Coding programme offers hope for youth
JANEIL WEIR is one of the few females in the coding programme being offered through the HEART/NSTA Trust by the Amber Group Limited, and the 21-year-old is determined to do her best given the prospects of securing a full-time job in the industry and her own desire to make her mother proud.
Weir is the sixth of 10 children for her mother, who raised them all on her own and did not get to complete secondary school as a result of becoming pregnant.
But Weir, a Dinthill Technical High School graduate, has already secured eight Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate subjects and a number of others at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination level.
Her acceptance into the coding programme came after months of searching for a job.
“It is not as easy as I thought it would be. However, I am a very determined person, so I am going to use that to continue this programme,” she told The Gleaner.
“I would like to be a role model for my siblings, not only the smaller ones but the bigger ones as well, and I want to make my mommy very proud,” said the Linstead, St Catherine, resident.
Weir is one of 50 students currently enrolled in the coding programme, which is geared towards meeting the demand for offshore information technology (IT) services. The global outsourcing sector currently employs roughly 40,000 people, with the majority being at the lower level of the industry in customer engagement.
12 MONTHS PROGRAMME
The Amber Group Limited provides IT services, including big data analytics and software consulting, to large companies worldwide. Last year, it developed the JamCovid app used by the Ministry of Health and Wellness to provide information on COVID-19, among other capabilities.
The coding programme will last 12 months, and involves six months of instruction and six months of on-the job training.
Education Minister Fayval Williams said the initiative represents the birth of an industry in Jamaica.
“Already, I know that there are many different companies that are interested in the students once they graduate from here because the way the world is going right now, you know it is becoming more digital, and so there is a significant requirement for persons with that skillset to be able to do programming in a lot of different areas. Think about healthcare, think about all the different government services, think about agriculture, you name it,” she said.
Williams said that there are currently discussions with the Amber Group to create a three-month programme for students in primary and secondary schools.
Former Ferncourt High School student Akeem Henry said he started learning about coding from his information technology teacher in the ninth grade. He was so excited to learn then that he completed the syllabus in one night.
“At that time when he introduced it, it was like a spark actually flew and I decided that this is what I wanted to do,” said the 23-year-old St Ann resident.