Here is a heartening, positive update from Tech Career, which is rising to the challenge of the pandemic —
Dear friends,
We hope you are doing well during these challenging times.
During the ongoing crisis, your support and faith is more important to us than ever. It is allowing Ethiopian Israeli young adults to benefit from high quality technology training and embark on promising careers in Israel’s high tech industry, and is reducing socioeconomic gaps in Israeli society.
Tech-Career is proud to update that the Israel Innovation Authority approved our request for support in the framework of their emergency training and placement track!
The Authority will support courses to train 160 students in 2021! This will allow us to significantly increase the number of courses this coming year in light of the growing demand.
Following a second Wix Hiring Hackathon for recent graduates of Tech-Career’s Full Stack Software Developers’ courses, Wix hired four talented graduates at the beginning of November 2020:
Tamrat Bayech, Avshalom Mogus, Yaakov Hailu and Yaakov Avraham. Ten Tech-Career graduates are now working at Wix!!
Tech-Career and Wix are now working on replicating our successful collaboration model with other high tech companies.
We are now planning a festive event for Tech-Career students, graduates and leading high tech companies. The event, which will take place on February 2nd, will include a panel with senior Wix employees and Tech-Career graduates working at the company, who will discuss the strategic partnership between the organizations, which led to the successful recruitment of junior employees without experience, and the impact of diversity on the success of the company. Tali Semani, an Ethiopian Israeli clinical psychologist and entrepreneur who was chosen as one of TheMarker Magazine’s 40 most successful young people of 2018, will lecture on the importance of diversity in the workplace and the advancement of equality in the high tech industry. HR professionals from top companies will be providing lectures to Tech-Career students on their recruitment processes. It would be our pleasure to have you join us – please stay tuned for further details.
At the beginning of December, Tech-Career held its second organizational Hackathon.
For 36 intensive hours, Full Stack Software Development students worked in teams on 3 initiatives all created by Ethiopian Israeli commercial and social entrepreneurs, gaining practical experience towards placement, accompanied by graduates, mentors and long-time high tech entrepreneurs. The Hackathon received media attention and was covered by the People and Computers blog and by Reshet 13 TV.
Full Stack Software Development students took on final projects at AT&T.
Working in small groups with mentors from the company, students implemented the knowledge they acquired, and gained hands-on experience by creating live projects in collaboration with our strategic partner AT&T. A team of students created an application called Lightback, which manages volunteer platforms that connect people with different skills. Tech-Career decided to use this app to manage its volunteers and we are now working on the specs with a group of students.
Four Tech-Career graduates applied for the competitive Our Generation Speaks three-month fellowship and incubator program at Brandeis University where emerging leaders create high-impact ventures. We hope that at least one of these graduates will join the ranks the of 2 Tech-Career graduates who participated in the program in the past two years, Michal Aimelak and Orly Elazar.
Tech-Career is currently running four online courses: Full Stack Software Development, Cisco DevNet, Salesforce Implementers, and CodeIN – with 77 students who are studying remotely from their Tech-Career apartments.
Much emphasis is being placed on independent study and study in small groups with volunteer tutors. We are now working with IBM SkillsBuild, a cloud-based platform that digitally compiles Tech-Career course content for our students: exercises, exams, lectures, written materials, presentations etc. The platform also provides additional free courses and content that will allow our students to develop skills in new technological and digital fields.
Following is a short update on each course:
- Tech-Career’s current Full Stack Software Development course began on December 21 with 22 students (8 women). The course lecturer is Yaakov Ingedau, a Tech-Career graduate from 2017. This is the fifth course opening in 2020 and Tech-Career’s 40th course since 2002!
- Tech-Career’s Cisco DevNet course began on September 1 with 18 highly motivated students. Beyond their regular intensive studies, students gain enrichment on a variety of topics including Python, Linux, Oracle Cloud, VoIP, and Network monitoring provided by the course’s pedagogical advisor, Tech-Career 2011 CCNP graduate Yaakov Nagose. Program graduates will be eligible for three international certifications: CCNA R&S CCNP Core and DevNet Associates.
- Tech-Career’s Salesforce Implementers course began on August 26 in partnership with CRM-Period. This is a new Tech-Career course for people with non-technology-related academic backgrounds who wish to change fields to a technology related one. 10 out of 13 course participants are women, and most have degrees in arts and social sciences or technology degrees without practical experience. Students are in the midst of the second half of this course having completed their theoretical studies and have begun practical training with companies and NGOs including Check Point, Latet, Belev Echad and Adama Makhteshim.
- Tech-Career celebrated the opening of the new CodeIN course for residents of Israel’s social and geographic periphery, Arabs, ultra-Orthodox, young people with special needs and Ethiopian Israelis at a Zoom event on October 27. The course is being implemented in partnership with JDC Israel and the Lod Young Adults’ Center. Event participants included Labor and Social Services Minister Itzik Shmuli, Head of Labor Branch Motti Elisha, JDC-TEVET CEO Einav Aharoni-Yones, and Tech-Career board and staff.
You may take tremendous satisfaction in knowing that these achievements are made possible by your faith and significant support throughout the years.