Johannesburg, 02 Oct 2008
Cape Town-based software development company Khanyisa Real Systems (KRS) is urgently seeking 30 matriculants for its one-year training courses, aimed at reducing the severe shortage of qualified and experienced software developers in South Africa.
"KRS is feeling the skills shortage along with the rest of the industry, and we've realised the best way to find good employees for the future is to train them ourselves," says MD Steve Randles.
KRS will take in 15 matriculants in January and another 15 in June, providing each trainee with five months of classroom training and five months of work experience as a KRS intern.
At the end of the year, all students will take the Microsoft 70-431 exam to become a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: SQL Server 2005. This internationally recognised qualified qualification is in high demand around the world, says Randles. "We also encourage students to take the Microsoft 70-536 exam, which is the first step towards a certification in the .Net development environment."
During their internship, students will work on real projects as part of KRS development teams under the guidance of a team leader and mentor. "We are not just giving students a toolbox of programming languages that they could learn from a book," says Randles. "We want them to have the hands-on experience of using those tools on real projects, so we get useful, employable developers at the end of the training period." Those who successfully complete the course may be employed immediately by KRS or seek work with another company.
"We're not looking for trainees with previous programming experience," says Randles. "They just need to have some basic computer literacy, matric maths and the desire to work on developing software applications for business."
As well as programming skills, the training course also includes business essentials like time management, basic accounting, quality, completing projects to set deadlines, teamwork, consistency, dealing with constructive feedback, sometimes dealing with failure, and making changes to meet client or management expectations.
All applicants must complete a free aptitude test as part of the application process. "The test covers logic and creativity," says Randles. "It's a good way for us to check that software development is really the right career for each applicant, and also helps us to create a great learning environment."
KRS, which has been in business for 21 years, builds custom software for enterprises including HomeChoice and SA National Parks. Its core professional skills are in Sybase, Microsoft.Net, Microsoft SQL Server and Borland Delphi, and the firm specialises in low-risk development methodologies characterised by flexible and agile processes.
Matriculants who are computer literate and have a passion for a career in IT are invited to contact KRS on +27 21 797 5454 or visit its Web site at http://www.upgradeyourself.co.za.