At the end of July, five students started the Shift programme at the Christchurch studio. The students come from a wide variety of backgrounds including air traffic control, economics, and geological engineering but all with the goal of moving into the tech sector for their future careers. Find out more about each in our article "Meet the Shift cohort".
Over the first few weeks, the students have been learning more about tech roles, visiting tech firms in Christchurch and delving into Python programming . They have participated in workshops on professionalism and ethics, Design Thinking and Agile - all with industry and academic facilitators.
As they have done this, they have reflected on their reasons for getting into the tech sector and the skills and expertise they bring with them. This reflection allowed them to establish what areas of strength the group has and what skills might be missing as they embark on their industry-inspired studio projects as a team. Their first project is a citizen science app so that people can record and share native planting activities.
Industry visits have been an integral part of the first few weeks with visits to Meta Digital and Cerebral Fix based at EPIC Innovation, along with Intergen and Jade. Visits provide a chance to talk to those in the sector and gives the companies a chance to find out about the next generation of professionals entering the industry.
During their second semester, the students will take specialised courses at one of the five partner institutions as well as working embedded with industry on an industry-project.
Contact us for more information on enrolments for 2018 at both Dunedin and Christchurch studios. Phone: 0800 990 024 or info@signal.ac.nz.
