The redAcademy programme gives selected young South Africans the ability to fast-track their IT careers

The proliferation of technology across all walks of life and work is creating a huge demand for software developers. While many tend to think of telecommunications, financial services or retail when it comes to coding, software is crucial across industries, from healthcare to manufacturing to professional services and more.

Yet South African companies are being held back by a lack of skilled employees, meaning that often business leaders — especially CTOs — are missing out on fulfilling their mandates to deliver successful software-driven projects that will be crucial to fuelling future growth.

Even worse, it means that there is a huge war for already scarce talent.

Combating this sustainably requires growing the talent pool, building a sustainable pipeline of software developers for the future, and solidifying succession planning within the business by ensuring an inflow of new talent as high-performing employees are promoted.

In today’s digital world, technology is being infused into products and solutions across multiple industries, and software development can act as the catalyst to solving South Africa’s longstanding youth unemployment problem. What is needed, however, is a concerted effort by the private sector to tackle the challenge, as well as a radical rethink of skills development and training to future-proof your business.

Work-ready talent to fuel your growth

CTOs are faced with numerous pressures beyond rolling out new technologies, including having to source scarce talent and then train them to meet their business requirements. But what if there is a more efficient way of getting access to young developers who are work-ready and already have the experience of working on live projects?

Most associate a career in software development with first getting a degree. But if a business needs a specific skillset and there is a pressing need to fill positions, there has to be another way in which more young South Africans are brought into the workplace. Three-year software degrees don’t carry the same value that they used to, with organisations preferring not only software developers with experience, but ones who are trained in using their technology stack This is what makes “Sprinters” — those who have completed the redAcademy programme — valuable from the first day.

Committed to offering the most efficient path from matric to a software career, redAcademy gives selected young South Africans the ability to fast-track their IT careers by taking part in a Career Sprint that blends theoretical training by dedicated software lecturers with practical experience and that involves working with senior developers to develop working solutions for real customers using the most relevant coding languages. One of redAcademy’s first corporate partners, a leading regional retailer, sees its partnership as a tangible way of developing a skilled pipeline of young talent while contributing to the upliftment young people and communities.

Here are eight ways partnering with redAcademy helps you:

Build work-ready junior software developers who are equipped with soft skills, know your company culture.
Reduce your development backlog and increase Sprinters’ skillset for your business, using your tech stack.
Build a sustainable pipeline of software developers during a time when talent is limited.
Have your candidates gain experience working on your projects, too.
Reduce recruitment costs and have no extra admin for your business — just a skilled pipeline of talent.
Support broader socioeconomic transformation in South Africa.
Be recognised as a responsible corporate citizen.
Safeguard the future of your business while also doing good.

When partnering with redAcademy, the Career Sprint programme can be adapted to match the requirements of your business, and candidates can learn your tech stack on our bespoke learner management system. Find out how redAcademy can help you source the software development skills that your business needs to grow and succeed. Contact us today.

About redAcademy
Launched in Cape Town, South Africa, redAcademy is a software training organisation. Its programme is designed to close the experience gap for South African youth entering a skilled career in software development. The fast-paced, one-year programme is designed to equip matriculants with technical and soft skills as well as live client project experience working inside real world software development organisations. RedAcademy tackles unemployment head on with the guarantee of a job offer for those who successfully complete our course.

As a standalone organisation, redAcademy has a clear goal: to give carefully chosen, talented South Africans the opportunity to sprint into their IT careers by working closely with industry-leading senior developers and customers, designed to fast-track software careers in the real world.

To find out more, visit https://redacademy.co.za/. Or find us on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram.