Dev Academy announces 42 new Māori scholarships

Dev Academy announces 42 new Māori web development scholarships

New Zealand web development school Enspiral Dev Academy is announcing the launch of 42 Māori web development scholarships.

After a successful application to the Ka Hao Māori Digital Technology fund, managed by Te Puni Kōkiri and MBIE, Dev Academy are thrilled to be able to support 42 more Māori students to learn web development in 2018. The scholarships enable Dev Academy to extend its very successful Te Uru Rangi scholarship programme, which was launched by Te Ururoa Flavell in 2015.

The scholarships will be worth $7,000 each. Successful applicants will need to pay the remaining $3,500 to do the 18 week intensive web development course, and Dev Academy can help students talk to iwi, businesses or other organisations to achieve this remaining portion.

Dev Academy is based in Auckland and Wellington, and runs 18 week web development programmes where career movers, university graduates and school leavers are trained with the skills to become junior web developers through intensive full immersion education.

Dev Academy’s missions are to improve the lives of all New Zealanders, and to increase diversity in tech, so the demographics of the sector reflect those of the country as a whole. Dev Academy therefore works hard to enable more Māori to enter the tech sector.

Students graduate Dev Academy with the skills to find work as junior web developers, or start their own web based businesses. 86% of Dev Academy students who graduated more than 4 months ago have work in web development. Web development jobs are relatively well paid - average starting salaries sit at around $53,000, and median salaries increase by 60% in the first six years.

Enspiral Dev Academy has graduated almost 300 students since the first bootcamp in 2014. These include 28 Māori graduates who are now working in organisations like Datacom, Enspire Group, Xero, and Signify. Many have chosen to be self-employed and entrepreneurial. One graduate, Kendall Flutey (Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāi Tahu) has founded financial edtech company Banqer and won a number of awards and accolades.

This is an incredible opportunity to be a part of the future, and gain in-demand skills to help the community around you. To apply, visit Dev Academy’s website, fill out an application form, and check the box for a diversity scholarship. Dev Academy will be in touch about next steps. Applicants must be over 17 years of age, identify as Māori, and have the right to work and study in New Zealand.

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