A closer look at Devbridge's Sourcery Academy

Dalia PetuškienėMarketing & Communications

Sourcery, a forge of professional programmers, invites you to try your hand at a free academy.

The Lithuanian information technology sector occupies a significant place in the country's economy and is one of the fastest-growing. Although the number of professionals with programming skills is growing, the gap between the training of these professionals and the real market demand remains very large worldwide.

Founded a decade ago by Devbridge, a digital product and technology consultancy, The Sourcery Academy for Developers works actively to introduce students to the true standards of the business industry each year. According to the academy content creators, the time spent with the company's specialists is a great opportunity for students to gain practical professional skills and decide whether it is worthwhile to start a career in programming.

What major innovations await entrants to the Programmer Academy this year? How should one prepare for entry, and what should they look for when choosing programming training? Vytautas Paulauskas and Rimantas Benetis, the Directors of the Technology Departments at Devbridge, share insights at the Sourcery Academy for the Developers program.

Learning to work in teams

According to Devbridge Technology Director Rimantas Benetis, the students of the academy gain authentic work experience in the technology industry - we simulate the company's activities and work in teams on interesting projects.

"The content of the Sourcery Academy helps not only younger programmers to improve or broaden their skills, but also those who dream of changing professions and acquiring the basics and necessary knowledge to take the first steps in programming to see how global IT projects are implemented."

- Rimantas Benetis, Technology Director at Devbridge

According to the director, although lectures during the pandemic could only be given remotely during the past year, the increased number of students entering academies and their involvement in the teaching process proved that the format worked and the quality of the content remained unchanged.

"The format of the academy will remain similar this year as well. There will be ten distance lectures, and after the first sessions, students will start working on their team project. Academy participants will need to work together in the development of an IT product actively. The work will be based on the Agile principle for more than two months, working in two-week sprints. Students will improve their skills, and they will be helped by company professionals acting as mentors and lecturers," shared Rimantas.

According to Vytautas Paulauskas, Director of Engineering Practices, Devbridge looks to thoroughly review and update the training material, pay attention to student feedback, and take into account technological trends.

"Many want to learn or master a technology, or a programming language like JavaScript ES6 modules, React, Webpack, or ORM most often review online lectures by several presenters. However, the same technology is often presented differently; only the basics are introduced there, so naturally, questions arise. Where and how can one make the best use of this technology? Are there any alternatives? How do professional programmers work with this technology? Given these and similar issues, we will no longer teach the fundamentals in the lectures but will try to use technology to solve a practical problem. We will explain and put into practice how, on a daily basis, we use various technologies to create complex software solutions for the markets in Western Europe and North America," emphasizes Vytautas Paulauskas.

The academy will prepare you for a career in IT.

Vytautas Paulauskas says that when choosing any IT academy, it is important to pay attention to who provides the material, ideally, technology professionals. Only then will you be sure that you will receive answers to your questions during the course. It is always worth asking how the alumni of the academy have reacted to it from previous programs: what they liked, what they lacked. For example, whether they would choose the same training organizers and the course they teach again.

"After choosing Sourcery Academy for Developers, participants will learn web technologies, JavaScript (EcmaScript 2015+), React, and backend programming languages. If one of the potential students is very willing to work with the Java programming language, this is a decisive factor. They must be early in enrolling in the academy because this course will be offered again only in a year's time. Applicants must also already know the syntax of at least one programming language, control flow statements, and understand the basics of databases. Every lecture and working group of the academy will try to expand and use these foundations in a targeted way to create a real product," the director stresses.

How does The Sourcery Academy work?

The Sourcery Academy for Developers is a free three-month academy that is offered in the fall and spring every year. It is designed for beginners to develop programming competencies and integrate more quickly into the technology job market. Forty registered candidates from Vilnius and Kaunas will receive invitations to distance courses. Participants will work in groups, where everyone will broaden their knowledge during training and individual and group tasks. In the fall, participants will learn the JAVA programming language, and in the spring, .NET technologies.

Academy participants will create real web projects, consolidate the acquired theoretical knowledge through practice, apply Agile project management methodology and principles, and become acquainted with software development and implementation processes. Participants will work on real projects, attend remote weekly lectures, and improve their existing skills through teamwork. They will be accompanied by company professionals: mentors and lecturers. Those wishing to participate in the academy are invited to register by September 23, 2021.

More information about Sourcery Academy for Developers can be found here.