definition for: #siliconcape100

Building human capital and a skilled society - Get involved and set a world record!!! During the Software Week from the 13th to the 19th of October 2012, we will be attempting to set a World Record for the number of people trained, mentored and certified in a software skill in one week. We are offering 100 free seats to the 3 Day Software Week conference from the 15th to the 17th October at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) to SiliconCape members who are willing to allocate at least 4 hours of their time to mentor aspiring software professionals. We will be establishing centres around Cape Town and surrounding areas in the Western Cape to offer FREE software programming and skills training, mentoring and certification. If you are a software programmer or have a related software skill such as design and are prepared to spend a few hours of your time to help others, this is an opportunity to be part of a revolution and movement that could stimulate education, develop skills, help create job opportunities to grow our economy. What Are The Benefits? One third of our population are youths and more than half of them are unemployed. There is a growing and continuing demand for software skills and opportunities for entrepreneurs with the advent of internet and mobile technologies. Software programming stimulates structured thinking and can be taught as a language to help introduce and understand more complex abstract concepts such those in Maths and Science. Harsh economic conditions have made it difficult for individuals and companies to allocate funds. But you can make a difference with the most precious gift you can give - your time, skills and experience. While there is a need to develop infrastructure, the greatest need lies in human capital development. We simply do not have enough people engaged and able to pass on necessary skills. We are not only aiming for a world record but a transformation. We hope this initiative will inspire people and companies. We plan on creating a register of all those who participated. These will include those who have gained a software skill for the first time as well as those that are experienced but needing work. Software Programming and Software Skills Sought We are looking for individuals who have software related skills on just about any software programming language and platform. We are currently planning this activity with industry partners like Microsoft and Oracle as well as Open Source partners and trainers. This includes training in web and mobile and we welcome anyone with knowledge of HTML and Javascript, Java, .NET, PHP, Ruby on Rails, Python, etc. and SQL and database programming. If you want to get involved but do not have software programming skills and can offer other related skills such as guidance and mentoring on design or analysis or any other related area, let us know. We will register everyone participating and those that have received training or mentorship. We will provide online tests for the relevant training. We will issue special Software Week certificates for the skills gained. We will provide further information on education and career opportunities. We will publish our results and all registered skills to potential employers and companies which includes new skills created and more junior to senior software professionals. How Can I/We Get Involved? There are various ways you or your company or organisation can assist us. We are looking for people and companies or organisations ... like software programmers and those with software skills to assist with training or mentoring that can provide a computer facility or centre who can help with marketing and communication who can assist with certification like auditing firms that can assist with auditing that can help us with publishing and print which could include advertising that can provide sponsorship that have other contributions or suggestions