Hacker School – why companies develop their own young IT talents

A gentle murmur fills the room that looks more like a hip downtown loft than an office – which in fact it is. These days it’s called a ‘co-working space’. Different, well spread out seating and working areas are distributed across the open room. Above the murmur a light clacking sound can be heard, a little like emptying a bucket full of Lego.

Lukas, 14, is sitting next to the colourful swings and the cosy sofa corner in front of one of the tables, remote control in hand. His friends are staring to catch a glimpse over his shoulder. A Lego robot is making its way, fully unaided, on its own brightly coloured, oversized plastic feet across the table-top step by step. Meanwhile, groups of young inventors are sitting together one of the glass-walled meeting rooms, engrossed in the project in front of them. Some gaze hungrily at PC screens, others listen attentively to one of the adults in the grey t-shirts who is writing codes on the whiteboard, or dismantling an old PC.

The grown-ups amongst all the young techies here at ‘Collabor8’, the Otto Group’s co-working space, all come from a school but are not teachers; today the Hacker School is a guest here. It’s a voluntary initiative that works to spark the enthusiasm of schoolboys and schoolgirls aged 10 to 17 for the world of computer programming at an early age simply by letting experienced IT pros pass on their passion.

The Hacker School regularly offers tech courses in four German cities to children and adolescents, who can learn directly from adult techies’ practical experience and fuel their interest from the grown-ups’ passion for digitalisation.

Hacker School on the OTTO Campus for the first time

At the end of June over 70 schoolchildren have come together in the co-working space on the OTTO Campus in Hamburg to take part in the different hacker sessions. These range from simple tic-tac-toe apps based on Javascript to a journey through the inner workings of a PC. 14 so-called ‘inspirers’ are also present as volunteers, including six OTTO tech employees, to lead the different sessions.

Young tech talents are in high demand in digital business but are increasingly hard to find. “IT is still not given enough priority in schools, which means that children and adolescents are not given enough opportunities to build their knowledge in this area”, explains Benjamin Heberling, one of the Hacker School organisers. The initiative aims to counter this trend and close the knowledge gap that the computer class used to fill.

It was only in her speech opening last year’s Cebit that German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for schoolchildren to be taught programming as a core subject, alongside reading, writing and arithmetic. Switzerland is already ahead in this area, as by the 2022/2023 academic year IT studies will be introduced as a compulsory subject in all high schools. This curriculum will also cover the bases and concepts of information and communication technology, the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Education Ministers (EDK) reports.

Frauke Wengerowksi from OTTO HR Marketing, who helped organise the Hacker School’s visit to the OTTO Campus, explains that “the ability to programme and develop is in high demand – especially at tech companies such as OTTO, as we are urgently seeking IT specialists.” The Hacker School offers kids with an interest in tech like Lukas the opportunity to acquire fundamental knowledge in preparation for technical vocational training or higher studies when they finish high school, and later to work in a profession that they genuinely enjoy.