COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on our economy. Retrenchments, pay cuts, and reductions in work hours are a ‘new normal’ thanks to our lockdown, curfews, and growing list of nationwide restrictions on business activity. Just looking at the statistics of the economic decline in our country, it’s not hard to see why so many people want to switch careers to tech, where job security, good pay, remote work, and career growth are significantly more guaranteed than even ‘essential’ services.

According to Statistics SA, the official unemployment rate increased from its already 11-year high to 30.1% in the first quarter of 2020. Rising unemployment has been a grave issue for over a decade, but with the devastating effect of COVID-19 and the restrictions introduced to curb its spread, it will only get worse. Between 1.5 million and 3 million jobs losses are thought to have been lost during our extended lockdown, a horrendous outcome that could increase our official unemployment rate to as high as 50%.

Making the nerve-wracking decision to switch careers to tech

One of the many millions of people affected by the lockdown’s economic fallout was HyperionDev Software Engineer Bootcamp student Bettina Caldeira, who signed up for our online, part-time bootcamp after her industry came to a sudden stop. It wasn’t easy to decide to switch careers to tech, but Bettina knew that it would be a worthwhile change that could build her future.

“I worked in the Film Industry for many years, but unfortunately due to Covid-19 the SA Film Industry has slowed down by 90%. I love the work environment in film, but I’ve always been fascinated by the tech world. Due to my job in film coming to a complete standstill, it gave me time to finally look at coding courses and to see what I could potentially do in this field that I’ve loved from afar for so many years. In a way, the bad news was also a blessing in disguise.”

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