iXperience Cape Town – Career Bootcamp + Internship Summer Abroad

iXperience was an eye-opening summer program that had a real lasting impact on me. The program is structured such that for the first 4 weeks you have class for 3 hours a day with manageable daily homework assignments and lots of down time to enjoy and explore with friends. The second 4 weeks involve working as an intern at a company of your choice and is pretty much can be as legitimate as you want it to be. During my first 4 weeks I learned how to fully create, build, and deploy an app from scratch in class, whilst going on wild excursions over the weekends, and having unforgettable nights out with my friends. Learning a real world skill that I could apply to a work setting was an extremely satisfying experience that I rarely (if ever) experienced in a University setting. Aside from the learning we went surfing, climbed waterfalls and mountains, visited the most southern tip of Africa, saw penguins, ostriches, and baboons, and explored the coolest bars, clubs, and restaurants the beautiful city of Cape Town had to offer. There are endless opportunities here from paragliding to wine tours to repelling to going on safaris...etc. I could go on and on.

The second session of the program I interned for Invictus Capital, an up and coming blockchain investment company that was THE MOST funded startup in South African History. While there, I learned a completely new field of coding with cryptocurrencies. I applied these skills by creating BTC and ETH transaction simulations for testing the ICO investing process, built smart contracts for Ethereum for their Crypto Index fund and a lot more. All in all, I had the most amazing summer, developed real world skills that I can now take with me to into the real world (and put on my resume), made lifelong friends, and grew so much as an individual. I recommend this 100% to anyone, its a once in a lifetime opportunity for developing yourself as a professional and at the same time retains the fun, relaxed, and enjoyable time every student looks to have during their summer off-season.

iXperience is such an innovative program. You get to experience the best of all worlds - cutting-edge courses taught by industry leaders, interning at a start-up or a multinational company where you can make a significant difference, and immersing yourself in a culture that is so warm and welcoming. Moreover, you get to experience all of this in one of the most beautiful cities in the world: Cape Town.

I did this program in the summer of 2017 and it was one of the best decisions I made during my college career. I have grown so much as a person through this program as it challenged me to step out my comfort zone every day. I gained tangible real-world skills that I can apply to many industries, I was able to make global connections, I connected with the locals who gave me a new perspective on life, co-taught a Bhangra workshop to people who didn't know what Bhangra was, climbed the Lion's Head three times, Bunjee jumped off a bridge, learned how to surf and made some of the best friends from across the world.

I realized that if you travel and if you are challenged you are bound to grow because the real magic happens when you placed in your uncomfort zone.

Highly Recommend

I was part of the Data Science program at iX this summer in Cape Town. Here's how I'd describe the amount of new stuff I learnt over the course of 4 weeks: Imagine you're thirsty, you can take a glass of water but in an alternate situation you could prop open a fire hydrant and your thirst will be quenched, but do you really need so much water gushing at you? iX is like that, but along the lines of education. You take in so much through the course, you're a ninja at your internship afterwards and a master at concentrating.

My experience with iXperience has been great so far. The finance class was fascinating and Wesley, our instructor, was very knowledgeable and approachable. We not only learned how to model and value companies, but also crucial skills for interviews and our future careers in general.

Cape Town is a fantastic city, and it has it all! Its food is excellent; its hikes have magnificent views, and its nightlife is great as well. The program includes shark cage diving, wine tasting, surfing and an overnight safari, but apart from that you can go skydiving, paragliding, take a helicopter ride, and more!

If you think safety is an issue, you don't need to worry. Uber is widely used and extremely safe. You can get around Cape Town by yourself or with a couple of friends with no problem!

However, there are a couple of issues. First, the housing (Never@Home) is far from ideal. Rooms are small and fit up to 10 people for only one bathroom. Second, although the classes are great, if you're coming for the internship I'd say there is a 50-50 chance you'll be disappointed. My internship has been very instructive, and I have been able to apply what I learned in class, but I know that several of my classmates have been placed on internships that are either not related to what we learned or have little to no work at all.

Every week is a new adventure here in iXperience. You learn an unbelievable amount during the week and then take a breathtaking exploration every weekend. For example, last Sunday I took a trip with three friends to Cape of Good Hope (the south-western most point in Africa). From there, I witnessed the most unbelievable scenery, from old rock formations to the meeting point of two grand oceans. It was at that moment that the difference between an experience and a photo hit me. You can see the most beautiful picture ever taken, but nothing can compare to the feeling of actually being there.
From there we traveled to boulders beach where we got to run around chasing penguins and jump into the clear ocean blue to try to keep up with these adorable creatures.

Let me remind you this was just one weekend. Every weekend is filled with this type of exploration which makes coming here so worth it. From shark cage diving, to sandborading, to surfing, to chasing penguins, the exploration you can do here is unbelievable. (and this is on top of all the extraordinary learning you receive during the week).

I had an amazing time learning and working in Cape Town. My class on iOS development was challenging and engaging and I learned how to code in Swift from scratch. The teaching staff was so helpful that I even learned how to code Ruby on Rails on the side to build a server for my final project. I would recommend this program to anyone who is excited about learning to code. Cape Town is also an incredibly beautiful city. Table Mountain on one side, the ocean on the other. Hiking is so convenient and incredibly fun, as is surfing and many other exciting activities.

I first heard about iXperience through my cousin, Mikenzie, who was a student here the first summer it was offered. Since then, she has raved about what an incredible experience it was and has urged me to take advantage of the opportunity to come to South Africa to both explore and learn. However, although she had sold me on the trip, I was extremely intimidated by the fact that I was about to fly half way around the world to take a web development course without any prior knowledge of coding. I would have never thought that in just four short weeks, I would have learned the foundation of programming and gained the essential skills needed to build a comprehensive, user-friendly website. Although the learning process is long and difficult, I have come to appreciate the process and the hard work it takes; I have come to look forward to the feeling I get when my code finally is correct after spending hours trying to figure out what is wrong. iXperience has helped me realize what I want out of a future career and has helped me find new passions along the way, including coding and design.

In addition to the curriculum, living in Cape Town, South Africa is incredible and nothing can compare to it. I have had the opportunity to hike famous mountains, visit interesting museums, learn about the local culture, and discover new things about myself and about this city. As my final week in Cape Town approaches, I am filled with regret that I did not sign up to stay for more than four weeks. Yes, I am excited to go home and see my friends and family, but I am going to miss waking up every morning to the view of Table Mountain, our Saturday morning trips to the Old Biscuit Mill Market, and laughing with my new friends and iX family. It was truly a life changing experience and something I will always remember.

My summer with iXperience was hands down the best summer of my life. From skydiving and surfing to learning finance both in the classroom and at a local company, the iXperience program prepared me for landing my current summer internship while also having the time of my life. This summer, I will be working for Wells Fargo Securities in San Francisco in their Technology Investment Banking Division, and I have iXperience to thank. While in Cape Town, I learned the essentials of financial analysis and modeling in Excel and then applied those skills in an internship with a local venture capital firm. Following this uniquely designed program, I had a leg up when interviewing for summer jobs as well as an amazing summer experience to share. Overall, iXperience was the best summer of my life and it got me a job in Investment Banking.