Academy

Learn to ship.Build the next software economy.

Africa Code Academy was formed with the fundamental belief in the power of Africa, and its people, to shape its own future.

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Maseru, Lesotho

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Gaborone, Botswana

// Training thesis

Develop local talent to train and lead the next generation of developers. Ship real products from week one.

Today, only 6 percent of young people in sub-Saharan Africa are enrolled in higher education institutions compared to the global average of 26 percent. However, by bringing lightweight and modern technical training to those without previous opportunity, we believe in the potential to spark a revolution across the continent.

Our aim is to develop local talent to train and lead the next generation of developers to lead this revolution.

Technical and vocational education and training have not been a top priority for many African countries. In 2012, technical and vocational programs accounted for only 6 percent of total secondary enrolment in the region, a slight drop from 7 percent in 1999.

Training model

A real startup environment, not a classroom simulation.

The Academy model is organized around cohorts, sprint delivery, code review, product judgment, and developer responsibility.

Geared for trained programmers

Engineering Residency Program

The ACA Distributed Engineering Residency Program is modeled as a real-world distributed startup development team. Participating developers go through a 16 week program in two distinct phases: a month-long instructional and evaluation phase, followed by an intensive development phase where participants deliver real software.

This program serves as a bridge to employment for students and graduates while providing an opportunity to hone and develop real-world software engineering skills through a virtual software startup environment.

We guide developers through a full range of engineering best practices and techniques used by world-class engineers as they design and develop real software.

We also seek to work with local corporations and government agencies to place graduates into real jobs upon successfully completing the program.

A learning environment that mirrors a real company

Unique Class Organization

Every class at ACA is organized like a software company and taught by instructors or Engineers in Residence who themselves could be alumni of the program. Companies are comprised of 15-20 Devs who work together on projects in ad hoc teams of 2-3.

In order to graduate from the session, devs work collectively toward personal, team, and company goals that are determined at the beginning of the session.

Sessions led by Engineers in Residence
Assisted by teaching assistants or Project Managers
First day: Devs choose the company name, logo, and vision
First project: build the company homepage

Learn by solving problems using key programming concepts

Project-Based Learning

Over the course of 10-15 week sessions, ACA's curriculum is based around projects and broken up into 1-2 week sprints. At the beginning of each sprint, Devs are presented with a problem requiring the use of key programming concepts to solve.

While the goal is to find the solution, it is also to learn the process of investigation by breaking down problems into smaller manageable pieces. Teams are required to work together on projects designed to span multiple sprints.

Lectures once a week, with the rest of the week devoted to projects
Daily morning standup meeting to share goals and progress
The final project represents the culmination of each Dev's work
Demo Day consists of project presentations and, of course, a party

Attracting talent and nurturing from within

Training, Retention, and Replication

One of the crucial challenges for any company is to attract and retain top talent. In the case of the ACA, we have the unique ability to not just attract, but to directly develop talent from within.

We intentionally refer to lead instructors as Engineers in Residence because they play a key role in designing and developing the platform from within the school itself. This continuous development of code contributes to the meaningful advancement of the platform for future classes.

Top students are offered assistant or Project Manager positions
Project Managers will, in turn, be offered Engineer in Residence positions
The virtuous circle helps propel school growth and aids autonomy
New academies can be established in other areas

The platform itself is used, developed, and improved by students

Devs Help Build The Platform

A fundamental way that the Academy will continue to evolve and improve is to utilize the development platform used by the students. Advanced class projects include various tasks that enhance and improve the software used by Devs.

Enhancements to the platform can be proposed by Devs
Engineers in Residence can decide whether to include enhancements
Students validate key learning concepts by actually adding to the platform

/AI-native

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"AI won't replace humans-but humans with AI will replace humans without AI."

Join the academy that teaches not just how to code but how to lead AI in building the code.

The Next Generation Of Software Development Starts In Africa

Action

Applications reopen next cycle.

The current Engineering Residency Program cohort is underway. Prospective students can review the program model now and check back for the next public application window.

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