The SAFIPA-Meraka Institute code-sprints program; a mechanism to enhance the development capacity of emerging developers - Observations and Lessons Learned

South Africa produces a large number of engineering and computer science graduates annually. There is a perception that many of these graduates are not work ready and require additional training before they can contribute to large scale information and communication technology initiatives. This perception is substantiated through the various interventions employers use to expose the young graduates to, in order to improve their skills and to be able to contribute on projects. Various models have been experimented with, to improve the skills of these young graduates. This paper presents experiences gathered from executing two code-sprints. The code-sprints live up to the expectations of the sprinters and arm them with skills required in industry. The sprinters also added required functionality to the two code-sprint targets.