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Ngahine Wakefield was drawn to tech after an informative year living in Raglan with the small kaupapa-Māori community. Her lightbulb moment was a clear need for tech to enable local food distribution to the wider Raglan community.
Dev Academy Aotearoa is different from other tertiary institutions in that we aim to graduate job ready junior developers in 15 weeks. The Foundations programme is a part of this, getting all our students ready to start Bootcamp no matter what their past level of coding. Read on to find out what to expect.
We’re excited to be sharing some changes! You’ll see them across our social media channels, on a brand new website and through our new name. Since we started almost ten years ago, we have always continued to grow and evolve. Our look is now bright, bold and fun — and celebrates the diversity of humans who come to study and work with us at Dev Academy Aotearoa.
Eteroa Lafaele had a somewhat rocky start in the tech industry. After getting a degree in Computer Science, she went straight into an internship thinking that she would have all the tools needed to succeed. But as a Pasifika woman, the unconscious racism she faced in her first workplace almost put her off tech altogether.
In January 2021, Dev Academy Aotearoa made steps to explore new ways of honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi, in ways which felt not only right, but vital. The role of general manager had only existed for 18 months at that point, but the leadership team saw an opportunity to expand the role into two important positions: one focused on Te Ao Māori, and one focused on Te Ao Pākehā.
Over the last year, one particular kaupapa (topic) has emerged strongly during the many conversations we had with industry — data sovereignty. We were excited to keep this kōrero going, though acutely aware of our limited knowledge and expertise in this field. So on a bright sunny day in August, we invited our industry connections to a panel discussion around the kaupapa of Māori Data Sovereignty.
I always enjoyed technology and computers and I have always loved problem solving. Working as a customer experience specialist at Xero, I had an engaging team and work environment, but I knew my long term career was not in customer experience. However, I would never have guessed that I would one day be developing software for a world leading PropTech company in the sunny Hawkes Bay.
On a crisp, wet autumn day in Pōneke Wellington, some of our Dev Academy team gathers at Fidel’s, one of our favourite breakfast cafes. We welcome our colleagues from Tāmaki Makaurau, who arrived on an early flight. With warm vibes of a big whānau reuniting, there is storytelling, healthy challenge, and lots of laughter around the table.
In January this year, an internal memo went out announcing that a new model of leadership had been in the works at Dev Academy — one that formally acknowledged a leader within the organisation and aligned with our values of treaty partnership. The leadership team now had two general managers: Dougal Stott, representing Te Ao Māori and Emma Barnes, representing Te Ao Pākehā.
