About
Feeling shocked and helpless about the flood of images and news on the refugee crisis in 2012, founder Christian Hirsig, a sucessfull business innovator and young father, wondered how he could make a difference. Later, he met two other European entrepreneurs in the US: one with a catering project for people from refugee backgrounds, the other one with a coding academy for women. Inspired by their projects and driven to help, the idea of Powercoders was born and launched by Christian and his wife Bettina Hirsig in 2016. The mission was clear from the start: help displaced people regain their independence, reduce social welfare costs and address the shortage of talent in the IT industry.
The first Powercoders program started in Bern in the beginning of 2017 with an overwhelming amount of promising applicants, volunteers participating as Job Coaches and IT trainers, and with many enthusiastic IT companies offering internships.
After an incredible start, the Powercoders community kept on growing with programs launched in Zurich, Lausanne, and Basel. Eventually, the model was shifted towards having permanent programs in Zurich and Lausanne, in order to serve the communities in the Romandie and German-speaking part of Switzerland. During the pandemic, the team decided to integrate the two locations, blending remote and on-site learning, and serve the entire Switzerland with one offering.
Milestones
2016
Inception of the idea
2017
2018
Start of social franchising model with a pilot in Turkey
2019
First program in Turin, Italy
2020
Launch of the initiative Futurecoders (digital training for kids)
2021
First program in Madrid, Spain and launch of Remotecoders (IT nearshoring for good)
2022
Launch of IT Career Boost & AWS re/Start Programs
2023
Launch of Women Connect & Swiss Diversity Night Award
Our mission
Powercoders was created in response to the refugee crisis of 2015. Our mission has remained strong and unchanged: We promote equal job opportunities for displaced talents in the IT industry.
Our vision
A world in which diversity in the IT industry & beyond is a given and every talent gets an opportunity.
Our association
We are a non-profit association and our programs are self-funded and free of charge for the selected participants.
Watch Our 5-Year-Video
Watch the TEDx Talk by Christian Hirsig
What
Guides
us.
Team
We are a team of passionate individuals, eager to create impact together. We believe in the power of collaboration and the benefits of working together towards a common goal. As an agile team, we are able to adapt and change quickly in order to achieve our objectives. Impact is at the heart of everything we do, and it is what drives us to be better every day. We also believe that work should be fun and enjoyable, and we strive to create a positive and supportive environment for everyone on our team.
By working together, we can achieve more than we ever could alone, and we are committed to making a positive impact in the world.
Board
Ambassador Committee
Do you have questions?
Check out our FAQ’s here.
Feel free to get in touch with us if you have more questions or ideas. We are looking forward to hearing from you.