With the aim of breaking down barriers to access to the world of technology, Plan Ceibal began offering free programming courses this year for young people between 17 and 26 years of age from all over the country, with the support of the Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technology (CUTI) and the main companies in the technological field.
"The plan arose from an analysis of the demand for resources," Carinna Bálsamo, a computer engineer and head of the Jóvenes a Programar project, told Cromo.
This year, the pilot scheme was carried out, in which 1,000 young people from 11 departments were trained. The goal is to train a total of 5,000 in three years, with the number of trainees doubling in 2018.
During the course, young people learn to master one of the three most widely used programming languages in the technological field and in demand by the industry (.Net, GeneXus or WebUI), as well as testing.
The trainers are technicians from technology companies and organisations such as Genexus, Bantotal, Tata Consultancy, Infocorp, Global and Centro de Ensayos de Software (CES).
"They are not teachers but company employees who are teaching from their own trade," explained Bálsamo.
At the end of the course, students receive a basic programmer or software tester certificate endorsed by Plan Ceibal, which opens up job opportunities in the sector.
"The aim is for young people to discover a door to the world of programming and technology. We want to demystify the idea that you have to be an engineer to programme," he said.
Distance learning
In this first year, 50 groups were formed; 28 of them are located in Montevideo; 10 in Canelones and the remaining 12 are distributed in nine other inland departments (from Salto and Rivera to San José).
For this reason, the courses are held in different centres around the country via videoconferencing. In this way, teachers have the opportunity to train students from 11 departments live and simultaneously.
"The courses are face-to-face. The students go to a classroom to take the class," she explained. "The only difference is that in this case Ceibal's videoconferencing infrastructure is used," she explained to Cromo.
In certain circumstances, teachers can even conduct mobile videoconferences. "Sometimes, some trainers connect from their own company, or from a client's company," she says.
The most difficult part of implementing this model was adapting it to practical classes, where the teacher needs to see each student's screen individually to advise, identify and correct errors.
"We solved that with remote control software. The teacher can see and correct on his students' screens from his own PC," said Bálsamo.
Requirements
The only requirement to participate in the project was, in addition to age (between 17 and 26 years old), to have passed the basic cycle of secondary education.
In addition, you must pass a general knowledge assessment ranging from logic, mathematics and spelling to resistance to monotony.
Prior to the test, a one-month preparation course was offered, providing basic programming skills.
Once on the course, students are also offered English classes, not as a subject but as a supplement, as needed.
"At the beginning, a self-diagnostic test is carried out, based on which the level is identified and a group is assigned to training," explained Bálsamo.
The engineer clarified that, although the level of English is not a requirement at the starting point, it is a fundamental tool that they are expected to master at the end of the course.
"The aim is that, upon graduation, students will be able to answer an email or chat in English," she explained.
Job placement
Jóvenes a Programar arises, among other things, from the growing demand but diminishing supply of programmers. In this sense, one of the priorities of the project is to aim at job placement in the field.
To assist graduates in this process, the plan includes workshops, activities with companies and help in preparing for job interviews.
Generation 2017, which will complete its courses in November, will receive this follow-up from next year onwards.
"The idea is to help them enter the labour market or reintegrate into the formal education system," Bálsamo said.
Call for applications
Registration will be open from November for those young people interested in applying to participate in the 2018 courses.
The requirements will be the same as this year (the call is for young people between 17 and 26 years of age with an approved basic cycle). Even those who have applied this year and have not passed the general knowledge assessment will be able to try again.
Next year, Plan Ceibal aims to train 2,000 young people from all over the country. "We are trying to collaborate in the digital transformation that the country is undergoing," Bálsamo concluded.
Registrations will be made through the Jóvenes a Programar website. The registration period will run from November this year to February next year.
Diego Basterrech (24 years old, Montevideo)
When he came out of the general knowledge assessment he was convinced that he would not be selected. However, he was eventually told that he was entering the pilot scheme of Jóvenes a Programar and that he had to choose a course and a timetable.
"Among the options was GeneXus, which is Uruguayan software for making programmes, and I understood that there was quite a lot of work on the subject. I chose that and, to be honest, I don't regret it," said Diego Basterrech in an interview with Cromo.
In the course, the students were asked to develop a personal project. "The idea is that everyone chooses what they like, what excites them," he explained.
One day, one of his classmates brought a Yoda (Star Wars character) head to class and said he had printed it with his own 3D printer. "That's when I said 'if he could make one, let's try. Maybe one of those times I can'," he said.
So he decided that his personal project was to build his own 3D printer, and of course, part of the project was to do it on the smallest possible budget. So the first thing he did was to spend several weeks researching what to buy and what not to buy, and where to buy it.
"I had all the electronics brought from China. Here in Uruguay I bought rods, bearings, rubber belts, pulleys, screws, nuts and the MDF wooden frame," he said. Today, Diego has his own 3D printer in his room, with which, of course, he has already printed his own Yoda head, as well as one of Darth Vader (another Star Wars character) and a golden snitch (a ball for playing quidditch, a sport from the Harry Potter universe).
But the most interesting thing is that Diego is improving his printer with parts that he prints on his own equipment.
"It's a RepRap printer (an open source project) and it has a feature which is that several of its parts can be printed by the printer itself," he explained.
An improved ventilation duct has already been printed and now plans are underway to print a screen housing and supports for the material coil.
Of course, once the printer was assembled, he also had to take the time to research, test and, above all, train his patience to start printing. He varied different printing parameters, such as temperature, speed and ventilation, and achieved better and better results.
In addition to studying Jóvenes a Programar, Diego is an architecture student, an animator of educational camps and, as a hobby, he fixes mobile phones.
He does not aim to go into 3D printing, but admits that it is something he enjoys working on.
He continues to research areas of improvement for his prints and has a project to make a drone out of the parts printed on his 3D printer.
Boris Pessano (21, Florida)
He belongs to group No. 30, located in Pando. He developed his project together with three other classmates: Matías Cabrera (Barros Blancos), Fernando de Armas (Tala) and Mauricio Álvarez (Pando). The project of these four young people arose from their own experience in the course. "We had the idea of helping the Jóvenes a Programar system itself", Boris Pessano told Cromo.
Specifically, they decided to develop a tool to monitor student attendance.
"The idea is for students to mark attendance with a card. This would bring several benefits. On the one hand, it would make it easier to know how many students are attending. But also, to detect if they have lost motivation, to identify the preference of the pupils," he said.
To do this, they developed coded cards that send data that is fully protected. Neither the student nor the person scanning the card is able to recognise the data.
"This is to protect the data and privacy of the individual," Boris said.
Each card is unique. Each student would carry his or her own card and it would be read by the group leaders with a mobile phone.
"You can read it with any camera phone that has the app," he explained.
The reading mode is similar to QR codes, except that it is encrypted and cannot be read.
The group has already submitted the project to Plan Ceibal and is currently developing a demo version, with the intention that it can be implemented for next year's courses.
In addition to studying Jóvenes a Programar, Boris teaches computer science at the Municipality of Florida, gives lessons to retirees with Plan Ibirapitá tablets and in August of this year received a degree as a network technician.
Source: Cromo - The Observer
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