Samsung Electronics is South Korea's biggest company with a strong influence over the local economy. It accommodates more than twice as many jobs as the 2nd-largest Korean tech giant, Hyundai Motors. And a few years ago, Samsung decided to leverage its resources and influence to increase South Korea's pool of IT professionals by launching the SSAFY (Samsung Software Academy for Youth) program. The latter is a free training course for students to learn software development and leadership skills. And some of those original students are now finding great success in their careers.
Lee Ju-ho was in the first batch of SSAFY graduates. He joined Samsung's SSAFY program when he learned it offered software education for free. Lee Ju-ho reportedly went ahead and started his own business during the SSAFY graduation presentation and won the grand prize.
After graduation, Lee formed a drone startup with a few university colleagues. Since then, their autonomous drone system has helped the Rural Development Administration disperse pesticides in rice paddies, with their contribution and work being valued at tens of millions of won. (via The Korea Times).
Developing board games, apps, and websites
Other students who graduated from Samsung's SSAFY program went on and created startups of their own. Eum Young-hyun was in the second graduating SSAFY class and developed a board game. Although his first attempt reportedly failed, his second was a success, thanks to further counseling from SSAFY instructors.
Another SSAFY student, Kim Dong-hwi, landed an opportunity to renew the website of a university hospital's laboratory around the time he was completing the third run of the SSAFY program. After receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from the university, Kim pushed things further and co-founded Webon. The latter is a startup that develops apps and websites.
Needless to say, Samsung's educational program appears to be bearing fruit. In fact, Samsung is well aware of the benefits of higher education and more flexibility within its own corporate hierarchical structure. The tech giant announced earlier this year that its entry-level employees are now required to attend a six-week computer programming class.
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