Episode 17: August 2017 Bootcamp News

Why do journalists and industry leaders think that two coding bootcamps are closing? And despite these “shutdowns,” why do companies like IBM still want to hire coding bootcamp graduates? We’re covering all of the industry news from August. Plus, a $3 billion GI Bill that covers coding bootcamps for veterans, why Google and Amazon are partnering with bootcamps, and diversity initiatives. Listen to our podcast or read the full August 2017 News Roundup below.

 

A TV Show, 2 Fundraises, and a Job Opportunity

Listen: 1:44

• Former Dev Bootcamp business development manager, Chad Sanders, is partnering with Spike Lee to write and star in a TV show based on his own life working in tech.
• Tech Talent South has partnered with Charlotte-based investment firm Cramer Mountain Growth Partners which will invest an undisclosed amount in the coding bootcamp.
• Taiwan, Singapore, and HK-based Alpha Camp has raised $735,000 via a crowdfunding campaign.
• Ada Developers Academy is looking for a new executive director.

 

Why are Dev Bootcamp & The Iron Yard Closing?

Listen: 3:23

• Reuters published an in-depth overview of bootcamp closures, and looked at how some bootcamps are expanding to corporate training.
• Description: Ed Surge and Slate look at the future of bootcamps, talk to students, and bootcamp founders.
• Education Dive does a deep-dive into what’s happening in the bootcamp industry, citing Course Report research, and focusing on how the bootcamp model is expanding to universities.
• The New York Times published a thorough overview and analysis of the shakeout happening in the coding bootcamp industry.
• Galvanize coding bootcamp is laying off 11% of their workforce.

 

What Industry Insiders Think:

Listen: 6:43

• In two Medium blog posts, Dev Bootcamp co-founder Dave Hoover tells his Dev Bootcamp story, about how got involved and launched the Chicago campus.
• The Iron Yard founder Peter Barth talked to The Greenville Online about why he blames politics for the school’s closure, how expensive it was to open new campuses, but that he thinks a new bootcamp will open in Greenville within 6 months.
• Holberton’s Sylvain Kalache weighs in on the closure of Dev Bootcamp, and gives his view on the status of the bootcamp industry, saying that “the peak of coding bootcamps has come and gone, and the market has started to consolidate.”
• Forbes contributor Michael Horn interviews General Assembly CEO Jake Schwartz about what the closure of Dev Bootcamp and The Iron Yard means for the industry in general
• Thinkful co-founder Darrell Silver wrote a guest post in TechCrunch about the future of coding bootcamps, and why he thinks staying relevant is all about innovation.
• Opinion column in Inc by Sales Source blogger Geoffrey James who heavily criticizes coding bootcamps, and compares the recent closures to the “near universal failure of for profit universities”.

 

Despite closures, bootcampers are still in demand:

Listen: 9:53

• MarketPlace Interviewed HR VP at IBM who talked about “new collar” jobs, how 15% of new IBM hires don’t have a degree, and about new pathways that people are using to get into tech, including coding bootcamps.
• Canadian startup CTO Jeffrey Ling talked to The Georgia Straight about why he hires Lighthouse Labs students for his company thisopenspace.
• British company SkySkcanner is looking to nontraditional means to recruit software development talent, such as hackathons, tech events and bootcamps.
• NY Post mentions App Developer as one of 5 hot jobs you can get without getting a degree, suggesting that you can learn to code at a coding school like Flatiron School.
• Technically Philly guest post about how companies need to create apprenticeships and training programs instead of only looking for “experienced” programmers of which there is a shortage.

 

College vs Coding bootcamp

Listen: 11:50

• Entrepreneur looks at how some millennials are choosing skill-based training such as coding bootcamps over, or as well as college.
• Quartz published a complete guide to not going to college, focusing on the expense of college, and alternatives like apprenticeships, Holberton School, and coding bootcamps.

 

Students in the News

Listen: 12:42

• ABC 10 News profiles LEARN Academy students, highlighting the scholarships available for women, minorities, and low-income households, and the companies their grads are working at.
• An article in The Singapore New Paper focused on people switching careers through coding bootcamp to work in tech, which included interviews with two GA grads who did the WDI course at the Singapore campus.
• The Birmingham Times talks to graduates from Generation IT bootcamp and IamBham bootcamp in Birmingham Alabama, about their jobs and career trajectories
• Covalence just graduated their first Chattanooga cohort, where students showcased projects they had built to help the local community.
• The Post and Courier looked at initiatives to help people launch tech careers in Charleston, and highlighted Jack Russell Software coding bootcamp’s new graduates.

