Navision implements developer training programme for university graduates

Accounting and business management solution provider Navision South Africa has implemented a developer training course for university graduates which is specifically geared to familiarising up-and-coming developers with development expertise in the Navision range.

"We have identified a distinct gap in the South African market for adequately trained Navision developers," says managing director Keith Mullan. "Although we already have a standard developers` training course in place, we felt that it was time to begin empowering more young South Africans in the development of our software."

Once they have completed their training, the successful graduates can take up full time employment with one of Navision`s resellers, or they could choose to work on a project-by-project basis for the channel.

Besides the local shortage in developer skills, Mullan says there is huge international demand for South African developers, owing to their high level of expertise and the weakness of this country`s currency. "Paying rands for developer`s services is far more attractive to the overseas market than the same fee in dollars or pounds," he points out.

"Additionally, while our latest offering of Navision Attain, a cost-effective, end-to-end business management solution for medium-sized companies, is written in English, it features multilingual functionality, and the language required is simply bolted on like an additional module. This means that our developers can write the code in SA in English, after which the product can be exported to any country in the world. Consequently, by providing developer training we are not only creating employment in SA, but also significantly enhancing our export opportunities."

The course is presented over six weeks at Navision`s premises, and Mullan says the company plans to present two courses per year. "Currently, we are only selecting students from Gauteng universities, but intend to eventually include Cape Town universities, to be followed by the rest of the country."

Students are selected according to stringent criteria as they are viewed as potential Navision channel employees. "We interview them as if they were applying for a job with Navision," says Mullan. "Academic knowledge of Visual Basic or similar is essential, and previous job experience is preferred, as we have found that these students are better equipped to handle the intensity of the training programme."

Navision is also targeting students from previously disadvantaged communities and has contracted a black empowerment company to source graduates from these areas.