It's one thing to have technical knowledge gained through education, but knowing what that translates to and where it will take you in the working world is quite another. Launched on Mandela Day, Brainstorm magazine and ITWeb are establishing a job-shadowing initiative, #BrainstormLOFT, to help grow the skills of the future. We’re looking for experienced industry executives to give young students, graduates and IT professionals (aged 18 and over) a glimpse into what life is like in the working world, to see if their dream job would be something they would enjoy and thrive in.

Among the volunteers who have agreed so far to give shadowing opportunities are Tshifhiwa Ramuthaga, the chief information officer, Barloworld Logistics; Thagaran Govender, chief information officer, Mercantile Bank; Lee Naik, chief executive officer, TransUnion Africa; Lorraine Steyn, founder of Khanyisa Real Systems; Sandra La Bella, head of technology transformation and adoption, and chief technology officer, Barclays Africa; Ellen Fischat, the managing director of Silicon Cape; Venisha Nayagar, the group manager, IT governance, risk and information security, Sun International, and Brandon Bekker, the managing director of Mimecast. Moses Segaetsho, acting deputy business executive at the Auditor-General of South Africa, Zibusiso Mkhwanazi, group CEO of M&N Brands & Avatar360, Alastair Waldeck, head of sales & marketing at Snode, and Priscilla Kobe, a senior manager, ICT Service Management at the Auditor General of South Africa, have also volunteered their time.