Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      South African AI energy start-up in R32m funding round

      17 June 2025

      New platform helps homeowners avoid delays in property sales

      17 June 2025

      Vodacom CEO Joosub bags R71m in pay – but taxman will take a big cut

      17 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      Major rift opens between Microsoft and OpenAI

      17 June 2025
    • World

      Trump Mobile dials into politics, profit and patriarchy

      17 June 2025

      Samsung plots health data hub to link users and doctors in real time

      17 June 2025

      Yahoo tries to make its mail service relevant again

      13 June 2025

      Qualcomm shows off new chip for AI smart glasses

      11 June 2025

      Trump tariffs to dim 2025 smartphone shipments

      4 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025

      South Africa unveils big state digital reform programme

      12 May 2025

      Is this the end of Google Search as we know it?

      12 May 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025

      TCS | Sentiv, and the story behind the buyout of Altron Nexus

      3 June 2025

      TCS | Signal restored: Unpacking the Blue Label and Cell C turnaround

      28 May 2025
    • Opinion

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025

      Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

      29 May 2025

      Solar panic? The truth about SSEG, fines and municipal rules

      14 April 2025

      Data protection must be crypto industry’s top priority

      9 April 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » News » New programme to fix dearth of SA data scientists

    New programme to fix dearth of SA data scientists

    By Sasha Planting15 May 2018
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    South Africa is facing a shortage of data scientists — a new breed of analytical data experts with the technical skills to solve complex problems. They’re part mathematician, part computer scientist and part trend spotter. And because they straddle both the business and IT worlds, they’re highly sought-after and well paid.

    The demand for data scientists is being driven by the emergence of big data — that unwieldy mass of unstructured information that can no longer be ignored and forgotten. It’s a potential gold mine for companies — as long as there’s someone who can dig in and unearth the business insights that no one thought to look for before.

    South African universities like Wits and UCT have introduced data science degrees at the master’s level, but this is producing about 40 data scientists a year, far short of the number that the country’s banks, insurers, retailers, health companies and telecommunications providers, among others, require.

    South Africa is facing an enormous unemployment problem at the same time as the world is heading at breakneck speed towards the fourth Industrial Revolution

    So three actuaries, Shaun Dippnall, Aidan Helmbold and Dave Strugnell, have come together to solve the problem in the way that actuaries do — by finding an innovative solution.

    “South Africa is facing an enormous unemployment problem at the same time as the world is heading at breakneck speed towards the fourth Industrial Revolution,” says Dippnall.

    The possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity and access to knowledge, are unlimited, he says. These possibilities will be multiplied by emerging technology breakthroughs in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of things, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage and quantum computing — even in South Africa.

    “This means that more jobs will be mechanised at a time that we desperately need to be creating jobs or reskilling people.”

    So together the founders created an academy, the Explore Data Science Academy, that will create data scientists at velocity; that has no qualifications for entry; and that does not teach using the traditional classroom “sit still and listen to me” approach.

    Progressing well

    The academy is in its fourth month and most of the 100 students that joined in February are progressing well. Thus the process has begun to recruit four times the number of students for the 2019 intake and find the companies willing to sponsor them.

    “The recruitment process is non-traditional in that we require no prior qualifications; instead we do a number of tests that measure natural raw aptitude — specifically the ability to program, solve problems and work with numbers,” Dippnall says. “We also look for the ‘light in their eyes’.” This, he says, refers to a hunger to learn and curiosity about the world around them.

    There are so many talented people out there – and these were not kids from former model-C schools. It proves the point that all our kids lack is opportunity

    About 10 000 people between the ages of 18 and 35 applied to join the course, 250 were interviewed and 100 were selected. Of these, 25 have no prior learning — just matric with maths and science. “There are so many talented people out there — and these were not kids from former model-C schools. It proves the point that all our kids lack is opportunity.”

    On day one, the students are thrown into the first of a series of “sprints”. In each sprint, students are grouped into teams of five and are given a problem to solve — for example, “predict someone’s personality profile using just their Facebook posts”. They have three weeks to build the algorithms that would complete the task.

    A full-time team of 14 academics (including statisticians, engineers, actuaries and physicists) teach the mathematical, statistical and computer science fundamentals required. They also provide students with the latest machine-learning techniques and data science tools (Python, SQL, Power Bi). “In this approach the problem is primary, while the theory is secondary,” he says.

    The course is comprised of six months made up of the three-week sprints described, a three-month project and a three-month internship. In this, the founding year of the Academy, IT company BCX has provided R50m in sponsorship and intends taking on all 100 candidates for their internships. It may also employ some once the course is complete. The sponsorship is spread over three years and covers the cost of study for 100 students each year, as well as a small stipend for financially needy students.

    For BCX, the advantage of the programme is that it increases the flow of data science skills into the business and executives are exposed to a pool of talent that have developed practical problem-solving skills that businesses need.

    In addition, the course is an accredited skills programme, which means that it can claim broad-based black economic empowerment points from the spend.

    • This article was originally published on Moneyweb and is used here with permission


    Aidan Helmbold BCX Dave Strugnell Explore Data Science Academy Shaun Dippnall top
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleA risky get-out-of-jail-free card for ZTE
    Next Article Unpacking the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto

    Related Posts

    Telkom shares at two-year high amid ‘growing momentum’

    11 February 2025

    Huawei Africa Connect 2024: cutting-edge tech for transformation

    5 July 2024

    Redefining security in the age of cyberthreats

    1 March 2024
    Company News

    Altron: a brand journey, a birthday celebration and a bet on Joburg’s future

    17 June 2025

    7 benefits of social media integration in WordPress

    17 June 2025

    Paratus Zimbabwe and PowerTel strike milestone deal

    17 June 2025
    Opinion

    Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

    2 June 2025

    South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

    2 June 2025

    Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

    29 May 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.