Over the course of 16 weeks starting from 11 August, ten women will have the opportunity of a lifetime at becoming software engineers thanks to a renewed partnership between Tek Experts and Microsoft.
The ten-women software engineering cohort is in its second edition and provides immersive experiences for the trainees learning project management and development courses. It also helps Microsoft Leap to recruit, and train non-traditional talent for employability in the technology industry worldwide.
Microsoft Leap combines traditional classroom learning with hands-on projects for its ten-women software engineering cohort in Nigeria. During this 16-week timeframe, the participants will be mentored by the Tek Experts and Microsoft engineering teams in Lagos, Nigeria, and Redmond, Washington, USA.
“We are excited to partner with Microsoft again on the second cohort of the Leap program,” said Ashim Egunjobi, Head of Business Development at Tek Experts. “Tek Experts is committed to delivering high quality services to our clients and the best way to do that is by investing in female talent and equipping them with hands on experience that makes for long and successful careers in the IT field.”
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In the first cohort, the trainees received 4 weeks of classroom training on Software Support Engineering and 12 weeks of hands-on project training involving real-life scenarios at Tek Experts’ premises in Victoria Island, Lagos. Since the program ended, some graduates of the first cohort have gone on to take up full-time employment at Tek Experts as Technical Support Engineers.
Chun Lu, co-founder of the Microsoft Leap Apprenticeship Program said the program is part of the company’s mission to empower every person and every organisation in the world to achieve more.
“With 100% employability on Tek Experts for the first cohort, we are excited to partner with Tek Experts again on the second cohort to recruit and develop women engineers to serve communities in Nigeria and beyond. Microsoft Leap is committed to upskilling talent with the connectivity of employability not only to Microsoft but also to Microsoft enterprise partners,” Lu said.
The Microsoft Leap Apprenticeship Program (Microsoft Leap) is led by the Talent, Learning, & Insights organization at Microsoft (Redmond, USA), and is sponsored by Kevin Scott, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft.
The initiative is consistent with Tek Expert’s commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion in the IT field especially with regards to women in technology.
