36-year-old Sherwan proudly shows his diploma from Codemasters. A highlight following a difficult time and a long journey. “I come from Syria, where I worked as an electronics and electrical engineer. I fled the country with my family due to the threat from the regime. This ultimately brought me to Amsterdam. When my client supporter from the municipality told me about Codemasters, I was immediately enthusiastic.”
Door to the future
Sherwan is full of praise for Codemasters. “The course is free, reliable and you receive lessons from real experts. That is really special. It feels like a door is opening to a new, better future. The explanations from the VodafoneZiggo teachers have taught me an enormous amount. It is precisely their experience that provides insightful and valuable information. Without that interaction, it would be nothing more than watching an instructional video about programming.”
Ambitious
And his ambitions definitely don’t stop here, as Sherwan explains: “This is my first Dutch diploma. Now, I am going to update my CV and look for a work placement. I also going to complete the advanced subjects for programming, specialise in data analysis and reach B1 level in Dutch. I hope to start working as a Data Analyst then. None of that would be possible without the help of all the organisations that are involved with Codemasters”.
Making a contribution
Florian Maas is a teacher for Codemasters from VodafoneZiggo and works as a Data Scientist for the Advanced Analytics Team. “We work a lot with the programming language Python. The Codemasters programme focuses on that. So, I immediately volunteered as teacher. I also participated last year and many of the participants from that time have become connections of mine on LinkedIn. A number of them are now at places they would never have dreamed of being”.
Devising, designing and making
Florian explains how the course is structured. “The course participants learn the basic principles of Python in 10 weeks. They must answer quiz questions during online lessons. We subsequently code together in order to examine why answers are correct or incorrect. They ultimately work towards an individual project: an application that they devise, design and execute themselves, in which all the knowledge acquired comes together. That results in very good projects. I am really proud of what the course participants learn in 10 weeks."
Learning to put things in perspective
Maas agrees that teaching is rewarding. “I learn a lot about the different cultures. As a result of this, I also understand the people better. They have not had it easy in the past and even now things are not always simple for them. This makes me even more aware of my privileged position. It teaches me to put things in perspective, to be more grateful in my daily life and to complain less about minor things. I will definitely be taking part again next time.”
The Codemasters programme is a collaboration between the Refugee Talent Hub, New Dutch Connections, Accenture and VodafoneZiggo.