Powering innovation in tech studies

At Wise, we’re not just building tech – we’re also committed to supporting tech education initiatives in our communities. This year, we’re taking that commitment to a whole new level by helping to create a new innovative coding school in Estonia.

World, meet kood / Jõhvi 👋

Estonia, home to over 1,100 startups and 7 unicorns is currently short of thousands of IT specialists, and women occupy only 1/5 of jobs in the sector. Traditional tech education at universities is struggling to retain students as programs lack practical experience, and – as a result – there aren’t enough professionals to meet the market needs. In addition, we can’t ignore the increasing importance of general IT knowledge which will soon be part of everyone’s basic skillset, like learning and speaking English is today.

With the innovative 01 Edu System learning platform, kood / Jõhvi makes tech education accessible to everyone. The two-year study programme is built on a cloud-based platform where each student moves at their own pace, solving the tasks set by the system. There are no teachers or traditional classes in Jõhvi school and the studies are completely free of charge.

As a self-learner myself who dropped out of a traditional university CS degree, this innovative, practical school would have been ideal for my studies.

Why Estonia?

Estonia is home to Wise’s biggest office with over 1,000 employees. It’s where we’ve brought together some of the world’s top talent and where we’re continuing to grow as part of the local tech community. But we can already see how the lack of tech students challenges the growth of the ecosystem as a whole. We need to disrupt the education system so that more specialists, enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and teachers could emerge.

It’s not enough to just talk about the problem – it’s time to act.

Estonia has a unique opportunity to set a global standard as the e-society of the future. If we want to make sure the country delivers on that vision, we need more tech specialists to help us get there. Estonian Founders Society forecasts that the tech sector will employ ca 50,000 people by 2030. Built on innovation and inclusivity, kood / Jõhvi will support this vision by paving the way for hundreds of new IT specialists to enter the Estonian job market every year.

Jõhvi students and Wise

Our team at Wise is excited to support students through expert mentoring and practical internships. We’re looking to be part of the school’s day-to-day life by organising events such as hackathons, company visits and talks. We’re also collaborating with the school to add a fintech track to the study programme, to set students up for success in the industry we’ve helped to transform over the past 10 years.

We’re super excited to welcome kood / Jõhvi students as full-time employees after graduation. Wise helps over 10 million people and businesses move over £4.5 billion across borders every month, saving them £1 billion a year, but we’re just getting started. Our mission is to power money without borders for everyone, everywhere – and for that, our team could use a few (hundred?) extra pairs of hands.

How to apply?

At Wise, we believe that age or background should never limit anyone motivated to learn coding. We have made sure that the new school welcomes everyone wanting to study tech – regardless of their prior degrees, work experience or background. In addition, kood / Jõhvi is tackling gender inequality in programming by committing to attract more women to study and work in tech.

To apply, future students need to complete an online test which evaluates their logical thinking and problem solving skills. The school will then invite 600 candidates for a 3-week intense test period. The first 200 students will start their 2-year studies at kood / Jõhvi in September 2021. The first 1000+ people have already applied!