Early Coders, Singapore’s leading coding academy for aspiring programmers, and Vodien, Singapore’s leading cloud hosting company, announced a partnership together to further develop future generations of programmers and software engineers in Singapore.

Early Coders, and Vodien, are Singapore-based businesses with founders from Singapore Management University and National University of Singapore. Inspired partly by their pedagogy, the founders of the two companies have a common vision of wanting Singapore to be the innovation hub of Southeast Asia, and have come together to provide training courses centred around the education and professional training of students in technology-related fields.

This trend is validated by the recent merger of Singapore’s media and authorities Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) and the Media Development Authority (MDA) into the Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA), and the creation of the Infocomm Media Masterplan.

These factors demonstrate Singapore’s commitment into the start-up, Infocomm and media sectors, but the inherent problem is talent. According to the authorities, there was almost 15,000 vacancies in the tech and IT space in 2016, and the number is only expected to double in 2017.

See: 56% Singaporean CIOs Believe IT and Data Security Roles Will Dominate the Job Market in 2017

Vodien will be providing the cloud hosting infrastructure necessary for Early Coders’ students to have their own website and staging environment. With a multi-angle process, Early Coders is looking at not just the training of students, but also assisting in the placement of students in industry positions for real on-the-job experience.

“Talent drives the success of an industry, and Singapore cannot be the innovation hub of Southeast Asia without having the right people and skill sets,” said Alvin Poh, CEO of Vodien.

With the Early Coders’ training courses aimed at both current students and adults looking at a career switch, and Vodien providing the cloud hosting needed by students for their websites, email, and domain names, the two companies are providing a way for more local talent to grow and develop. The programming courses for youths and adults are available immediately from Early Coders.

Also read: Singapore IT Professionals with Sound Communication and Presentation Skills in Demand