Samsung Electronics’ youth software training program, SSAFY (Samsung Youth SW·AI Academy), is being cited as more than a job-prep course, with graduates describing it as a turning point that led to career changes, overseas entrepreneurship and jobs at Samsung affiliates.
Samsung said April 29 it published its first collection of essays from SSAFY graduates, titled ‘In the Era of the AI Great Transformation, the Start of Junior Talent: SSAFY.’ The company held an essay contest for about 6,000 people, including graduates from the program’s first through eighth cohorts and their families, and compiled selected entries into a book.
The collection includes accounts of participants who became software and AI talent despite barriers such as nontechnical backgrounds, age and personal circumstances. Heo Ye-ji, a cohort 8 graduate who previously worked as a marketer at a large company, said she applied on her last eligible chance at age 29, switched to software development and is now preparing to expand overseas. “SSAFY is not just a place that teaches skills; it proved the potential inside me,” she said.
Kim Jeong-hwan, a cohort 1 graduate, said he used algorithms learned at SSAFY to cut a customer information processing task at work from 20 minutes to about 20 seconds, and later founded an IT company in Tokyo. Kim Beom-seok, a cohort 8 graduate, joined Samsung SDS after completing SSAFY and earned 16 certifications, including an advanced cloud credential that is rare in South Korea.
Samsung said SSAFY has helped young people find new direction beyond employment support. Since launching in 2018, the program has produced 10,125 graduates, and 8,566 have found jobs, for an employment rate of about 85%.
A Samsung official said the challenges and growth described in the essays show the program’s “true value,” adding the company will continue support so more young people can develop into software and AI talent.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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