Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Samsung software academy graduates share career growth journeys
Students of Samsung Software and Artificial Intelligence Academy for Youth (SSAFY) read an essay book collecting experiences of SSAFY graduates in this promotion photo released Thursday. Courtesy of SSAFY
By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung Software and Artificial Intelligence Academy for Youth (SSAFY) said Thursday it has published a collection of essays featuring graduates’ career growth journeys.
The book is based on an essay contest held in August and September last year for about 6,000 SSAFY graduates from the program’s first eight cohorts and their families. Selected stories were compiled and published under the title, “The Era of AI Transformation, The Beginning of Junior Talent: SSAFY.”
The essays share how graduates overcame barriers such as academic background and age to become software and artificial intelligence (AI) professionals, helping provide practical support for unemployed young people, SSAFY said.
One of the noteworthy stories includes Kim Jung-hwan, one of the earliest graduates of SSAFY and founder of Japanese IT firm Joint Tactics & Strategy Laboratory (JTSL).
In his essay, he recalls discovering an inefficient system at his first job that took about 20 minutes to update data for 1,000 customers, and shortening the process to just 20 seconds by restructuring the code using software algorithms he learned at SSAFY.
Building on that experience, he later developed his career in Japan and established JTSL in 2023, where he now carries out projects such as upgrading financial systems at clients’ request. He is currently preparing a new business model that combines IT and real estate.
Another essay by Kim Beom-suk, a member of the eighth cohort, shares how he overcame a difficult family background to land a job at Samsung SDS.
Having earned a total of 16 certifications, he currently works in the company’s Samsung Cloud Platform system operations group as a cloud specialist.
Among them, he obtained the Kubestronaut certification, an expert-level program run by the U.S.-based Cloud Native Computing Foundation. The certification requires candidates to earn five credentials covering areas such as the cloud-native ecosystem and theory, cluster operations and management, and application design and deployment. Only about 70 people in Korea hold this certification.
“At SSAFY, I learned how to grow together by sharing challenges and solving problems with my colleagues, and I saw how the program contributes to society through technology and education,” he wrote. “For me, SSAFY was a defining stage that helped me to find what kind of developer I want to become and what kind of person I want to be.”
"The Era of AI Transformation, The Beginning of Junior Talent: SSAFY" / Courtesy of SSAFY
SSAFY is one of Samsung Group’s corporate social responsibility programs aimed at providing IT expertise and job training for young job seekers. Since its establishment in December 2018, a total of 10,125 people have graduated from the program across 12 cohorts, and 8,566 of them have secured jobs, translating to an employment rate of about 85 percent.
SSAFY operates five campuses nationwide in Seoul, Daejeon, Gwangju, Busan and Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province. Last year, it overhauled its curriculum to focus on AI to help nurture experts in the field and also updated the program’s name to reflect the addition of AI.
The collection will be distributed to SSAFY campuses, graduates and faculty members, where it will be used as educational material. It will be also available through ssafy.com to allow broader public access.
“The essay collection is a record of young talents growing into software and AI specialists,” an SSAFY official said. “We will continue to support more young people so they can grow into key players for the AI era.”