“A friend once said to me that a rising tide floats all the ships. We are all about growing our amazing people in South Africa and enlarging the talent pool so that everyone can benefit sustainably. It is a joy to be part of this work where we improve the lives of our graduates – and by extension their families.”
-Jason Suttie, Founder
How TCG Started
It was late in 2016, I was preparing for a conference in London - in walked Theo Bohnen and Mandla Magagula into my office. We had met a few times at the Driven events, most recently the Unconference that was held earlier in that year. At Unconference we had talked at length about the need to make a difference in South Africa and how software for smart people from the townships could be a way out of living on the breadline. This hit my heart strings, I know what it's like to wear holy clothes and have empty kitchen cupboards. The conversation continued and when the words "...its my life purpose..." were spoken to me, I was now fully in. I was fortunate to be able to provide funding to get things going and Theo and Mandla jumped in. Armed with enthusiasm and little experience we dived right in. By 2017 we were in operation.
How the TCG model works
Early on we realized that The Coding Ground had to have a model so it could "wash its own face" - meaning stand on its own financially. I loved the concept of paying it forward and invented a model where we train our smart students for 18 months and after that they go on internship for 18 months at our partner companies. Whilst on internship the graduates take a portion of the fee charged to partner companies and a portion goes back to train the next cohorts - they create opportunities for others with the opportunity afforded to them.
Partner companies are those amazing people who support the work we do by constantly taking on our graduates into internships and then ultimately employment. We run a 12 month curriculum where we train on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Node, React, Redux, MongoDB and MySQL. Most of our content comes from FreeCodeCamp - one of the best supported open source training curriculums. This year we have used the remaining 6 months of training time to train our students on skills that our partner companies need, Power Automate was the focus for the 2023 cohort, we are very proud that all of our graduates achieved certification status.
The Leadership Team
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Jason Suttie
CO-FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR
Born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) Jason grew up spending large amounts of his time writing programs in any programming language he could get his hands on. This keen interest, led to a post-graduate Engineering degree at WITS with focus on Computer Science and Telecommunications.
Technical leadership is a natural fit for Jason, and his career in Telecommunications, Enterprise Software and Consulting lead him to his career at RMB in 2010. Jason became Head of Development & Integration – which later expanded to Head of Core Technology to encompass a broader portfolio that included BI. Jason established strong Centers of Excellence as well as introduced Agile to RMB. In 2015 Jason also became an ambassador in the DevOps movement in South Africa, as well as internationally. Jason most recently ran the RMB Head of Technical Architecture role and now fills the Head of Engineering role at Foundery which officially started late 2016.
Believer of Infrastructure As Code. Cheerleader of Agile. Ambassador of DevOps. Diagnostician for Silo Sickness. The force behind the Technology Disruption Unit.
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Tanille Retief
OPERATIONS & STUDENT COACHING
Tanille came across The Coding Ground while consulting at Riversands I-Hub in 2018. She loved the program for it’s self-funding model and the connection between a social need and a market need.
After asking Jason for advice in her own business, she was thrilled when Jason asked if she’d be interested in joining the TCG team.
While juggling a business alongside the TCG program is not an easy task, hearing student wins like "I'm finding it a lot easier to speak out and share my thoughts with people" and “I'm learning to raise my point of view" makes all the efforts worth it.
Tanille loves coaching and guiding teams, asking the right questions and living a purpose-driven life.
Contact her on LinkedIn or tanille@thecodingground.com if you have any questions.
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Njabulo Zulu
GRADUATE/HEAD TUTOR
Originally from KZN, Njabulo joined TCG as a student in 2019. He went on to intern at Devson Software and is now permanently employed there.
Every day, Njabulo tries to be the best version o himself. Joining TCG has enabled Njabulo not only to provide for his family, but also helped him with communication skills and becoming more comfortable when meeting new people.
“In short, TCG has been one of the best highlights of my life.”
He gets excited about opportunities to learn more about new technologies as well as learn from other team members.
Alongside his full time job, Njabulo helps current TCG students complete their studies and become workplace ready.