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Yes, it is absolutely suitable for newbies. No prior knowledge or experience in tech is necessary. The questions about prior experience are simply to gather statistics about applicants and interest, they will not be used in the selection process. The tests and hackathon will not check IT know-how, but thinking approach, attitude and motivation.
Applicants must be located in the Baltics or connected to Latvia and hold at least a high school diploma. A computer with a working webcam is also required, as well as a stable internet connection. You need to be able to learn in English.
For the full-time program, expect about 40 hours per week dedicated to learning. You will be expected to attend virtual meetings during your program meeting days for events including daily standups, live coding sessions, coding collaboration sessions, and tech start up of the week. These meetings last 30-60 minutes each and are counted in the estimated time commitments per week.
Short answer: No. The free 100 spots in the first batch are provided for full-time students, who will not be able to combine studies in the program with a full-time job or a very busy life outside of work. In the future there will be other opportunities to join the program and learn at a less intense pace. However, currently we will recruit for the full-time intense program.
This program is suitable for those who want to start a career in tech as well as those who want to start their own startup. Our partner IT companies will be also offering employment opportunities after the program.
Yes, the whole program is 12 months including both modules.
The Level of English proficiency should be proving that you can learn and have professional language use experience. For example a document stating that you have a degree at a university that was obtained in English language is also sufficient.
The program is full-time for 12 months starting Aug/Sept 2024 and ending Aug/Sept 2025. There will be some breaks / vacation periods, for example in the Christmas-New Year period.
Currently we are recruiting the first batch for the full-time 12 month program. In future we would like to offer the possibility to learn part-time as well, in this case the program would cost 5000 EUR, unless we get some other supporters or donors to support the part-time students. As the studies are self-driven, the length of the learning depends on the student individually, typical in half-time the program would take 18-24 months to complete.
There are no professors or instructors who manage your learning for you, but instead there is a program manager, similar to a coach. Your program manager is there to support you in your projects, exercises, and learning, but they are not there to write code for you or debug your code. You are responsible for your learning, just as you are responsible for getting your work done in a job. As a learner, you have access to all of your work and projects throughout each track. You need to learn to manage your time, plan your work, and advance in your studies. Program managers facilitate meetings including daily standups, live coding sessions, coding collaboration sessions, and tech start up of the week.
The program costs 5000 eur per student, if someone will not be able to get accepted among the top 100 participants, whose study fee is covered by the industry. It might be possible to join as a paying student, if there will be such demand.
Yes, the program is available for international students as well as Latvians living outside Latvia. There will be several on site events, however, remote participation will be possible. Our aim is to support new startup development in Latvia, so further relocation will be much appreciated.
No – all materials for this program and its courses are included in the tuition paid by the supporters. There are no other additional expenses such as textbooks for this program. There is no application fee to apply to our program, only an enrollment fee of 250 EUR.
This program uses software that will work on a Chromebook. You do not need to purchase a powerful computer in order to complete this program. You will need stable internet access and a good connection, however, in order to participate and learn in our program.
There are no employment guarantees in our program, however we work with students to prepare them for the application and interview process. Programs include a track called TIPP (Technical Interview Preparation Program) to prepare and engage learners in industry-standard technical interviews. We review student resumes and LinkedIn profiles to fine-tune them for ATS-screening processes. Our graduates have a strong technical portfolio and the skill set to be successful in industry.
Yes. We are located at Startup House Riga, however, the program will be hybrid and not all 100 students will have the possibility to study on site all the time.