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African technology training programme Andela has launched a HomeStudy curriculum for applicants, allowing prospective coders to brush up on their basic computer science and giving the company insight into the technical abilities and motivation of applicants.

Launched in Nigeria in September last year, Andela received over 10,000 applications in its first six months of operation, prompting the decision to expand the programme across Africa. It has already launched in Kenya, while in June it closed a Series A funding round led by Spark Capital.

The launch of the HomeStudy curriculum, the company said, would provide possible Andela developers with a solid foundation in programming. The curriculum contains a full introduction to computer science and a thorough understanding of best practices through the Python stack.

Andela’s hope is that applicants who take the HomeStudy course will be comfortable with computing concepts and able to engage with a community of like-minded learners from all levels of experience.

Andela co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Jeremy Johnson told Disrupt Africa the curriculum contained “everything that should’ve been taught in computer science, but likely wasn’t”.

He said the performance of applicants during home study would give Andela insight into their technical competence and motivation as self-learners, which he said were important factors in deciding individuals to admit to its four-year fellowship.

“HomeStudy also serves as a tool for us to democratise knowledge for young Africans, by offering training in computer science to a broader group than we have the capacity to admit into Andela,” Johnson said.

“We believe every young person should be able to learn the skills most relevant to the digital economy – chief of which is the ability to solve problems using technology. Our curriculum presents an easily accessible introduction to a world where technology is used to solve problems at scale.”

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