw an increase at all levels, but especially recent graduates who were still seeking work up to 2 years after completing their studies.
They came from 36 tertiary institutions throughout Aotearoa. 686 were recent graduates, and 1,133 candidates were in their final year of study. 36% of candidates were women, reflecting ongoing low engagement in STEM education and career pathways, but still above the 25% women working in tech in Aotearoa right now.
2023 Events
Everyone registered as a candidate with Summer of Tech can attend our free educational and informational events. Our goal is connect candidates to the knowledge and people they need to get their first job in tech, including technical, professional and career support.
As a charity, we are privileged to work with industry volunteers, many of them alumni from past programmes.
Across 108 events, we had 2,466 unique candidate attendees, showing up at an average of 2.9 events each. We were able to deliver our programme with the help of 77 industry volunteers, who supported our technical, professional and career skills events, with 500+ hours of their time.
We were excited to host another Create Camp hackathon event in 2023, this year in-person at GridAKL Auckland with support from Spark, Qrious & CCL and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited.
Auckland Create Camp 2023 preparations: Back row: John, Kate, Jess; Front row: Yana, Shannon, Yekti
2023 Recruitment
Summer intern recruitment season kicks off in September each year, with our Meet & Greet events. This year a total of 1,514 candidates attended, in-person in Auckland and Wellington, and online.
Setting up Wellington Meet & Greet: Ruth, Kate, Royden, and John working in the background.
86% of successful candidates attended at least 1 M&G event. This is compared to 92% in 2022… this year, we had more candidates overall, and our highest ever % of roles filled late in the year, after Meet & Greet.
We scheduled 946 Speed Interviews for employers to help them narrow down their long list to a shorter list of candidates.
2023 Placements
This year 235 people accepted offers for Summer of Tech roles across 80 different organisations. The majority of employers were SMEs, and we love that we can support smaller employers to access interns and grads: you don’t have to have a big recruitment budget to secure top talent for your teams.
51% of roles were filled by women! The highest representation we’ve ever seen. This shows that the organisations that are hiring, are doing it strategically, looking to support underrepresented groups. If you look at our “first 100 placements” insights from November, you’ll see that Māori and Pasifika candidates were also being proactively hired; we saw 14/100 roles filled by Māori/Pasifika candidates, though this dropped back to 5% of the total by the end of the year.
Average wages were $28.67/hr, a 4.5% increase on 2022 wages.
Our spread of candidates and roles was similar to previous years, but we have seen growth in the number of people willing to relocate for a role. Our message to employers: if you’ve got the opportunities, we’ve DEFINITELY got talented people keen to kick start their tech careers with you.
Happy interns at Serko! according to this celebratory LinkedIn Post, a genuinely curious, inquisitive and friendly group of humans.
“Internships are an investment no doubt, but thoroughly worthwhile and refreshing on so many fronts. Summer of Tech keep creating these experiences and opportunities as we are collectively better for it!”
The road ahead
2023 was a tough year, with more candidates and fewer roles available. We had to say goodbye to 4 of our team members, and re-think our approach to 2024. We are immensely grateful to the employers who stuck with us through tough times, hiring if they could, and supporting with volunteer time if they couldn’t.
Summer of Tech is still here! We are energised and ready, hoping to see more investment in early talent in 2024. Aotearoa’s tech industry depends on us supporting, retaining and growing new talent, we have so many keen to get a foot in the door, please join us on our mission to create…
“A strong, inclusive NZ tech sector, with thousands of new high quality internships and graduate roles annually offering high-impact support and growth opportunities for people starting their tech career”
Thank you to our Sponsors
Thank you to our dedicated 2023 partners who help shape the future of Aotearoa’s tech industry:
Have any burning questions? Want more detail and data? Ready to sign up for 2024? The Summer of Tech team would love to answer any queries you may have about recruiting juniors for your tech team.
Contact us at hello@summeroftech.co.nz for a chat.
