WeThinkCode, the Joburg-based coding school that wants to address South Africa’s coder shortage and help youngsters to find gainful employment, has received a R60 million investment from Telkom-owned BCX. The funds, which will be provided over three years, will be used to grow WeThinkCode’s Johannesburg office and enable it to open a new campus in Cape Town later this year.
As part of the agreement, BCX and other companies in the Telkom stable will host 40 interns from WeThinkCode each year for the next three years. The group previously offered paid internships to five members of WeThinkCode’s 2016 class.
Launched in 2015, WeThinkCode opened its doors to students in January 2016 and aims to educate 100 000 coders in Africa over the next decade. This year the facility received almost 40 000 applications.
To separate the wheat from the chaff, applicants complete an aptitude test, followed by a four-week bootcamp, after which they begin a two-year course in coding and programming. Another component of the WeThinkCode teaching process is internships, to ensure their theory matches the practical requirements of the ICT sector.
In addition to making BCX feel warm and fuzzy, the investment also gives it access to the cream of WeThinkCode’s crop. Which is a pretty shrewd move in an industry as strapped for skills as South African ICT.