Theory of Change
Talent is evenly distributed, while opportunity is not. Millions of talented people live in emerging economies where they cannot live up their full potential because of lack of access to jobs and education.
Impact Case Microverse
#PeopleTech
Microverse
Microverse trains students in >100 countries to work remotely as (full stack) software engineers. The school uses a peer-to-peer model (students learn from and with each other) as a much more scalable and lower-cost alternative to teachers and instructors and the training is specifically targeted at remote work. Students pay tuition fee for the 12-month full-time education through an Income Share Agreement (ISA): once a Microverse graduate finds a job with monthly salary of more than $1,000, 15% of their salary shall be used for repayment of their Microverse tuition.
Problem
Talent is evenly distributed, while opportunity is not. Millions of talented people live in emerging economies where they cannot live up their full potential because of lack of access to jobs and education.
Output & Outcome
Microverse educates people from all around the world to become (remote) software developers in a 12-month full time program. The school uses a peer-to-peer model (students learning from and with each other) and the training is specifically targeted at remote work.
Finding a job as a remote software engineer at a significantly higher salary than their previous job: 87% of Microverse graduates find a job within 3 months from completing the program – and 97% after 6 months – at a median salary increase of 2.4x versus their previous jobs. Around 65 – 70% of graduates find a job with a salary of more than $1,000 per month (way above living wage ), which income leads to improved opportunity and quality of life for the Microverse graduate and their families. Job satisfaction is high with 63% of graduates rating their job an 8 out of 10 or higher and 92% of graduates stay with their first role for at least six months.
It should be noted that Microverse graduates continue to increase their salaries after their first role, with the second role post graduating at on average a 12% higher salary than the first, and the third role at on average a 42% higher salary than the second. This is indicative of career development post their first role.
Benificiaries
90% of student come from a long tail of emerging economies including (in descending order) Nigeria, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Kenya and India. In these countries, there are less opportunities for a world-class software development education which allows students to work as remote software developers. The median student age is 28 with 90% of students being between 20 and 30 years old. Over 73% of students have no previous software development experience and 36% had no prior higer education. The Income Sharing Agreement model offers students the opportunity for a high quality education without the up-front capital need.
Additionality
Microverse is unique in their peer-to-peer learning method, which keeps costs low and prepares students well for their role as remote software engineers, and their focus on emerging economies. Without Microverse, there would be less opportunities for talented individuals to receive a high quality software development education at (relatively) low cost and without an up-front capital need.
Systemic potential
If Microverse achieves widespread success, this will lead to increased recognition of the huge and untapped potential of talent in emerging economies.
Rubio Impact Target
The cumulative number of Microverse graduates who found a job with an income above threshold ($1,000 per month) within 6 months after graduation.
Risks
- We see no major impact risks. If Microverse would start using its model for more privileged students the depth of impact would diminish.
- An increase in the opportunities for talented people from emerging economies may lead to more competition in the international labor market for (remote) software developers. This is unlikely to be an important issue given the short- and medium-term global shortage of software developers.
SDG Alignment
We relate Microverse’s impact to SDG 4: Quality Education. By making a high quality software development education available for talented individuals from emerging economies, the company contributes to increasing the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship (SDG 4.4).
