Faith Rees (SivPivot)
Local cloud management solutions provider SixPivot is working to boost skills among the Australian software development community with a new mentoring program.
The company’s new ‘Sixes Community Mentoring Group’ is designed for professional software developers keen to advance their skills in the .NET and Azure space.
According to SixPivot, developers will be able to benchmark themselves, understand gaps in their knowledge-base and seek support from those who are excelling in their field.
“Supporting the tech community is important to us and we’re offering mentoring/training workshops run by some of the best technical minds for free,” the company said in a statement.
The program will see SixPivot facilitate training designed to help sharpen developers’ technical skills. However, the company will also give insights on non-technical skills, with a view to firm up some of the soft skills required for developers to move into leadership positions.
While the program sessions, which include monthly workshops featuring focused information and expert facilitators, will be run from South Brisbane, developers will also be able to join remotely via video link.
For SixPivot founder and CEO Faith Rees, the program represents a way to both boost the skills among developers while also helping to plug skills gaps in the industry, particularly in leadership ranks.
“For many years having worked with developers and the various .NET community groups there is a consistent question about how somewhat experienced developers can take their skills to the next level,” Rees said in a blog post. “Real world, practical application of skills is often hard to gain from structured courses and books.
“Having worked for training companies as well as offering formal and unstructured training as part of our SixPivot services, I've seen how people learn and the best training practices out there.
“For a long time I've wanted to be able to offer something where you can be benchmarked against your peers, understand your gaps and seek help from those who are excelling in their field,” she said. “In addition to technical up-skilling we'll give insights on non-technical skills, for example the soft skills required for developers to be successful to move into leadership positions.”
According to Rees, mentees will go through a benchmarking exercise and then work through their specific focus areas to help give them skills they can implement in their existing and future work.
“This is our way of helping up-skill our Australian development community by giving back through our collective years of ongoing learning,” she said.
While the program’s January group is full, the company is accepting expressions of interest for its June start.
