Seven students on Friday, 6th December 2019, graduated from the cohort 1 of the Outbox EDU Core class. The class was held after a series of three EDU preparatory classes held subsequently from June 2018, March and June 2019. The EDU Core class ran from 2nd September until Friday 6th December when the students graduated. The seven graduands were amongst 10 participants who went through the program.
Outbox EDU Core is a 15-week full-time course consisting of two pathways; full-stack web or mobile development. Students who choose full stack web will learn Python, Javascript and Django whereas those who opt for mobile development will learn Java, Javascript, and Android.
12 weeks of this class were dedicated to curriculum and the remaining to group projects and personal development.
Like the previous preparatory class, the core class was deliberate on including women and people with disabilities. The class had three students with disabilities; two deaf and one physically impaired.
Outbox EDU is a 20 weeks work readiness running in two shifts; a five weeks Bootcamp (the prep class) followed by the 15 weeks Core Class.
Approximately 50 students have gone through the Outbox EDU Class since June 2018 when it started.
“When I joined the class and I learned that we would learn code, I did not know what to expect. I was a student of IT but had not heard about code. When we started class, it was so much The tutors and classmates were very helpful throughout the prep to the core class. I have learned a lot and cannot wait to go out and teach other people,” says Melissa Kaitesi, one of the deaf students.
In the course of the class, students were required to develop solutions in groups and individually as part of their profile development. At the graduation, they showcased the projects they built-in groups; an e-commerce shopping platform for people with visual impairment and an app that allows people with disabilities to easily access ride-sharing services. The theme in this class was building inclusive applications.
We were joined by Nicholas Hirya, the growth development manager at Fuzu; which is a career matching platform that uses a number of data points to match job seekers to employers. He shared about employability and the importance of investing in personal growth. He also shared about the current market demand for digital skills and opportunities that could be exploited by the students.
Musa Mwambu a disability inclusion facilitator from Make 12.4%, an initiative by Light for the World, commended Outbox for supporting its efforts to spearhead disability inclusion in workplaces. Outbox partners with Make 12.4% to offer scholarships and create reasonable accommodation for an enabling learning environment for students with disabilities.
Apply here if interested in joining the next EDU class.
