Careers · Scholarships
Nobody should need five years' experience to get their first year
Every technology graduate has heard some version of it: "Come back when you have five years' experience." The study is done, the capability is real, and the door still will not open. That gap between finishing study and landing a first real role is where New Zealand loses good people, and it is the gap AFQY Scholarships exist to close.
We are building scholarships of $5,000 a year for people studying technology, to support their study costs at a reputable learning institution. The money matters, but it is the smallest part of the design.
More than money: the wrap-around
A cheque does not fix "come back with experience". So every scholarship comes wrapped in the things that actually build it.
$5,000 a year
Toward study costs at a reputable learning institution, so the focus can stay on learning rather than juggling.
An AFQY mentor
One of our mentors, senior leaders who have done the job, walking alongside from day one.
Tech Leader events
Regular access to AFQY Tech Leader events: the room where New Zealand's technology leadership actually turns up.
A junior role at Humation
An intern or junior role atHumation.nz, shadowing our consultants and delivering real work for real clients, under the wing of a deeply experienced consultant.
Study, mentoring, community and genuine delivery experience, all at once. By the time the scholarship ends, "come back when you have experience" has already been answered.
How the fund grows
Every sale AFQY and Humation make puts 5% of profit into the scholarship fund. The fund builds the first scholarship, then the second, then the third. When you work with either business, you are helping someone start.
The needle moves as sales land and donations come in. Three scholarships to fill: $5,000, $10,000, $15,000.
Starting with three, on purpose
This is totally new for us, so we are starting with three scholarships as a pilot, and we will grow from there once we have the data to support what we can genuinely handle. The last thing we want, while trying to do good, is to let anyone down.
Donations welcomed
If you would like to help, you can raise however much or little you would like to donate directly with Ryan Ashton, and contributions will be recognised proportionately.
We are a community, and we know what the old sayings get right: "many hands make light work", and "it takes a village to raise a child". In this case, the village is raising an experienced IT person.
Shared early, on purpose
We are still working on our method and approach: how we will select candidates, and exactly how we will support them through the full programme. This page is the starting point and the intention, shared before it is fully formed, because that is how we work: progress, not perfection.
As the selection process and programme details firm up, they will be published right here.
Every yarn helps fill the dial
Work with AFQY or Humation, and 5% of the profit goes straight into someone's first step in tech.