It has not been so long before we got faced with COVID-19, but it has already begun to affect many aspects of our lives. We started to feel its social and political effects deeply in our daily life. Our routine has changed. Measures have taken by governments, the majority of people trying to stay home. Although we are not used to living in these moments of crisis, -which we only see in the movies- somehow, we need to adapt ourselves daily and professionally. Many people have moved to the cloud, but there were already some people there: web developers.
HackYourFuture
In HackYourFuture Belgium, a coding school for refugees, we already adapted ourselves to this strangeness. An essential part of our coding program is online self study and exercises.
“We have a lot of experienced coaches around, so it was not that difficult at all to switch our Sunday offline classes to virtual ones :”, says Yavuz (HYF student).
More than 50 students are currently attending online classes thanks to volunteer coaches. They answer student’s questions and guide them in their homework. Students express that they are missing our warm offline-class atmosphere in Brussels, their friends and especially ’the delicious foodsharing’. According to one of our students, 'being a community also means that we share our bad times and struggles'.
“Because we feel the need of keeping in close contact with our students, we do e-coffee meetings instead of homework reviews on Sunday mornings”, tells Lien, community manager for HYF.
Mentorship with HR students
HackYourFuture is not just an ordinary coding school. It prepares students for their new lives after their graduation as well. It can be very difficult to find your path in a completely new sector, especially for refugees and disadvantaged migrants. Getting a new job means: many interviews, creating your network, having a proper resume and a cool LinkedIn profile. So, it is completely another proficiency.
Thanks to a new partnership between Artevelde University for Applied Sciences and HYF Belgium , a new mentorship program has launched this week. Artevelde’s HRM students are coaching our HYF students to give their Belgian career start a boost.
“It’s amazing what student-mentors are capable of if you make them responsible for a specific coachee and when they feel that their support is appreciated”, says Jo Lefevere (program manager for Bachelor HRM/Social Work).
The aim of the mentorship is to support our students to search for a job as a junior web developer on the one hand, and bringing practice closer to the HRM students. As Margaux, one of them, summarizes: “This project is an unforgettable experience for me. The enthusiasm, perseverance and drive of the HYF students is so contagious that we achieve great goals.”
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