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Indonesians turn to coding schools as digital economy flourishes
A 2018 World Bank report reveals that Indonesia is projected to experience a digital skills shortage of 9 million between 2015 and 2030.
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The 2020 Michael Page “Indonesia Salary Benchmark” report has found that professionals in the digital and technology sectors, particularly in financial technology, will potentially experience a salary increase of up to 50 percent as the sectors will enjoy a 15 to 50 percent increase in growth in Indonesia. (Shutterstock/File)
I
n an era in which the digital economy is thriving amid mushrooming start-ups, more Indonesian people are eager to learn to talk in the language of computers.
The programming languages of JavaScript, Python and the like are increasingly being heard among people of all ages, ranging from children to adult professionals, who are flocking to a growing number of coding schools in the country.
These schools provide not only lessons, both online and offline, but many also offer certification that will help their students land jobs in the information technology (IT) field that almost always show up on companies' job vacancy notices.
The prices range, with offline classes charging tens of millions of rupiah for a few months' worth of classes.
A student at the Purwadhika coding school in Jakarta, Prikenang “Kenang” Prasty, 24, said he quit studying accounting at the prestigious Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta to spend his remaining educational funds on a four-month class on web and mobile development.
He paid Rp 20 million (US$1,469) for the class.
"The opportunities and development of IT are very interesting to follow. [...] I see no future for me in finance, because my friends are way more skilled in taking up opportunities. However, in IT, because it's very dynamic, I'm certain that I can keep up," said Kenang, who is no novice to the IT world as he had been a National Science Olympiad (OSN) delegate for computer sciences at the provincial level in senior high school.
