Codecool and Software Development Academy merge to become European digital skilling and sourcing powerhouse

Codecool and Software Development Academy (SDA), two leading Central European EduTech companies, today announced a merger to create one of Europe’s biggest digital skilling and sourcing powerhouses. 

The merged company has a presence in eight countries (Poland, Hungary, Romania, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Estonia, and Albania) and will train 15,000-20,000 individuals annually and work with nearly 400 global and local brands from the Central European region, with key partners including Accenture, Microsoft, Motorola, Morgan Stanley, Ericsson and Vodafone.

With over 300 employees, 17 digital reskilling pathways, a network of 1,600 mentors, the merged company offers skilling, upskilling, and reskilling to individuals, companies and governments. For the public sector, Codecool and SDA have undertaken two successful reskilling programs: 10,000 ICT specialists in Albania and 600 engineers in Hungary. In addition, the merged company builds Digital Academies for business partners in the IT&C industry. It deals with the selection of potential candidates and customizes the training to the specific technical needs of the companies. These Academies have already been implemented successfully at international partners like Vodafone, Generali, Siemens, Motorola, Citibank and BCR.

„There is a global battle for digital talent, and companies are interested in providing high-quality digital skills for employees and are also strengthening their IT teams. In the context of a deepening shortage of tech professionals, employers are maximizing their efforts of reskilling and attracting new talent. That is why our main goal is to offer quality training to the future IT&C experts in Romania. We believe that the combination of Codecool and SDA – with distinct regional and category strengths – will boost the skills level of Central Europeans who are hungry to learn and will be pivotal to the digital transformation of Europe and beyond” says  Costin Alexandru, Country Manager SDA România.

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The EU is currently struggling with a shortfall of approximately 1.8 million ICT experts, with both missing skills and under-qualification. Furthermore, an important goal under the European Commission’s Digital Decade program is to employ 20 million ICT specialists by 2030, with an equal proportion of men and women. To reach this objective, €161 billion will be allocated to innovation and digitalization of EU markets according to the European recovery plan.

In Romania, approximately 6 billion EUR are to be spent on digital transformation, accounting for 21% of the 29,2 billion EUR budget allocated through the national recovery plan.

This European vision can only be achieved with strong sectoral reskilling players, like the merged Codecool and SDA company, that is focusing on the biggest digital talent pool on the continent – the Central European region. In these countries, the population’s interest in getting future-proof, well-paying digital jobs is the highest within the EU and that has been the main driver when it comes to the 50% annual growth rate in student enrolment at both Codecool and SDA.

Claudia Tamași, Country Manager Codecool România: “To encourage even more investors to Romania there is a need to provide highly skilled ICT professionals in a fast track mode and the merged company is an answer to this need as well as a unique chance for the region to become an emerging ICT service center on a global scale. Through the combined programs of the two companies, we will continue to create and offer deferred payment courses for anyone who wants a career in IT&C.

Through our consolidated digital skilling programs, we continue to serve the needs of individuals, companies and governments. Graduates from our courses are in high demand, especially as Western European and US organizations look to outsource or find additional talent while lowering costs.”

The two companies will keep using their strong consumer brands in their local markets as Codecool and SDA in the near future and will combine their resources in order to come up with new digital skilling training reflecting the rapidly changing technological environment and thus contribute to lowering the digital gap in their operating markets.

Alongside the current eight countries, the merged company will keep expanding into new geographic territories, strengthening its top position in the digital skills training sector.