Samsung SW Talent 5,000 Raised by Lee Jae-yong, Active in IT, Finance, and More

Samsung Holds SSAFY 9th Graduation Ceremony on 19th
Over 5,000 Graduates Achieve Employment Success
Collaboration with External Companies Including Finance for Talent Development

Samsung's 'Samsung Youth SW Academy (SSAFY)', operated to nurture software (SW) talent, has completed its 9th term activities. It has been revealed that over 5,000 graduates, accounting for 85% of SSAFY alumni, have been employed in numerous companies across IT, telecommunications, finance, and other sectors, showcasing their SW capabilities. Recently, as employment of SW talent in the financial sector has increased, the scope of cooperation between Samsung and the five major banks in talent development projects has also expanded.

Samsung Youth SW Academy (SSAFY) Seoul Campus 9th batch trainees are taking a commemorative photo ahead of their graduation ceremony. / Photo by Samsung

On the 19th, Samsung held the SSAFY 9th term graduation ceremony at the SSAFY Seoul Campus in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. SSAFY is a CSR program launched by Samsung in 2018 as part of its 'Economic Revitalization and Job Creation Plan' to expand the domestic IT ecosystem base and enhance youth employment competitiveness.

The graduation ceremony was attended by Lee Jeong-han, Director of Employment Policy at the Ministry of Employment and Labor; Yoon Chang-hyun, member of the People Power Party; Hong Jeong-min, member of the Democratic Party; Park Hak-gyu, President of Samsung Electronics' Management Support Office; as well as outstanding graduates and families of the 9th term graduates, totaling about 100 people. The 9th term graduates who could not attend in person participated online.

President Park Hak-gyu said on the day, "In today's rapidly advancing generative artificial intelligence (AI) era, SW talents like you can achieve unimaginable things by demonstrating your capabilities," and added, "I hope you grow into excellent talents with confidence in the path you have chosen."

Lee Jae-hong, a 9th term SSAFY trainee, speaking as a family representative, said, "When Jae-hong was accepted into SSAFY, I was initially worried whether he could adapt well as a non-major," but added, "It was truly admirable and proud to see him developing his own skills with the help of SSAFY."

Samsung Focuses on Nurturing Practical Software Talent through SSAFY

SSAFY aims to cultivate developers equipped with practical skills through intensive education totaling 1,600 hours over one year, with daily 8-hour sessions and collaborative projects among trainees. Samsung selects 1,150 SSAFY trainees twice a year for training. Currently, about 1,150 trainees of the 10th term, who started in June, are undergoing education, and the 11th term will be newly selected in January next year.

Samsung operates the SSAFY education program free of charge and provides all trainees with a monthly education stipend of 1 million KRW. Additionally, to support trainees' employment, Samsung holds job fairs and company briefings, operates a career support center, and offers ongoing services such as career counseling, interview consulting, and job information provision.

Currently, SW development staff from Samsung affiliates including Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDS, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung SDI, Samsung Display, and S-1 participate as mentors in the SSAFY education process, donating their talents. About 150 employees serve as mentors, among whom 24 are SSAFY alumni.

Samsung Youth SW Academy (SSAFY) Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Campus 9th batch trainees are taking a commemorative photo ahead of their graduation ceremony. / Photo by Samsung

Samsung is committed to systematically nurturing SW talent internally while striving to expand the national SW ecosystem base. In this process, Samsung introduced the 'SW Membership' in 1991 to discover and nurture university students talented in SW, and in 2011, it actively established an SW job category in the new graduate recruitment process.

Since his inauguration as chairman in October last year, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong has consecutively visited SSAFY campuses in Gwangju (October 2022), Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (November 2022), and Daejeon (February 2023) to inspect SSAFY operations and encourage trainees, showing great interest. On-site, he repeatedly emphasized the importance of nurturing SW talent.

SSAFY Graduates Surpass 5,000 Employed... Active Support for Other Companies Including Finance

Samsung cooperates with the Ministry of Employment and Labor in trainee selection, education operation, and employment support to assist job-seeking youth. Since starting the first SSAFY training in December 2018, 5,831 people have graduated through the 8th term, with 4,946 employed, achieving about an 85% employment rate. Including the 9th term graduates who succeeded in early employment, the number of employed graduates exceeds 5,000.

SSAFY graduates are active in IT, telecommunications, and distribution companies such as Samsung Electronics, Naver, Coupang, Tmax, Hyundai AutoEver, KT DS, LG Uplus, and promising startups like FortyTwoMaru. The number of companies employing these graduates reaches about 1,200. Notably, as SSAFY graduates increasingly enter the financial sector, about 550 have been employed by the five major financial groups, with around 900 employed across the entire financial sector.

Since this year, Samsung has signed business agreements with the five major domestic banks?Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup?to nurture fintech SW talent. The five banks have established a fund totaling 2.5 billion KRW, donating 500 million KRW each to the SSAFY partner NGO, 'Children and Future Foundation.' This fund is used to strengthen the competitiveness of SSAFY trainees.

Samsung also involves active developers from the five major banks as mentors in finance-specialized projects, helping trainees build excellent capabilities. The five banks operate a finance-specialized pavilion at the SSAFY job fair starting the day after the graduation ceremony. Various programs such as mock interviews, recruitment counseling, and special lectures on financial trends will be offered for graduates interested in financial sector employment.

Employees from various companies including Naver, Nexon, LG Uplus, Lotte Data Communication, and Wonik IPS participate in SSAFY education through 'corporate-linked projects.' These companies propose basic SW development projects related to their businesses to trainees, who form teams to carry out the projects. Through these specialized projects, trainees gain practical experience similar to actual corporate work, including SW program development planning and code design.

As SSAFY graduates with excellent skills are recognized as practical talents by companies, about 150 companies currently implement preferential policies such as waiving document screening or coding tests during recruitment for SSAFY graduates.

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