← ShiftMate Academy

ShiftMate · ICT Skills Track

Academy

Applications currently closed
Free to apply
ICT Skills Track

We're Growing South Africa's
ICT Talent Pipeline.

The ICT track of the ShiftMate Academy — AI-assisted, online, and open to any young South African with a phone. Build the digital skills employers actually need, pass a verified workplace assessment, complete a Trial Shift with a real employer, and move into a job. Up to seven months. Free to apply.

Programme duration
Up to 7 months
Format
Online + WIL
What you earn
Verified digital credential
Cost to apply
Free
AI-assisted online learningFree to applyHelpdesk · Support · Data · DevVerified digital credentialWork Integrated Learning placementOpen to any young South African with a phoneAssessment-first entryKZN & across South AfricaAI-assisted online learningFree to applyHelpdesk · Support · Data · DevVerified digital credentialWork Integrated Learning placementOpen to any young South African with a phoneAssessment-first entryKZN & across South Africa

Our programme exists to unlock overlooked potential and turn it into meaningful employment. We do this by finding promising young South Africans, assessing their readiness, preparing them with practical digital and workplace skills, and connecting them to employers who believe in growing talent through real opportunity, support, and structured exposure.

This is the ICT track of the ShiftMate Academy. We also run a BPO track — both AI-assisted, both delivered online, anywhere in South Africa.See the full Academy
How it works

Four steps. One clear path to a real ICT job.

Step 1

Apply & get assessed

Apply for free. We assess your potential — how you think and how you learn, not your CV or your marks. Every application is reviewed by a real person before a place is offered.

Step 2

Train for a real job

We train you for one specific, in-demand ICT role — online, AI-assisted, and built around your life. No classroom, no fees. You finish ready to do the actual job, not just to pass a test.

Step 3

Prove yourself

A working trial with a real employer — real tasks, real environment. Your chance to show what you can do, in person.

Step 4

Get hired

Up to six months inside a real ICT team — earning a salary from day one, mentored and supported — leading to a real job and a verified credential that proves what you can do.

Download full Programme Guide (PDF)

Full 6-stage pathway, skill outcomes, eligibility criteria, and employer framework — all in one document.

Work Integrated Learning

What is a Work Integrated Learning programme?

Work Integrated Learning — WIL — is structured, supported work experience with a real employer. It develops both the technical skills you'll use on the job and the workplace skills employers value most: problem-solving, communication, and adaptability.

Thousands of talented young South Africans have digital qualifications but no workplace experience — and therefore no work. Meanwhile thousands of digital jobs sit empty. This isn't a skills gap. It's an experience gap — and WIL is how we close it.

Learn how Work Integrated Learning works
Find ICT learnership jobs in South Africa with ShiftMate
318,000
ICT jobs in South Africa
86,000+
Digital positions unfilled
~41,500
Entry-level openings
~R25,000
Avg. junior salary / month
The jobs we train you for

The ICT jobs employers can't fill — and the ones we get you into.

These are the entry-level ICT roles in highest demand across KwaZulu-Natal and the rest of South Africa. You don't train in the abstract — you train for one of these specific jobs, then step into it.

IT Support

IT Helpdesk / Service Desk Analyst

The first line of help when something breaks — logging, fixing and tracking IT issues for staff and customers.

IT Support

End-User Support Technician

Hands-on support that keeps people's computers, devices and software working day to day.

IT Support

Application Support Analyst

Keeping business software running — investigating faults and getting users back up and working fast.

Data

Junior Data Analyst

Turning raw numbers into clear reports and dashboards that help a business make decisions.

Data

Data Integrity / Quality Officer

Making sure the data a business runs on is accurate, clean and something it can trust.

IT Support / CX

Digital CX Agent

Helping customers across chat, email and digital channels — the modern, tech-enabled support role.

Software Dev

Junior Software Developer

Writing, testing and building real software as part of a development team.

Every role is taught online and AI-assisted, and finishes with a verified credential that proves what you can do — no fees, no matric required.

Eligibility

Who this programme is for.

No matric required. No prior experience needed. Entry is based entirely on how you perform in the ShiftMate readiness assessment — not your academic history.

South African citizen
Aged 18–34 at time of enrolment
Currently unemployed or not in continuous employment for more than 6 months
No matric or prior qualifications required
Access to a device and a reliable internet connection
Registered ShiftMate Shifter (free to register)
Ready to start?

Apply now — it's free.

Our team reviews every application personally and responds within 1–2 business days.

We're not accepting applications right now. We'll SMS you when the next cohort opens.
Download full Programme Guide (PDF)
Where this leads — 7 entry-level digital roles
IT Helpdesk / Service Desk AnalystEnd-User Support TechnicianApplication Support AnalystJunior Data AnalystData Integrity / Quality OfficerDigital CX AgentJunior Software Developer

For employers

A ready pipeline of pre-vetted, work-ready ICT talent — and the partner who builds it.

ShiftMate is one of South Africa's major entry-level ICT contributors. Our current intake is 150 candidates — assessed, trained and matched to real roles before you ever meet them.

Employers partner with us for our Work Integrated Learning (WIL) programme — a structured, low-risk way to meet and select candidates from a pool that is already pre-vetted and pre-trained, invest in your future talent, and give people a real chance to prove themselves, with work that leads to meaningful, lasting employment.

Pre-vetted, pre-trained

Every candidate has passed assessment and role-specific training before they reach you.

Low-risk to host

Meet and select from the pool, host through a structured trial, and decide on the evidence — not a gut feel.

Built around real outcomes

WIL gives candidates a genuine chance to prove themselves — and gives you future talent that actually fits.

A partner, not an agency

We run the assessment, training and support. You get the pipeline, the visibility, and first right to hire.

Applications are
currently closed

We're not accepting new applications for this cohort right now. Leave your number and we'll send you an SMS the moment the next cohort opens — no spam, just one message.

Download Programme Guide

Already in the programme — candidate, host employer, or reviewer? Sign in to your portal →