At Wise Minds, we believe it is important for young people to have the opportunity to use their talents. Young people who normally get few opportunities in society. Hence, we have launched the Wise Minds Academy. What does this entail? Allow me to discuss further.
Full skills at the end of the ride
In setting up the Wise Minds Academy, we aimed to send young people out into the world with a skill set. We did this with online courses for software development. So that at the end of the ride, participants have the necessary skills to build a website or app. In the course, we go through a curriculum. We start with HTML, CSS, JavaScript then progress to PHP, Laravel and ReactJS.
We also envisioned developing a kind of Uber for WordPress developers. A sort of Upwork, but for building WordPress websites. Here, developers could earn extra money with individual jobs. That way, you offer young people a low-entry barrier to establish themselves in the job market as entrepreneurs.
Young talent at Wise Mind
At Wise Minds we see a lot of young talent passing by. Who we would like to offer a spot as a trainee. In some years, we train up to twelve interns, who all stay with us for about 6 to 12 months.
What we often hear from our trainees is that they try very hard to apply, but every time they are not given a chance to prove themselves further. Some of them have applied at over 50 companies. I see around me that many young people with a migration background, who grow up with a small wallet, and live in disadvantaged neighbourhoods where there are issues, are often not embraced in the labour market. Their potential is also less likely to be recognised, whereas I believe these young people can actually add value to the labour market. As long as we can use their talents. We hope that the talents of these young people will slowly become more and more recognised by the business world. This is what we also hope to play a role in with the Wise Minds Academy. After all, the demand for developers is incredibly high.
Focus on community building
The courses are available online. In addition, we would like to build an interactive community. This will be an online environment where questions will be answered, and where we can talk to each other. Community building will be an important part of the Wise Minds Academy. One part is focused on mentoring which we have proven we are able to offer young people. There has never been a trainee with us who has not come back.