IT solutions company OutSystems SA has given the first six graduates of its software development programme promising job prospects.
The students who started the internship programme in June 2017 are IT graduates with a three-year diploma or degree in either software development, information systems or finance from other tertiary institutions.
Craig Terblanche, regional director for OutSystems SA, says the programme is geared at addressing the growing skills shortage in the sector. "Our programme is geared not only towards addressing the skills shortage, but also providing IT graduates with exposure to, and experience working on a platform that simplifies application development. The internship has been designed to provide both work experience and technical training to IT graduates, who might otherwise struggle to meet the requirements from businesses, which want developers with on-the-job experience."
According to Terblanche, the programme includes three months of intensive training followed by two months of on-the-job work experience, "The curriculum is based on Web and mobile application development on Outsystems where they learn to use the OutSystems Development Environment to visually model, create business processes, visually design user interfaces, business logic and data structures. The platform builds the full stack and the interns learn about all of the elements of the software stack and how the platform manages the full software stack across the application life cycle."
One of the graduates, Sibusiso Nhleko from Ermelo, Mpumalanga, says the internship gave him me a clear picture of how to develop applications in a fast and easy way yet producing the most Agile software. "I plan to move on from an associate developer to a more advanced certification. I have already started developing my own apps just to see how far I can go with the company."
Another graduate, 24-year-old black female Veronica Makole from the Free State, says the opportunity groomed her to be market ready. "The internship programme was a learning curve for me and I believe it has paved a new way for my career. Not only was the programme insightful, but the trainers were a great help, guiding us through the modules and always there to lend a helping hand. Overall, the experience was a memorable one."
Terblanche adds that the company is so far impressed with the crop of graduates and the second group has started in October 2017 and is expected to graduate in 2018. "In 2018 we envision a minimum of four programmes of six to eight candidates per group. The company has indicated that it has filled all 24 spots currently available and believes that there is a significant opportunity for large enterprises and/ or software development houses, to have access to a pool of talented graduates who are competent and OutSystems certified," he noted.
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