The South Carolina Department of Commerce Office of Innovation has partnered with two statewide nonprofit organizations, Build Carolina (which runs the SC Codes program) and the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness (which houses SC Tech and CyberSec) to create a pilot fellowship program designed to prepare new graduates for software development careers.
Develop Carolina is a six-month program for students who have completed degree or certificate programs in computer science or a software development-related field. Fellows chosen to participate in the program will be paired up with a local technology company three days a week and will continue to learn as a cohort with other fellows the other two days a week.
The program will accept applicants this fall and host its first cohort of fellows in early 2022. Interested companies and students may fill out an interest form at developcarolina.org.
According to SC Tech’s 2020 Economic Impact Study, employment in the tech industry in South Carolina has grown to over 180,000 with an $89 billion total economic impact. Since 2000, the state has seen a 245% growth in the number of tech firms, now numbering over 2,000.