Change your life? SWitCH DEV has open applications and opportunities among technologists in Porto

Applications are now open for the course promoted by Porto Tech Hub and that promotes the requalification of graduates for the technology area. Age and initial training are not criteria in a course that seeks “motivation, resilience and a clear desire to change your life.

This is already the seventh edition of SWitCH Dev and applications for the course will run until July 2, followed by a selection process of candidates until the class of 30 people is closed, which is monitored at ISEP – Instituto Superior Engenharia Porto, with in-person, daytime classes, starting in October.

Luís Silva, president of Porto Tech Hub, the association that promotes the initiative, highlighted to SAPO TEK that this is “a very intense course” where it is expected that students invest in the classes but also in the projects that are developed and accompanied by technology companies, in a model that escapes the traditional training also by the methodologies used.

With seven years of curriculum, the course has already changed the lives of more than 300 people who came from various areas of knowledge and decided to bet on information technology, responding to a demand for professionals in this area and a need for companies in the sector.

Since the beginning, the idea of Porto Tech Hub has been that this course would help create a valuable response for the technological companies that are part of the association, which already number more than 35, and Luís Silva guarantees that this is one of the differentiators of the initiative. “This is an out-of-the-box work model, students already have a degree, professional experience, and are selected through a recruitment model by an external company that does the interviews, assesses the skills, motivation, resilience, and clear desire to change their lives,” he stresses.

“What we want is an adaptable profile and the ability to face change,” says the president of the Porto Tech Hub, explaining that the technical skills are acquired during the 9-month course that includes a curriculum plan equivalent to a degree from ISEP.

Luís Silva tells SAPO TEK that of the 300 who have already passed through SWitCH Dev, 98% of the students are working in this area, most are within the Porto Tech Hub companies. The average age is between 30 and 35 years old, but “we’ve had students with 45 years old and the youngest who did SWitCH was 23 years old”.

“AGE IS NOT A FACTOR THAT COUNTS FOR RECRUITMENT AT THE SWITCH, NOR IS THE BACKGROUND AREA OF THE DEGREE, WHICH CAN BE MARKETING, MUSIC, PHYSICAL EDUCATION, OR CIVIL ENGINEERING,” SAYS LUIS SILVA.

When asked about the possibility of increasing the number of trainees per year, the president of Porto Tech Hub is very clear: “we won’t compromise the quality of the trainees to increase the number of people […] we don’t want to grow in mass, but to provide good resources to companies”, he explains, saying that with 60 students, there are already challenges and that ISEP’s professors also don’t advise increasing the number of vacancies.

Want to read the full interview? Read it all here.