After announcing the giving of tickets for TestBash for those who are unemployed (https://www.ministryoftesting.com/memories/job-hunting-in-2025-attend-testbash-for-free) we decided to make our scholarship fund only available to unemployed people. We've given out about 15 TestBash places so far and are continuing to review and accept them as they come in.
Having a focus on those out of work gives us focus on who best to help. Finding work is a problem at the moment, the scholarship fund is one such way we are aiming to support.
We're making changes to our job board shortly too, this should make it much easier to post job opportunities, at the moment we recognise it isn't.
A focus on those out of work also helps us make quicker decisions on who to give it to, people previously had to explain the reasoning for asking for the scholarship, many of them were actually employed and this made it hard for us to make the decision.
We recognise this isn't perfect, but for the world and MoT is right now it makes sense.
Where does the community fund come from? Mostly it's people choosing to donate article or content creation fees instead of taking payment for themselves. It also includes one off donations at points of purchase (for TestBash tickets, for example). Ministry of Testing matches any donations made.
Please feel free to share this link with anyone who may be of benefit: https://www.ministryoftesting.com/scholarship
Many thanks.
