After ten years, we're closing our Software Development Program.
In August 2026, we graduated the last students from our Software Development Program. For 10 years, the program has been a reliable pathway for young South Africans to enter a high-earning career in tech. However, the trends in employment outcomes of our recent graduates have shown that this is perhaps no longer a reliable bet.
The market that we operate in has changed dramatically in a decade. When we started, we were one of a handful of coding “bootcamps” serving a booming tech industry, whereas now myriad providers are graduating students from relatively similar Software Development programs. At the same time, university has become much more accessible through NSFAS and the number of university graduates entering the job market each year has increased. With this shift in supply and demand, we have seen the requirements for “entry level” positions increasing, and entry level salaries dropping. Our Impact Report saw recent cohorts’ starting salaries less than half that of graduates who entered the job market in 2017/18.
If the Software Development Program is no longer the missing piece to create viable pathways for talented young people to reach their potential, then it must close. I feel this is our duty of care to a young person who already exists in a vulnerable and risky position in life.
Closing something is hard. It is counterintuitive to pull apart something one has so lovingly built. One of my greatest joys in creating CodeSpace was building a team who jointly served our students. Truly remarkable people put their hands up to be part of creating an education institution that takes its job of serving young people seriously. Teaching hard topics, creating an invigorating campus life, walking students through difficult transitions, opening doors that would otherwise have stayed closed.
As we close, I celebrate the team who built this, the students who trusted us with their learning, and those who supported us along the way.
CodeSpace lives on as a thriving network of young tech professionals that didn't exist a decade ago.
Written by hand by,
