South African incubator WeThinkCode_ has selected its inaugural cohort of 120 students to be trained as software engineers, with the organisation also officially opening its Johannesburg-based campus.
Disrupt Africa reported in September last year the WeThinkCode_ coding school announced plans to launch in South Africa in a bid to tackle youth unemployment and answer the ICT skills shortage in the country. Applications were invited with a view to kicking off the first cohort in early 2016.
WeThinkCode_ received over 30,000 applications for its inaugural programme; while only 2 per cent of applicants went on to pass both online qualifying assessments. From this group of applicants, 300 candidates were selected to participate in a four-week bootcamp.
At the end of the bootcamp, 120 applicants were chosen to form the first cohort of the two-year WeThinkCode_ programme.
“We aim to equip students with the skills to become world class digital problem solvers. And so, we are pleased to reveal the most talented coders who partook in an intense selection process and have succeeded to become the first to experience our two-year peer-to-peer digital training,” says Camille Agon, co-founder of WeThinkCode_.
With the first cohort selected, WeThinkCode_ also officially opened its Johannesburg campus, where the two-year programme will be held.
