Creating a graduate programme that delivers value
Malcolm Rabson, Group Managing Director at Dariel
With an unemployment rate of 34.9% and international research showing that skills shortages are among the most significant risks facing South African organisations today, more needs to be done to create an enabling environment for young people to find work.
In most local schools, teachers spend vast amounts of time conducting government-mandated administration instead of teaching. While capturing data relating to student development is essential, one cannot help but think that the time can be better spent. This assumes that the student/teacher relationship is still critical to rounded human development. The past two years have shown that digital content delivery has its place in skills development, especially youth. It has become entirely possible for students to progress at their own pace with high touch personal assistance provided when needed.
Even though it may be tempting to blame the education environment, the problem is much more systemic than that. For instance, tertiary institutions spend a lot of their time educating students on the theoretical knowledge required to earn a valuable degree. And while this is important, it is the practical element that invariably falls by the wayside.
Software engineering is an excellent example of this: Graduates may know how to code but may also they lack the understanding of what this means in the real world. Very few have insights on what it takes to run a project or how the theoretical methodologies work under specific business conditions. Of course, nobody expects someone fresh from university to have much experience, but the transition from full-time study to working as a software developer is significant.
Rethinking graduate programmes
Graduate programmes fulfil a critical part in providing graduates with opportunities to get started on the journey to gaining the practical knowledge and experience necessary to carve out career paths.
However, some programmes run the risk of merely becoming ‘intern mills’ that churn out resources that are simply assigned to corporate clients. Yes, there is pressure to address a growing skills gap in the local market, and there is pressure to create employment opportunities for graduates. But that should not have to come at the expense of a quality graduate experience.
To this end, the Dariel Engineer Acceleration Programme (DEAP) has been designed to provide an enabling environment for junior software engineering graduates. Since its inception in 2014, the annual programme has already given rise to more than 80 talented and passionate engineers.
With DEAP, Dariel has taken traditional graduate programmes and identified ways to enhance the approach. Recruitment to join DEAP entails a rigorous niche selection process from thousands of applicants across the top tertiary institutions in the country. Of those, only 20 make the cut.
These individuals are immersed in a dynamic environment that provides extensive practical training and one-on-one mentoring while a team of advanced software engineers support their learning. Such is the intensity of DEAP, that graduates reach an intermediate software engineering level within 18 months.
The secret sauce behind this success is focusing on giving graduates the practical knowledge essential to be relevant in a digitally-driven job environment. It takes the theoretical foundation provided by universities and enhances it with an intensity designed to get the best out of those selected graduates.
A broad focus
The digital divide results in the need to find effective ways to give more students access to the resources required to be part of an ICT environment.
Software engineers need a broad scope of skills to become multi-faceted and gain a more comprehensive understanding of various elements in the development chain. The advantage of this is also its biggest challenge – South African software engineers have become attractive targets for international firms. At a time when remote working is not only possible but encouraged, these engineers can stay in-country and command competitive rates. The international firm has a multi-talented engineer they can use that comes in at a fraction of the cost of what they would pay in Dollar rates. The risk in this is, that local companies struggle to fill the skills gap internally.
By leveraging DEAP, Dariel can deliver the best of both worlds. It develops the skills that graduates need to become successful while providing them with the opportunities to get exposed to local companies across industry verticals.
Even so, the road to managing skills development, job creation, and bridging the gap from university to the world of work is fraught with obstacles. Fresh opportunities, like that which Dariel’s DEAP programme affords talented software engineers, are not only welcome, but essential to help overcome these challenges.