Learning at work is something I’m passionate about. Unlike many of my peers, I went straight into work as a young person and only attended university in my late 20's.

I’ve been very fortunate as I’ve received a huge amount of workplace training during my career, most notably at IBM. There’s nothing quite like learning a skill and then practising it straight away in a real-life setting.

I’m now the proud owner of two tech-based businesses, the most recent a tech apprenticeship provider called the Vantage Academy. Ever since starting up I have been taking on apprentices.

They’ve joined me as unassuming teenagers and, by the age of 21, they were getting job offers from the tech sector for £40,000 a year. There’s a massive skills gap in the tech sector and big money to be earned - this is a message all young people should be hearing.

Compare this to many graduates, who leave university with few work skills and aren’t particularly employable, will probably need further training and also have a mountain of debt. More people should consider apprenticeships.

Apprentices don’t have to be young and they can be graduates. There is a massive demand for tech skills in industry and good salaries, too.

The coronavirus pandemic has played havoc with the economy and the education system. People are out of work and need new skills and young people face an incredibly uncertain future. But amidst this gloom, I really do see an opportunity.

Apprenticeships offer people, both young and old, a way to re-skill and help plug the tech industry’s massive skills gap. We should take this opportunity to create training programmes fit for the 21st century.

The prime minister’s ‘apprenticeship guarantee’ last week was greeted with an understandable amount of cynicism.

But I am personally more than happy to embrace the spirit of that cause and believe if we build a flexible and digital approach to apprenticeships then we can create huge numbers of high quality courses for people, young and old.

The first step is to embrace online learning. I’m based in Brighton but I want to open my offer to the whole of the UK and save young people the cost of travelling as well as the environmental impact.

Virtual classrooms are also rather cheaper than ones made of bricks and mortar and there’s no limit on the numbers who can attend, either.

Adding some flexibility to the timetable is another big advantage. As anyone who’s a parent to a teenager, or was one themselves, should know, the biological clocks of the young tick at a different rhythm to the rest of us. In fact, we all have preferred times for learning and working and employers should recognise that.

We also need to make apprenticeships shorter. Making someone commit to 18 months is a big ask, whether they are an employer or an apprentice. You can teach a huge amount in six to nine months. And, considering today’s pace of technological change, a few months is actually a long time.

Of course, the big problem with online learning is not young people. They are completely comfortable with jumping online to learn things. YouTube is filled with online tutorials and groups. And it’s not just young people; older generations are already educating themselves online, as well.

When I set up Vantage, I recruited a new team, ploughed through the red tape and gained government approval. I was all ready to go and then the pandemic struck and our plans were curtailed. It was truly depressing. However, we are now going full steam ahead and planning our first intake for September.

Young people have had such a hard time in lockdown and now they are emerging into a world where universities might not be open and jobs will be in short supply. We are risking a lost generation. However, if we are smart about it, we could turn this into a brilliant opportunity.

Carlene Jackson is the CEO of Brighton-based tech company Cloud9 Insight, a Microsoft Gold Partner which has provided more than 700 UK businesses with cloud-based CRM software systems.

Founded in 2010, the company has 30 staff and is also an award winning provider of training and apprenticeships programmes which it runs through its sister company Vantage Academy.

Carlene established her first business in Brighton aged 17 and then spent nearly two decades in the software industry working for companies including IBM, Xansa, and Sage before going it alone to take advantage of the booming cloud technology sector.