The team behind the next Sprint just trained in Estonia
kood/Odesa and kood/Zhytomyr teams spent a week at the heart of //kood, so the next Sprint that comes to Ukraine is the real thing.
At the beginning of June, kood/Odesa and kood/Zhytomyr teams travelled to Estonia to learn the //kood Selection Sprint at its source. They came back with more than notes — they came back having lived it. And that matters for everyone in Ukraine who is about to take their first step into tech.
It began in Jõhvi, the small Estonian town where //kood started in 2021. Instead of sitting through presentations, our Ukrainian teams stepped straight into a live Selection Sprint: no lectures, no entrance exams, no requirement for prior experience. Just peer-to-peer learning, real tasks from day one and the autonomy that makes //kood different. They were joined by the first group of sprinters from kood/Moldova — so Estonian, Ukrainian and Moldovan teams were all in the same building, practicing the same model together.
What is the Selection Sprint?
The Selection Sprint is the way into //kood. It’s a three-week, hands-on bootcamp that introduces the model and at the same time serves as selection for the main 12-month programme. There are no tests to revise for — you start solving real problems immediately, in a setting built to feel like a real development team.
By experiencing the Sprint in Jõhvi, the team who will run it in Odesa learned how to hold that space: how to facilitate peer-learning, how to keep the energy high and how a room of strangers becomes a community in three weeks. The Sprint you join in Ukraine isn’t a copy — it’s the same proven experience, brought home by the people who lived it.
Built for the people who need it most
kood/Odesa opens a free, practical path into the digital economy for anyone deciding to start a career from scratch — veterans returning to civilian life, women entering or changing careers, internally displaced people. The programme is based at the Faculty of Cybersecurity and Information Technologies of the National University “Odesa Law Academy”, with the Odesa IT Family cluster as a community partner and the support of Estonia through ESTDEV.
It builds on the story of kood/Zhytomyr, the first //kood location in Ukraine, which opened in 2025 and has already welcomed more than 80 learners. Some are now choosing specialisations in generative AI, full-stack development and cybersecurity — and a few are already working as engineers while they continue to study.
What comes after the Sprint is just as practical. Those who complete it move into the main 12-month programme, which begins in September 2026: the first months build fundamental programming and backend skills, and the later months focus on product engineering. The goal is AI-ready Product Engineers: people who don’t just write code, but solve real business problems as part of a team.
“Our recent trip to Estonia was highly productive, featuring numerous insightful meetings focused on exploring the innovative //kood platform. This project perfectly aligns with modern educational trends, showcasing a cutting-edge, peer-to-peer approach to tech education. We firmly believe that Odesa, as one of Ukraine’s primary IT hubs, genuinely needs a project like this. It would provide locals with an excellent opportunity to learn coding from scratch and kickstart their careers in the tech sector. Ultimately, this platform will bridge the gap between talent and employers, helping graduates secure jobs in both the private IT business and the evolving public sector.”
— Dmitriy Yefimchuck, Project Lead, kood/Odesa
Your turn
The teams are ready. The model is proven. The next move is yours.
Applications for the first kood/Odesa Selection Sprint are open now. It runs 10–28 August 2026, it’s completely free, it’s open to anyone aged 18+, and you need no prior programming experience. Only 100 places are available. Sign up here.