In our April 2018 technology bootcamp news roundup we saw four overarching trends – bootcamp acquisitions, employers putting their own employees through bootcamp, a continued debate between college vs bootcamp, and efforts to expand accessibility to coding education for underrepresented groups in tech. We also look at apprenticeships, the evolution of bootcamp curricula, life after bootcamp, and new bootcamps! Read the roundup below or listen to the podcast!
EdSurge and TechCrunch reported that Holberton School raised $8.2 Million in funding to expand it’s San Francisco-based coding school. The Series A Investors included daphni, Trinity Ventures, and Omidyar Network.
According to TechRepublic, Google has also launched a free learn-to-code mobile app for JavaScript, called Grasshopper, inspired by the programming pioneer Grace Hopper who coined the term “bug” and “debug” in programming.
TechCrunch reports that Microsoft launched a set of 13 online courses for entry-level software developers which cover topics like Python, JavaScript, Artificial Intelligence, and machine learning.
CNBC’s Jim Cramer looks at how Home Depot is hiring 1000 technical professionals as part of an $11 billion strategic investment plan to protect its lead over Amazon, and how they also train existing employees in 12-week tech bootcamps.
A guest post in VentureBeat by Jeff Mazur, the Executive Director of LaunchCode, looks at the difficulties in talent recruiting in the Midwest and elsewhere, how LaunchCode partners with local employers to build a custom curriculum, and encourages employers to “rethink how they source and develop talent.”
Forbes contributor Steve Cadigan looks at different ways to fill the talent gap in tech with a focus on custom corporate training. He gives Miami-based bootcamp Wyncode, which works directly with companies to prepare candidates to fill current job openings, as an example.
The Miami Herald also highlights Wyncode’s corporate training program, and mentions Wyncode client Liquid Consulting, which is putting eight students through a nine-week course with Wyncode, after which they are guaranteed jobs with Liquid.
Conservative columnist Peter Morici writes in the Washington Times about how America is overinvesting in traditional higher education, how more apprenticeship programs are needed, mentions that the Trump administration has doubled the DOL budget for cultivating apprenticeships, and mentions coding bootcamps as alternatives to higher ed.
KMVT has more information about the Code-to-Career apprenticeship program in Idaho and how to apply. After the six months of on-the-job training, students will receive a credential from the U.S. Department of Labor. Interested candidates can call 208-861-9207 for more information.
Expanding Accessibility
Texas Public Radio and Biz Journals covered the news of a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to Alamo Colleges District to offer scholarships for unemployed or underemployed San Antonio, Texas residents to attend Codeup, an 18-week coding bootcamp.
Peru Reports profiles a Peruvian startup called Laboratoria, which teaches Latina women how to code. The article looks at why Laboratoria focuses on teaching women only, and their plans to expand across South America.
Fullstack Academy CEO David Yang wrote a guest post in EdSurge about the evolution of the coding bootcamp model from 1.0 to 2.0, how more bootcamps are including add-ons to create a “whole product” for students (like financing, credentials, alumni networks, housing), and predicts new methods of content delivery like partnerships with universities and government.
Emily Johnson of Information Week looked at how important soft skills are for working in tech, how they are actually really hard to master, yet they're proving to be the attributes that give candidates an edge when looking for new roles and leadership positions.
Forbes profiles C4Q founder Jukay Hsu who was a classmate of Mark Zuckerberg’s at Harvard, joined the military after college, and after meeting people with such different backgrounds, realized that, “talent is universal but opportunity is not,” so he founded C4Q in Queens for people earning less than $40,000.
AL.com profiled a graduate of Innovate Birmingham, a 14-week bootcamp aiming to help retrain Birmingham's native-born talent, and highlights Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin who is encouraging grads to become entrepreneurs.
Jacobin Mag looks at a unionization saga involving a group of Hackbright Academy alumnae, one of whom was fired from her role. The article looks at how a tech company called Lanetix fired all its software engineers after they tried to unionize with NewsGuild - Communications Workers of America.
New Bootcamps/Bootcamp updates
Fast Company and Houston Chronicle announced that NYC-based Flatiron School is expanding to Houston, TX and offering a scholarship in partnership with Facebook.
Per Scholas, various cities like Dallas, TX, New York City, Atlanta, GA
Favorite Pieces on the Blog
Imogen Crispe
Imogen enjoyed profiling Tech Elevator’s new Pittsburgh campus, and discovering how Pittsburgh is such a burgeoning tech hub, with thousands of open tech jobs, and companies like Google, Amazon, and Uber have offices there. She spoke to Tech Elevator campus director Justin Driscoll, who worked with the Pittsburgh technology council, and raved about the varied neighborhoods, and the low cost of housing compared with NYC and SF.
Liz Eggleston
Liz interviewed an IT Manager who worked with Software Guild to retrain his team of developers; he saw inconsistencies between teams and the way they wrote code in Java, so they put everyone through the same course to get the team on the same page. This employer said it was totally worth it, but here’s his advice for other employers:
“It’s wise for a company to sit down, calculate the cost of training, and determine the return on that investment. It doesn't take very long to see that there's a positive ROI on the cost of training. When you eliminate your technical debt, the return comes back pretty quickly.”
Lauren Stewart
Lauren had a great conversation with a Holberton School alum, Max Johnson. Max was living paycheck-to-paycheck and jumping between jobs as a mental health therapist, delivery driver, and physical trainer. He wasn’t satisfied his current career trajectory and he wanted a more viable career path. So he took a risk and drove across the country from New Jersey to San Francisco to attend Holberton School.
Imogen is a writer and content producer who loves writing about technology and education. Her background is in journalism, writing for newspapers and news websites. She grew up in England, Dubai and New Zealand, and now lives in Brooklyn, NY.
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