African programming accelerator Andela has announced a partnership with on-demand coding mentorship platform Codementor, to support Andela graduates as they begin their careers.
Launched in Nigeria in September 2014, Andela identifies talented young Africans and trains them to become top developers. Graduates are outsourced to global firms as full-time dedicated team members. With an only one per cent acceptance rate, Andela claims to be the most selective tech training programme on the African continent.
Codementor operates an online marketplace for on-demand one-to-one programming help and long-term mentorship from expert software developers. Over 4,000 experts are active on the Codementor system, and provide help through screen sharing, video and text chats.
Under the new partnership, graduates of the first phase of Andela’s four-year Technical Leadership Programme will be paired with a seasoned Codementor programmer who will offer on-demand mentorship for the first three months of graduates’ careers.
“Regardless of background or skill set, access to a network of mentors is essential for anyone to get to the top of their game,” said Ian Carnevale, Andela co-founder and brand director.
“Codementor has a deep pool of senior engineers, whose specialized technical and industry knowledge supports our developers,” Carnevale said.
The partners said the new system will build on Andela’s internal support system, enabling Andela graduates to make an immediate contribution in their new workplaces without slowing down the more senior developers by requiring help.
“Our partnership with Andela is a natural fit. Our community is full of experienced developers who are committed to helping bright minds hone their skills,” said Weiting Liu, Codementor founder and chief executive officer (CEO).
“This help-on-demand approach, in conjunction with traditional career mentorship, will help prepare these programmers for both immediate project success, and long-term career success.”
