About Us
DirectEd Development (DirectEd) provide tuition-free world-class training in foundational digital skills, web development and frontier technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, Blockchain and Cybersecurity.Our highly selective rigorous 1-year-long training program prepares students for a career in the most sought-after digital skills on the market.We uniquely provide guaranteed internships with Western tech startups and a monthly stipend to cover living expenses!
Our programme
We are creating a impact pipeline with three steps.
Intro Course: an accessible 1-week-long remote course in Python, requiring only a mobile phone.
Bootcamp: an intensive 12-week full-stack coding using te JavaScript MERN framework.
Specialisation: during this 9-month-long segment, students work in development teams of 2-4 under the guidance of more senior engineers building products for tech startups. They also spend part of their time specialising in one of our four focus areas: Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cybersecurity or Entrepreneurship.
We incorporate a range of evidence-backed elements from the behavioural research into our programme: growth mindset training, conditional and unconditional cash transfers, project-based learning and more.
Our Impact
In our first year of operations...
- 300+ students trained in basic coding through our intro course
- 40 students trained in our full-stack web development training
- 9x higher completion rate than typical online coding courses
- 50% of boot camp graduates in paid tech internships working with Western companies
Step-By-Step Process
1. Introductory Coding Course
We partner with top high schools in Kenya and Ethiopia. We then offer these students a free 1-week mobile phone-based remote coding course developed by us based in Harvard's CS50 Introduction to programming with Python.
2. Crowdfunding
To enable students who did well in the Introductory Course but who do not have a laptop and other resources needed to effectively participate in bootcamp, we run crowdfunding campaigns to finance Access Scholarships for these students.
Donations are made into Pools which can be earmarked for particular causes: alumni of a high school, gender or some other criteria. Access Scholarships are milestone-based meaning that they have to pass the monthly exams to continue to receive this support.
3. Bootcamp
After a merit-based selection process based on performance in the Intro Course, students enrol in a 12-week bootcamp. The BootCamp is free of charge and covers full-stack web development focusing on the JavaScript MERN stack.
4. Internship
Upon successfully completing our rigorous coding bootcamp, graduates interview for internships with our tech internship partners.
Stipends to support students through the internship
Specialization and advanced training
Tech entrepreneurship training
5. Employment
Once our students find employment as remote software engineers, we ask students to contribute part of their salary back to the same pool that financed their training, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of funding for future scholars.
6. Giving Back
Once our students are in high-paying tech jobs, it is time for them to start to pay it forward to support the next generation of students from their alma mater.
Our Team
Learn more about our team & advisors
Follow our work
Find out more about our organisation, our team, what we do and read monthly project updates on our Notion page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How do I join the bootcamp?
A. At this point, only students from our partner schools receive invitations to join our program. Use the contact form below if you would like to help us partner with your high school.Q. How can I apply for the scholarship?
A. Students from partner schools who have been admitted to the BootCamp are eligible to submit a scholarship application. We share the application form to those eligible.Q. Where is the program taking place?
A. Our program is fully virtual with the exception of three in-person meet-ups during the BootCamp.Q. How is the program taught?
A. We use the best available freely available open-source content that exists online. In addition, we've developed written course material and rigorous examination exercises. Students have quizzes every week and oral exams every 2 weeks. Tools students will familiarise themselves with as part of the training include Zoom, Linear, Notion, Piazza, GitHub and all Google suite tools.Q. Can we pay to enter the program?
A. You cannot be admitted by paying tuition, even if you are a student from our partner school. All students are admitted based on merit and we currently do not charge any up-front tuition fee.Q. How do you make this economically sustainable?
A. Our students agree to share a percentage of their income, but only if they get a high-paying tech job. This money goes back to finance the training of future scholars and to scale up our program to more schools and regions.
Contact
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