Mindera School: Building brighter futures

Education is a cornerstone of Mindera’s mission to use its success to create a fairer, more inclusive society. Access to learning delivers opportunities for people to break down socioeconomic barriers. Recognising the power of education to transform lives and the growing demand for technology skills, in 2018 we opened our flagship initiative, Mindera School in Portugal. Yes, when Mindera commits to something, as our clients know, it’s all or nothing! We go large!

Of course, if you’re going to launch a project with the potential to change people’s lives, you have to do it properly – there are no half measures. So, there were lots of hard work and sleepless nights spent worrying about whether we were doing the right thing, finding the ideal location and working out the perfect curriculum. But when Mindera School’s doors opened and we welcomed our first intake of local students from disadvantaged backgrounds, it wasn’t long before we knew it was absolutely worth the effort. The delight on students’ faces. The excitement at learning important technology skills. The hope of a brighter future.

Making an impact

Eight years later, and Mindera School has proven to be everything we’d hoped – making a significant impact in increasing students’ employability in software engineering and development. More than a third of those who’ve attended are now employed as minders, proving the school’s effectiveness in developing market-ready talent. Of course, this also means Mindera is benefiting as much as our students! As are the other companies that our former students are now working for. We’re all gaining from realising the potential of people whose potential might never have been realised. So, how does it work?

Mindera School delivers a 10-month course heavily based on hands-on agile and iterative projects. It teaches software programming and development, and prepares young people, who for some reason would not have the opportunity to continue investing in learning, to start working as soon as they finish the course. Students have access to a monthly scholarship.

The Mindera School course is split into two phases:

• The first 8 months are in a classroom context.
• The final 2 months are used to shadow minders while they work on their daily team tasks.

Software and soft skills

Although the curriculum is 90% focused on learning software development, 10% is dedicated to developing soft skills, such as self-knowledge, communication, teamwork and time management. Why are we teaching soft skills? Because they are increasingly in demand, with 92% of hiring managers believing they are as or more important than technical skills for tech roles, according to a recent LinkedIn survey.

This is down to soft skills being transferable, highly relevant to automation and AI, and essential for success in areas like teamwork, leadership and communication, which are hard to automate.

Who’s teaching at Mindera School? Well, it’s a ‘geek to geek’ programme! All lessons are delivered by our minders who give their time, energy and love to this beautiful project.

To find out more about Mindera School and its education programme, contact the Mindera Education team…