Technology is at the core of nearly every industry in the world, and with more and more businesses looking to employ those with online engineering skills, the best language to study is no longer Mandarin: it is coding.
This is according to Aaron Fuchs, CEO and founder of iXperience, a technology boot camp aimed at UK and US students who are looking to combine an educational internship with a visit to one of the most beautiful cities in the world: Cape Town.
Defined as the ability to translate instructions into a programming language that a computer will understand, coding has become one of the most desirable skills of the 21st century. According to Fuchs, the need for skilled programmers has never been so acute, with reports indicating that in the United States alone “more than 1 million programming jobs will go unfilled by the year 2021”.
With only a few formal institutions teaching the skills to meet this need, and with demand at an all-time high, Cape-born Fuchs identified a huge gap in the physical education space. At iXperience students acquire desirable computer programming skills in a matter of weeks and are thus equipped for the high-impact jobs of tomorrow. Situated in Cape Town’s City Bowl, iXperience is also the only career academy of its kind with headquarters in South Africa.
The format is an intensive, four week course during which students learn new skills, followed by a four week practical internship where students apply their experiences. Students are taught by internationally-acclaimed software experts while mastering the ability to code and build web applications. In the process, with surfboards and mountain bikes adorning the walls of the iXperience headquarters, students are also encouraged to embrace a work-life balance and explore Cape Town and its many offerings.
In order to ‘graduate’ from iXperience, students conceptualise and develop an app which could potentially become a successful start-up. “There is massive potential here,” says Fuchs “and with students’ boundless creativity we’ve seen many exciting apps being developed right here at the foot of Table Mountain.”
Fuchs says the fact that Cape Town is such an inspirational city is exactly why he chose to launch his career academy here, and not overseas. It also provides students with the opportunity to use the skills they learn to make a real impact at grassroot level, he adds.
In spite of the programme only being open to US and UK students, Fuchs nevertheless aims to uplift local companies and communities. Students are encouraged to develop web applications which will have a positive social impact in Africa. Additionally, regular workshops are held in the evenings with local tech companies – like Greenpop, Siyelo, 22Seven and Platform45 – to show students how they are using technology to shape Cape Town’s future.
“Coding really provides a way to have a real impact on a micro and macro level, and it is also the path to a dream career,” says Fuchs, who spends a lot of his time coding from Clifton beach, an “office” that needs only “sunscreen and fully charged laptops.” The ability to “speak code” is also the skill which many “young millionaires” with start-ups in the online space have in common – Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg being a prime example.
Fuchs, who left the comforts of farm life in South Africa on a full bursary to Yale, and who then traded the cut-throat boardrooms of Wall Street for an impactful life in Cape Town, urges iXperience students to dream big – and they do. iXperience alumni have succeeded in landing internships at, amongst others, Bain & Company, Microsoft and Facebook.
The success of iXperience and its students has inspired Fuchs to introduce two new programs to the academy: iX Finance and iX Consulting. Both of these courses will follow the existing 8-week coding framework with internships offered at local consulting and finance firms.
“Combining the experience of living in possibly the most beautiful city in the world, while leaving mentally and emotionally enriched, is how I will sum up a summer at iXperience. It is by far the most inspiring learning environment any student could ask for,” says Fuchs.
The iX-programs take place in 8-week block sessions during the UK and US summer breaks, and, says Fuchs, due to an increase in demand a fourth session was added to the iX-Code line-up for the 2015 calendar. The next session launches in May this year.