Learn to code – for free – and get a job
That’s what’s on offer but it does require that you can think out of the box and work well with others
Aschool that will teach anyone who can pass a few tests to code and at no cost may seem too good to be true. Add that those who pass the tests are almost certainly guaranteed a job and it starts to sound unbelievable.
But nonprofit WeThinkCode (WTC), co-founded by South African Arlene Mulder and French-born Camille Agon, is doing just that at two schools, one in Johannesburg and another in Cape Town.
If you think coding, you inevitably think geeks — people adept at mathematics and science. We are often told that as a country we suck at these, so it is all the more wonder that WTC is turning out job-ready coders after its two-year programme.
Another remarkable feature of the programme is that there are no teachers. Students are given the material and work through it in groups.
WTC believes there are four values that drive success. These are grit (I keep going), curiosity (I ask why), connection (I am because you are) and responsibility (it is up to me), the website says.
The campus in downtown Johannesburg is in a highrise. You are met by young, hip-looking problem solvers sitting in groups. The room where all the magic happens looks like a Apple-sponsored internet café.
Reflecting the peer-to-peer education model, some are sitting in groups chatting and others are playing chess.
“This is our typical day,” says campus co-ordinator Jackie Zvoutete.
“All you need is to be between 17 and 35 to apply. We do not ask for any previous coding experience or for a matric or diploma. What we are trying to do here is grant the opporOne tunity to as many people as we can,” she says.
Now in its third year, the programme has reached more than 200 South Africans. You would think those with a privileged education would be well represented but not so if household income is a gauge. More than 70% of the students come from households with an income of less than R9 000 a month, according to a survey by WTC.
“It is interesting that most of the students we have here have failed or dropped out of matric, or even could not get into university. What we find is that the education system is geared towards someone who can read stuff and regurgitate it but, if you are someone who cannot do that, this programme is for you,” Zvoutete says.
Quentin Manamela, a 19-yearold from Vosloorus, says he had a passion for coding since he was 12.
“My dad sat me down and said, ‘you are going to have to go look for a job to pay for your university studies’, because all my peers were already in university. But when I heard about WeThinkCode, I thought, ‘this is it’, because I would have needed a whole year of saving up to go to university,” Manamela says.
His love for coding was sparked by watching his brother, at the time a computer science student. “I used to go to this box he used to keep with all his stuff with these weird codes and he would tell me not to go there. But I did and went to do research on what they meant.”
Prospective students have to take three challenging aptitude tests to be accepted into the programme. These are similar to memory games and puzzles to gauge problem-solving abilities. The first test takes 10 minutes, the next an hour and the last two hours.
“All have no instructions,” Zvoutete says. “We want a person to be, like, ‘what I am supposed to do here?’ and