Grace Ashiru
GOMYCODE Nigeria, Africa’s biggest edtech platform, said that after its first hackerspace opened in January 2021 and was a success, its new flagship hackerspace will open in Lagos, Nigeria, in a bigger space.
The new hackerspace is a unique architectural model and is situated at 230 Herbert Macaulay in Alagomeji-Yaba.
The new space is fascinating because it has bright colours that make it stand out from the other buildings around it. It can also fit more students and be more comfortable for them to learn.
A change consistent with GOMYCODE’s goals
The new GOMYCODE hackerspace has five floors and can fit five times as many people as the old one. (The old hackerspace could fit 120 students at once, but this one can fit up to 600!)
With 3 floors of classrooms that are all used for teaching, GOMYCODE is taking students’ experiences to the next level.
Fibre optics and comfortable tools are in the classrooms to help the students do well. Students can learn and have fun at the same time in the new hackerspace’s relaxation room, or they can just keep working on their projects.
There is also plenty of parking for students in a garage that is just for them. This makes it easier for them to get to the building.
The educational advisors will live on the second floor of the hackerspace. They now have even more space to welcome, inform, guide, and help current and future students.
Lastly, a large conference room with enough seats for 200 people lets guests get together for talks and conferences, giving the setting even more variety.
This move shows that we are serious about the Nigerian market and want to be there. We offer training online through what we call an online “hackerspace,” but we know from research and our own experience that students prefer in-person classes. So, says Babatunde Olaifa, General Manager of GOMYCODE Nigeria, “we make sure that these classes take place in the best possible places.”
Moving from a 3-room training space to a 5-story centre in the heart of Yaba shows how committed we are to giving anyone in Nigeria who wants to future-proof their careers with high-quality, relevant, and affordable digital skills training.
This is only the start. We’re growing quickly, and in a few months, we’ll open hackerspaces in several places in Lagos and Abuja,” says Olaifa.
Yaba is an ideal tech district
Yaba is the core of Lagos’ marketing and technology specialists, and it is also the community in which GOMYCODE is based.
The new hackerspace is also in one of the liveliest parts of Lagos, which makes it easy to get there. The new building is easy to find because it has a GOMYCODE sign on it that is easy to see.
This new space gives students more options and makes their lives easier. With this new space, GOMYCODE will show that it cares even more about the Nigerian tech community as a whole.
GOMYCODE’S milestone
- 17 hackerspaces in 7 African countries
- At the end of the program, 90% of students have created their tech products.
- 85% of full-time program graduates get jobs within 6 months of finishing the program.
- + 200 corporate partners
- 12,000 trainees
About GoMyCode
GoMyCode uses a scalable model to offer training on the most in-demand digital skills that are both high-quality and affordable and tailored to the local area. Its blended educational model, which combines instructor-led sessions in physical spaces with self-directed learning on our online platform, and project-based approach favour active learning over passive learning so that by the end of their education, our students are “job-ready.” Then, we put them in touch with digital and tech jobs all over the world.
