Seccl, the Octopus-owned white-label platform technology provider, has launched an ‘API Academy’ to teach advisers how to code.
The company said the course will focus on giving advisers a “working knowledge” of application programme interfaces (APIs), and the basic coding skills required to extract and input data using any open API.
Advisers will be able to use these skills to, for example, build reporting dashboards or create and update client records, the firm said.
Everyone can benefit from learning the fundamentals of APIs.Annabel Melvin“While many of the advice professionals we speak to express a real desire to get to grips with the basics of coding, they all struggle to know where to start or who to ask,” said Annabel Melvin, Seccl’s senior account manager and the course leader.
“Our API Academy is designed to fill that gap. We strongly believe that everyone can benefit from learning the fundamentals of APIs.
“Anyone who can query an API can quickly and easily extract any bit of data that an API-driven system holds, in real time – and so by teaching people the basics, we hope to empower them to run slicker, more data-led and more efficient businesses.”
The academy launch follows the initial pilot programme Seccl rolled out back in July 2020, where nine external advisers, operations staff, and administrators took part.
The white-label provider has since expanded the content and turned the sessions into a fully CPD-endorsed course by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.
The course consists of four 60-minute online workshops, hosted weekly throughout May. Each workshop comes with a 30-minute webinar which advisers can watch in their own time, alongside a piece of homework set.
The coding lessons are aimed at advisers of all seniority levels, and no prior knowledge is required - though “an aptitude for Excel” is cited as a good starting point.
The course titles are as follows:
- Introduction: Understand how to query and interact with an open API
- Automation: Use Python to perform automated instructions
- Data: Use Python to retrieve and manipulate data from an API
- Reporting: Use Python to produce bespoke reports
In total, the course can earn advisers a combined nine hours of endorsed CPD. Alternatively, advisers can simply watch the on-demand webinars via Seccl’s website and earn up to two hours of CPD.
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
