We are speaking to Gergana Georgieva, Manager TA and Lora Borisova, Senior Manager R&D about Talent Boost academy.
Tell us more about Talent Boost Academy. What makes it different?
Lora Borisova: Talent Boost goal is to prepare university students and recent graduates for their career in IT. It’s a unique opportunity for aspiring engineers to solidify their theoretical knowledge, gain real-world experience, start building their professional network and have some of our brightest colleagues as their personal mentors.
The idea for the Academy came originally from engineering and the company backed it up. It was born by our people’s drive to help shape the future talent and give back to the community. Every year many of our colleagues contribute to the Academy, participating in organization, mentoring, sharing knowledge or leading classes.
Speaking of contribution and numbers, what did you achieve with the last edition of the Academy?
Lora Borisova: We increased the capacity of the program by 20%. The 10th edition started with 37 students, 30 of them graduated successfully and 23 of them are our colleagues today. 128 VMware employees volunteered, contributing 3,600 hours to make this happen. The readiness of our colleagues to support the program is the highest recognition we could ever wish for.
How many students have been trained by Talent Boost Academy for the last 10 years?
Lora Borisova: Around 230 students and 150 of them are hired at VMware. Approximately 650 of our colleagues have taken part in sharing knowledge and expertise. More than 15 000 hours of service-learning have been registered for the time being of the academy.
How is the upcoming edition of Talent Boost different from the previous ones?
Gergana Georgieva: This years’ edition of the academy is called Talent Boost Next and is open to university students and alumni with software development background or candidates who want to make a career change and have completed other academies.
Here are a few details:
- Hybrid environment – so that students can get the most from interacting with their mentors
- Work on real-world project from the beginning of the course, together with a theoretical class with experienced engineers
- Limited size class – up to 15 students
- Program duration is 6 weeks – starting April 24, 2023 to June 2, 2023
- New topics and sessions.
Submit your application by April 3, 2023 here
