A report released last year by Indeed, a US-based tech talent recruiter, estimates that 9 in 10 business owners are struggling to find and hire the right IT professionals in the US with a very mature tech market.
In Nigeria where the tech space is still a long distance away from maturity, finding and hiring these professionals also comes with significant headaches. One of the factors responsible is the neglect of quality teaching of STEM subjects like science, engineering, and IT in Nigerian schools.
But there is a talent market now building and giving young people, including married women with children such as Lesi Samson, the opportunity to realise their dreams of becoming software engineers.
These young people do not need to have a prior degree in mathematics, science or computer science, just the passion to succeed and the focus to see through every task assigned to them.
In fact, Decagon one of the organisations filling the shortage gap with well-trained software engineers brags about its capability to turn novices into sought after developers within months.
“I have learned to keep learning,” Sampson said. She was addressing her colleagues at the passing out of Decagon’s Squad 3 on Friday, 21 February.
Founded in 2018 by Chika Nwobi, Decagon Institute is on a mission to train 5000 software engineers, create 30,000 jobs, and generate about $1 billion in export revenue by 2023.
The institute has had three squad graduations so far; squad 1 (7 graduates), squad 2 (22 graduates), and squad 3 (34 graduates). The squad 4 program is currently ongoing.
Training software engineers around the world is an expensive venture, more so in Nigeria. Andela once told BusinessDay that training one engineer takes as much as $10,000 (N3.6 million).
Decagon said it spends N3 million on every candidate they train. Cost and the need to ensure only the best-qualified candidates make the program are partly the reason for the rigorous selection process the company has adopted.
Justina Dika-Oha, head marketing and communication, Decagon, describes the entire six months program as “An intensive and immersive in-house software engineering program that is taught by world-class engineers using an Agile delivery framework. It consists of a project focused instructor-led training.”
Last year the institute received a record over 25000 applications for the squad 4 recruitment and eventually selected about 1 percent.
Usually, every candidate is placed on a Pay-as-you-start-earning model that enables them to go through the program without the burden of paying the N3 million tuition. This is also responsible for the 100 percent completion rate of the program Decagon has recorded.
The institute also had a scholarship program that was designed for squad 3 candidates who are extremely smart to be part of the program. Prior to selecting candidates for the scholarship, Decagon has a pre-qualification booth camp. At the end of the Bootcamp the top three males and top three females are selected and interviewed by ACA. The final selected often comes down to a male and a female. Lesi Sampson is one of those on scholarship.
After completing the program the software engineers are placed with hiring partners. The hiring partners collaborate with the placement team to ensure the students get the required experience. There are also career fairs (Decagon Hire Day) where the institute gives companies the opportunity to interview, assess and hire engineers.
“We have relationships with companies within the local tech ecosystem like Seamfix, Access Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Workforce Group, and Terragon,” Dika-Oha said. “We also have partnerships with companies outside of Nigeria and we are actively growing our remote work capabilities.”
Beyond partnering with companies, Decagon also taps into a network of knowledgeable individuals. For instance, Aruma Oteh, former treasurer vice president of the World Bank was a special guest at the squad 3 graduation ceremony.
“I believe we should be telling more success stories like Decagon, that is one way we would encourage our young people,” Oteh told BusinessDay.
Nwobi who has founded four companies and exited them in the past, agrees with Oteh that young people need all the encouragement they can get. This, he said, aligns with Decagon’s mission.
“To whom much is given, much is expected,” Nwobi said.
After graduation, the software engineers will become part of an alumni program Decagon is creating. As part of plans to keep them connected to the institute, there are a series of events and career growth and specific training that will be made available to the alumni going forward.
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