Page 34 - EngineerIT November 2022

TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

Samsung and Tshimologong Precinct celebrate latest

graduates of software skills development programme

amsung and Wits University’s Tshimologong Digital communication, presentation skills, collaborative team skills
Innovation Precinct celebrate the graduation of the third and information literacy.
Scohort of its successful App Factory. The first cohort of “South African software development solutions are
the nine-month internship programme launched in 2020 to competing globally for talent so we need to make sure that
address the issue of skills shortage in software development in we are growing a quality talent pipeline locally that can be
South Africa. productive in the workplace fairly quickly. There is still too
While there is a high demand for software developers in big a gap in the work readiness of graduates. The App Factory
South Africa, industry is complaining about the lack of work- addresses this gap,” says Lesley Donna Williams, CEO of
ready talent. Even when graduates have the technical skills, Tshimologong Precinct.
they do not know how to work effectively in a team or transfer The first cohort in 2020 had eight interns out of 85
their knowledge to a real-world context. applicants, the second one had nine out of 306 applicants and
The App Factory recruits high potential graduates from the latest intake had eighteen interns from 772 applicants.
various tertiary institutions and allows them to work on While there is a high demand of applicants for the programme,
realistic projects under the supervision of a senior developer the teaching approach is intensive and high-impact, focusing
over a nine-month duration. Errors (bugs) in software on small groups and individual attention per intern.
development projects come with a high cost to a company “The shortage of adequately skilled software engineers
when working on real projects in industry. The App Factory would hamper the country’s ability to ride the wave of the
therefore creates a safe environment to “fail fast, learn faster” Fourth Industrial Revolution and risk being left behind. This is
while delivering under pressure on realistic projects. During what makes such initiatives so much more critical. As Samsung,
this time, they learn full-stack development by mastering we want to do our bit to contribute to this developmental
the theory and tackling realistic projects. Their technical agenda and process towards growing the South African
skills are honed and they develop “21st century” skills, economy,” says Hlubi Shivanda, Samsung’s Director: Business
including problem-solving, critical thinking skills, effective Operations and Innovation and Corporate Affairs.

EngineerIT | November 2022 | 34