Datacom Director Vernon Kay says the MSA programme has been most valuable because it has enabled his company to take on fresh talent with the head start of already having first-hand experience working at Datacom.
“All the students have been mentored and guided by our best technicians, consultants and leaders, which makes them highly effective employees as soon as they begin with us," he adds.
"This is why I thoroughly recommend the Microsoft Student Accelerator programme to students and prospective employers alike."
Students who have previously completed the Student Accelerator programme include Hayden Do and Chris Duan, who went on to compete and win the Innovation category at the 2014 Microsoft Imagine Cup competition in the USA for their app, called Estimeet.
Successful projects completed during last year’s MSA programme include:
ASB Banking
The students created a flatmate app that helps flatmates work out their weekly expenses and divide them accordingly for each individual to pay through the ASB Mobile App
Datacom
The students built an app that uses location of users within buildings through WIFI routers, maps them on a 3D environment and lets people connect with them through IM
Olympic Software
The students built a Windows Phone project equivalent to their iOS and Android office worker app
NIWA
The students took the NIWA website and converted its data into a slick Windows tablet and phone app that provides weather information.
The MSA students for 2015 begin their placements at their chosen companies this month.