Coding for Veterans offers scholarship for Afghan Interpreters taking the program
Oct 27, 2021
The caravan started touring on September 10 and has made it’s way across Canada. They will end up in Ottawa on Remembrance Day. The course is $15,000, but is paid in full by Veteran Affairs Canada for those released after 2006 and served a minimum of six years. For Afghan Interpreters, they are eligible for a scholarship.
“We actually have a number of Afghan veterans in our program. With the recent situation that’s unfolded over in Afghanistan, our organization really wanted to help. We went back to our corporate partners and we actually raised sponsorship money to pay for tuition for those Afghan Interpreters that came to Canada and want a career in the tech sector.”
The program has continued to grow outside of veterans. Also able to join are spouses and family members of veterans.
Students get the ability to learn a new skill and enter a new career with a guaranteed job.
“My background is from the tech sector, so I was acutely aware of the job shortage. I felt it in the software company I own. When you actually look at those that serve Canada, we like to say they go from serving on the battlefield to now serving in cyberspace.”
Executive Director Jeff Musson standing with Coding for Veterans van and tent. (Kate Otterbein / XFM News)
Musson adds that a lot of the soft skills are transferrable.
Andrew Kennedy is a student who took the program. He says the problem solving he learned has been an asset to his career.
“Coding is so specific. Within 1000 lines of code, if you have one symbol that’s wrong, your codes will not run. So you have to have that patience to go back and review line by line, possibly character by character. I think that translates into any IT position,” says Kennedy.
Kennedy says he recommends this program to anyone who might have an interrest in it but don’t know where to start.
“The great thing about the program is it really does build you from the ground up, as long as you can turn on a computer and you can log onto a website, you can be successful with it.”