 

Paying for Bootcamp

Listen: 14:36

• NYCDA has launched a deferred tuition plan, with the aim of opening up access to more students at their Philadelphia and Salt Lake City campuses.
• TechCrunch profiled Y-Combinator-backed Lambda School which offers online programs with deferred tuition.
• Politico covers the passing by congress of a $3 billion expansion of the GI Bill, which aims to give veterans more flexibility to get new skills later in life through nontraditional education providers like coding bootcamps.
• X-finity looked at the GI Bill in a video report focusing on Galvanize, and interviewing some successful veterans
• WKBN Interviews Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton about how proposed changes to the GI Bill will allow veterans to attend coding bootcamps

 

Diverse Bootcampers in Tech

Listen: 16:38

• Bustle profiles three women who have transitioned into coding from other roles including a Dev Bootcamp grad, a Flatiron School student, and a GA grad who works at Twitter.
• Business Insider profiles a 50-year-old Zip Code Wilmington grad who switched careers from physicist to IT business analyst.
• Ed Surge looked at new non-profit bootcamp Techtonica started by Hackbright alumna Michelle Glauser.

 

Partnerships with Tech Giants

Listen: 17:58

• Coding Dojo is partnering with Amazon to teach developers how to code for Amazon Alexa.
• Galvanize is teaming with Amazon to educate engineers about how to develop software for Alexa.
• Google and the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts are partnering to offer a 20-week bootcamp for adults in Boston who want to work in tech but don't have access to training.
• A new TechHire bootcamp initiative between Grand Circus and the city of Detroit will train students in technologies used by Quicken Loans, which has committed to hire 80 percent of graduates.

 

Bootcamps at Universities

Listen: 19:24

• Ed Surge looks at the trend of nonprofit colleges opening coding bootcamps, and how that intensive style of practical instruction could be used for other subjects like healthcare, accounting or political science.
• The Daily Californian looked at how UC Berkeley Extension is launching a UX/UI bootcamp starting in November in SF, and how UC Berkeley’s Extension programs are slated to help reduce the college’s campus budget deficit, including coding bootcamp programs.
• Launch Academy is partnering with The College of New Jersey to host a 3-day mini bootcamp at the NJ campus.

 

New Initiatives + Schools

Listen: 21:50

• Codecademy is launching mentored courses and Education Dive interviewed co-founder and CEO Zach Sims about the closure of some coding bootcamps, the future of the space, and what is happening with the new mentored courses.
• Crains Cleveland looks at whether Northeast Ohio might be in a bootcamp bubble, with 6 coding bootcamps in the region, and a seventh, Blue Ocean Coding, opening in September.
• According to Clomedia, Startup Institute is launching an intrapreneurship program, where students learn how to innovate within the companies they work for.
• Tech Elevator’s new Cincinnati campus will open in October 2017. Tech Elevator already has campus in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
• Tech Talent South is providing curriculum for a new coding bootcamp at Gaston College in Belmont, NC.
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that LaunchCode has been facing setbacks and is pulling out of an initiative in Rhode Island, where they received almost $500,000 in grants from the state to hold bootcamps and internships.
• Journal Sentinel reports that Milwaukee bootcamp DevCodeCamp is launching a 24-week evening bootcamp on September 28 which will teach the same skills as the original 12-week full time bootcamp.
• Sheridan Media reports that Interapt coding school is scheduled to open a campus in Buffalo, NY in January 2018. Interapt is a Kentucky-based tech company which trains workers and guarantees them work at the company once they complete the program.
• Arkansas Coding Academy is opening in Little Rock, their second campus teaching Android after the one at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

 

New Schools on Course Report

Listen: 24:59

• Beginex, New York City
• Northcoders, Manchester, England
• OpenClassrooms, online
• Destination Dev, cities in Colombia and Thailand
• School of Accelerated Learning, Hyderabad, India
• CodeSpace, Cape Town, South Africa
• Impact Byte, Jakarta, Indonesia

 

Favorite Articles on the Course Report Blog

Listen: 25:27

Liz Eggleston

• I talked to New York Code and Design Academy graduate, Juliet, who had one of the most visually beautiful final projects I’ve seen in a while. It’s called Nanny Dunkelheit.
   

Lauren Stewart

• I really appreciated my conversation with Lambda School’s co-founder Austen Allred about how the school is broadening access to coding education with their new 6-month online course that includes deferred tuition until students land a job.
   

Imogen Crispe

• I had a lot of fun making a video about imposter syndrome with The Grace Hopper Program Dean of Students, Meg Kelly. She had lots of great insights from her students at the all-women’s coding bootcamp.

 

FURTHER READING

• July 2017 Coding Bootcamp News Roundup + Podcast
• June 2017 Coding Bootcamp News Roundup + Podcast
• May 2017 Coding Bootcamp News Roundup + Podcast

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