WoTech
for women in Estonia & Latvia
12 months (300+ hours of expected participation)
WoTech is a reskilling program which prepares women for a junior positions in the programming field.
During this 12 months program, 100 women in Estonia and 100 women in Latvia will:
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get access to free training in programming
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develop a network among the local community of learners and recruiters
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develop soft-skills that support career change
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Short Description:
Program duration: estimated to start in March 2024 and last until March 2025
Price: FREE
Application period: estimated to open in December 2023-January 2024
Language: English
Application criteria: no previous IT-related job or learning experience required, just a motivation to pivot a career to IT + readiness to work hard & study independently.
Course structure: contact courses online (about 200h) related to programming, webinars to increase soft skills, and mandatory internship at the end of the course.
What to expect as a learner?
During the program learners will go though a thorough training giving fundamental tools to start working as junior programmers. Preliminary topics, that will be covered (may change): Java, SQL, DevOps, AI.
The programming related course will require about 180-220 learning hours. Learners will be expected to take part of online contact meetings (held in the evenings and weekends), practice independently and work in groups.
To finish the program successfully and most importantly - get a job in the ICT field - learners must go for an internship of at least 2 months. Internship is mandatory to successfully finish the program and get the certificate. Participants must find the suitable internship themselves - though there will be support from the program side in finding the job and internship openings.
It is possible to substitute internship with directly starting a new job in your chosen or similar field., or to continue studying programming in a course that lasts also minimum 2 months. Internship (or work or study) positions must be secured by the end of the program, but can be carried out after the program.
There will be additional webinars organised to increase learners soft skills and career possibilities. Those meetings are held online and start when the programming course is almost done. The topics covered in the webinars will boost skills that are important to analyse oneself regards future career choices, prepare a CV and motivation letter, develop team-working and digital communication skills, and stand out when applying to jobs.
The instructors of webinars may give learners additional independent tasks/exercises to be completed before or after the webinars to deepen the learning curve.
During the whole program learners get to meet inspirational speakers from different IT companies and to learn more about different job possibilities in the field of ICT.
The learners will find themselves in an warm and friendly learning environment. Learners are organised into smaller learning groups of 5-6 learners, allowing to get to know each other better. The program managers are at disposal to support learners in every way they can.
Criteria for candidates
The program accepts applications from candidates, who have:
- strong desire and motivation to start a career in ICT
- ability to dedicate approximately 8-12 hours per week for studies
- basic IT skills (to search for information in web, use ready made applications, etc)
- a level of English that enables studying in English
- a previous specialization in some other field or at least 3 years of working experience after high-school
How to apply?
To apply to the program, go to the online form in Google Forms (will be published here when the application period starts) and provide us with the following information:
- your contact details
- link to your LinkedIn profile (if you do not have it, then now it is the time to do it ;))
- a motivation letter, where you explain your motivation and thrive to start working in the IT field, as well as your capabilities & resources for fulfilling the course criteria
- an answer to a practical exercise (you will learn more about it, when the application period starts).
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Criteria for passing the program
To pass the program, the leaner must:
- finish the programming course (about 180-220 learning hours)
- attend 90% of the webinars related to soft-skills
- go for an internship/start additional IT related studies or start working in the IT field
Learners, who meet the criteria above will get a certificate stating that they have passed the program.
The team
The program is run by an experienced team from Smartworkacademy (Estonia) and Riga TechGirls (Latvia)
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