Coding accelerator codeX has announced it has partnered with the Central Library in Cape Town, Brothers for All in Langa, and Kuyasa in Kayamandi (Stellenbosch) to provide free internet access for aspiring coders to work through the online courses necessary to apply for codeX’s programme.
Disrupt Africa reported last week codeX – a venture put together by co-founders Elizabeth Gould, Michael Jordaan and Daniel Weber – is bidding to tackle Africa’s lack of trained developers and create a new breed of entrepreneurs through its apprenticeship-style coding courses.
A first pilot programme began in Cape Town in September, and ends with Demo Day tomorrow (December 10).
For the next programme, which will begin in February, codeX has made online Codecademy courses in programming basics prerequisites for earning a year-long apprenticeship, saying they allow aspirants to see if coding is really for them and ensure all those that begin the programme have a basic understanding of the concepts.
“While these online courses are free, the reality of our country is that only 10 per cent of South Africans have internet at home, so many potentially awesome coders don’t have the opportunity to show what they can do,” Gould said.
“We want to make sure anyone who doesn’t have regular access to the internet still has the chance to learn to code.”
codeX has thus entered into the partnerships to arrange open days to allow people to access the internet for free to complete the courses, and have access to mentors from the local tech community to help people get going and answer questions.
“At codeX, we are hunting for the best raw talent to grow into the next generation of African coders, no matter where they come from,” Gould said.
