‘Every hacker I’ve met is a gamer’: Why the next generation of tech talent can be found in unexpected places | From play to goal

For many young people at school or college, having a strong understanding of digital skills lies at the heart of their future learning and earning opportunities. But for their teachers, ensuring that these skills are used for good is a complex lesson.

According to The Hacking Games — an organization dedicated to helping young people with hacking skills land careers in cybersecurity — criminal gangs are increasingly searching popular online gaming environments for talented teens who they can groom to work for them.

It’s a path no teacher wants a pupil to take, which is why the Co-op – which sponsors the Co-op Academies Trust – has teamed up with The Hacking Games. The Co-op Academies Trust operates in the north of England, serving over 20,000 students in 38 primary, secondary and special schools and one college. Together, the Co-op and Co-op Academies Trust aim to guide pupils with coding skills towards careers in “ethical hacking”.

Joe Sykes, Careers Director at Co-op Academies Trust, explains: “In recent years, we have seen our students’ growing interest in technology – particularly gaming – and in exploring how these passions can lead to future careers.

“Through our involvement in The Hacking Games, it has been great to discover transferable skills between gaming and ethical hacking, especially in cybersecurity. Our students have found this connection both exciting and inspiring.”

“Learning from our involvement in The Hacking Games that there are transferable skills between gaming and ethical hacking in the tech industry, especially cybersecurity, is really great for our students.”

Adam Woodley, head of curriculum at Connell Co-op College, agrees, telling us how his young people now see careers in digital as a “very popular option”.

“Students develop highly desirable skills through hobbies such as gaming, and naturally, they will want to be in a position to apply these skills to a career path they find exciting,” he says.

“Therefore, it is very important to give them opportunities to explore the exciting world of ethical hacking and cybersecurity to leverage those skills for the benefit of society.”

Rob Elsey, chief digital officer at the Co-op, agrees. “There are many unfulfilled roles in cybersecurity,” he says. “The more we do to turn the bright, skilled young people we have in the UK into defenders rather than attackers, and educate them about opportunities, the better. This will help us as a nation to confront these persistent threats.”

Driving education and internal training

“It takes a village to inspire, nurture and empower this generation to not be evil and be good people,” says Fergus Hay, co-founder of The Hacking Games. The Hacking Games framework maps young people’s digital capabilities and skills against selected criteria and profiles to identify suitable careers for them in technology.

Plans are now underway by The Hacking Games to create formal routes – apprenticeships and training – into digital roles in government or the private sector in the future. Many experts in the field point out that it is also a career path that could be open to neurodiverse youth. But for both neurodiverse and neurotypical youth, games remain a common training ground for hacking, noted John Madeline, cybersecurity veteran and chief product officer at The Hacking Games.

“Every pirate I meet is a gamer,” he says, although he is quick to point out that most young players have no criminal intent, “but the distinction is very clear.” For many young gamers, hacking is about finding new hidden ways to experience gameplay in these worlds, although for some it also results in creating cheat codes and selling them to other players.

These deep technical skills are what criminal gangs look to exploit, especially among students who have less focus on academic success. But Madeleine says young hackers could be pointed in another direction. “You have to keep stretching it and stimulating it,” he says. “Don’t leave them sitting around doing nothing all day, take advantage of them.”

The Co-op Academies Trust already cites careers in digital fields as key within its careers program from primary school onwards. Sykes believes it is important to find out what all children excel at as soon as possible. “Our role as teachers is to maximize their outcomes in these areas.

“People who are strong in digital skills often show a natural tendency to be logical thinkers and creative problem solvers,” she says.

“Gifted in technology and games”

The partnership between Co-op and The Hacking Games came about after Co-op was targeted in a cyberattack earlier this year. With its focus on delivering societal value, the Co-op – an organization owned by its members, not shareholders – wanted to find ways to address the causes of piracy from the ground up.

“We know that kids are gifted with technology and gaming, and these skills can lead them to hacking,” Sykes says. “Being able to have these discussions through this program will help us explain the implications and legalities surrounding hacking and help students understand the opportunities these skills can provide them through ethical use.”

Potential roles in cybersecurity for large companies or organizations could include detecting potential flaws that could be exploited by malicious hackers. Jobs can also be found in government departments to combat hacking attempts by hostile nations on critical national infrastructure.

This is one of the main reasons why Hacking Games recently launched the HAPTAI platform, which helps build Hacking Aptitude profiles of youth by analyzing a candidate’s performance in popular game titles and matching them with their psychographic profile. It then pairs candidates with roles and jobs in which they will excel and with teams in which they will thrive.

Protection today, career tomorrow

“Children can be particularly vulnerable to online exploitation, so we make sure they are educated about these risks – including online safety and legal boundaries around hacking,” Sykes says. “I think all schools need to stay up to date on current issues, and this is a real opportunity for us to understand the risks better as professionals and to be able to translate that to parents.”

In the future, she would like to see the National Computer Science Curriculum developed to include ethical hacking, and PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) lessons that help all students recognize the harm caused by hacking at all economic levels.

Until then, the Co-op continues with The Hacking Games. A pilot program will be launched at Co-op Academy Walkden in the coming months to raise awareness of the issues, and identify those young people with the right talents to play a part in solving them – before scaling up the program nationally.

“Career opportunities are vast in the digital sector,” says Sykes. “This will ultimately support our students to see all the positive paths available to them and how they can play a major role in making the world a safe place.”

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