'Samsung Youth SW Academy' 3rd Cohort Graduates... Over 1,000 Employed in 2 Years

Trainees at the Samsung Youth SW Academy Seoul Campus are collaborating on a group project.

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Samsung Electronics announced on the 23rd that it held the graduation ceremony for the 3rd class of the 'Samsung Youth SW Academy' at the Seoul Multicampus Education Center.

The Samsung Youth SW Academy is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program implemented by Samsung as part of the 'Economic Revitalization and Job Creation Plan' announced in 2018, aimed at expanding the domestic IT ecosystem base and enhancing youth employment competitiveness.

Considering the COVID-19 pandemic, the online graduation ceremony was held non-face-to-face, with about 400 graduates participating from four regions nationwide including Seoul, Daejeon, Gwangju, and Gumi.

The graduates were connected via video call to award outstanding students and reflect on the past year while encouraging each other. In particular, high-performance laptops and practice kits were provided to the 3rd class students who started their education in January this year, enabling a hybrid of online and offline classes despite the challenging educational environment due to COVID-19.

In collaboration with Samsung Research at Samsung Electronics, an open-source development project was conducted, and two projects selected as outstanding were presented at the 'Samsung Open Source Conference,' the largest open-source conference in Korea.

Since its launch in December 2018, the Samsung Youth SW Academy has graduated 1,623 students through three classes, with 1,009 employed, showing an employment rate of 62%. Among the 500 students of the 4th class who entered in July this year and are scheduled to graduate in June next year, 91 succeeded in early employment within about six months of education.

The companies where these graduates found employment include over 370 organizations such as Samsung Electronics, LG CNS, Kakao, Shinsegae I&C, SK Holdings C&C, Lotte Information & Communication, Naver, Hyundai Motor Company, NH Nonghyup Bank, Shinhan Bank, and Hyundai Card.

The 'Samsung Youth SW Academy' operates a program that trains software developers equipped with the ability to be immediately deployed in companies through intensive education totaling 1,600 hours over one year, including daily 8-hour sessions and collaborative projects among students.

The education is conducted over one year in two semesters: the first semester focuses on building software fundamentals such as algorithms and coding, and the second semester provides advanced education based on projects that utilize development methods identical to real corporate work environments to cultivate practical developers. All students receive a monthly education support fund of 1 million KRW.

Samsung Electronics explained that company representatives who hired graduates evaluated them as immediately deployable in the field due to their experience with practical projects and as good colleagues for collaboration. The 5th class, consisting of 750 students, is scheduled to enter and begin education in January next year.

Choi Yoon-ho, President of Samsung Electronics' Management Support Office, said, "With the acceleration of digital transformation in daily life due to the COVID-19 situation, software has become more prominent than ever. I hope the students become key players who have confidence and vision as developers and can lead future changes."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.