We arrived in Marrakesh today, and I can’t wait for what’s to come. Great hotel, excellent dinner, and there is a pool I intend to make full use of. But before all that, today gave us something more valuable than a good meal: a full, on-the-ground picture of 1337, the school my group has been researching. We went into the visit with a lot of second-hand knowledge. What today did was fill in some gaps, challenge some assumptions, and surface a couple of things worth thinking critically about as we build our presentation.

First, what surprised me, and not in a good way: the workforce readiness part. This issue appeared to be part of a wider trend we’ve witnessed throughout Moroccan institutions. Students acquire good technical skills, but they are not always fully prepared for the professional realities of entering the job market. Specifically at 1337, coding and software development are taught efficiently and with real-world applications, but the professional side, networking, entrepreneurial thinking, and how to navigate a career are largely picked up through clubs and extracurriculars at the broader UM6P campus, rather than through 1337 itself. Students looking to go the traditional employment route haven’t had too much of an issue with this. 1337 does a great job of connecting graduates directly with recruiters, and from what we heard, job offers are sometimes made on the spot. But for students who want to start their own companies, that gap seems more important. We also highlight a longer-term concern in our report. In a few years, the tech job market will fill up, and 1337 may have to lower its admissions bar, said the presenter. We are putting in 98 to 100 percent, and that is a significant achievement by any measure. But as those open positions get filled, the job market for software and tech talent will likely get more competitive, and 1337’s current model may need to evolve to keep up with that shift.

The good news is that much of what we found in our secondary research held true. The 92 to 94 percent graduation rate is truly impressive, especially considering the self-directed nature of the curriculum. Students learn at their own pace, work with fellow students, and solve problems instead of relying on traditional professors. That model screens out people who aren’t really motivated, which probably explains why the students we talked to were so sharp and driven. One of the more meaningful parts of the visit was actually being able to interact directly with students, both through interviews and just casual conversation. The secondary research showed 1337 as a school for everyone, but the reality is that getting in is very competitive and demanding. Students who come in hungry are the ones who make it through. The campus itself, part of UM6P, further illustrates how much of 1337’s success is tied to the larger resources surrounding it. The infrastructure, the extracurriculars, and the professional network all coalesce to support a model of learning that wouldn’t work the same way if isolated.

Overall, 1337 is doing well. Morocco’s tech sector is young and growing fast, and 1337 seems genuinely built to grow with it. The challenges are real, but they are also solvable, and I think our presentation will be stronger for having seen the place firsthand instead of just reading about it.