End of term hackathon at codeX Coding Academy in Cape Town
CAPE TOWN – SOME 40 young South African coders have coders applied their skills to create innovative enterprise software web and mobile applications and components as part of moves to empower local youth.
A hackathon is a design sprint-like event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers, project managers, and others, often including subject-matter-experts, collaborate intensively on software projects
Steltix, the Netherlands-headquartered international software solutions firm, sponsored the end-of-term hackathon at codeX Coding Academy in Cape Town.
The four-day event marked the conclusion of this year’s coding calendar for the Academy’s junior software developers who are now available to work as coders within South Africa.
By using the Oracle JET toolkit the developers built applications and components in only two days, some of which can already be used by Steltix.
Oracle JET (Javascript Extension Toolkit) offers a flexible and easy way to develop web applications using Javascript as the core language and then utilizing the Oracle JET component library to rapidly build web and mobile applications that is compatible with any device that runs a web browser.
Fritz Hölscher, Managing Director of Steltix South Africa, the hackathon positively impacted the young coders prior to beginning their long and fruitful careers.
Some of them will join the Steltix internship programme in 2018, where they will continue to apply the skills.
“We are looking forward to continue the relationship between Steltix, codeX and Oracle in 2018,” Hölscher said.
Cara Turner, codeX Chief Executive Officer, said the year-end hackathon mirrored a workplace team environment and thus reinforced the codeX approach to coding which favored collaboration over competition.
The approach is lauded for bringing out the best coding skills each person has developed over the past year. Rather than aiming for an overall winner, it sets a vital precedent for success in the working environment.
“Collaboration, consultation and negotiation are all key skills that our employers need, and don’t find with other graduates,” Turner said.
Steltix South Africa and codeX have previously collaborated on a ‘Code Bootcamp’ programme which assisted aspiring student developers in kickstarting their careers.
– CAJ News
