Episode 9: November 2016 Bootcamp News

Welcome to the November 2016 Course Report monthly coding bootcamp news roundup! Each month, we look at all the happenings from the coding bootcamp world from new bootcamps to fundraising announcements, to interesting trends. This month we cover a big bootcamp rebrand, the UN getting involved with coding bootcamps, the debate about CS degrees vs bootcamps, ethics in programming and how that extends to bootcamps, a new Outcomes Report, and as usual, new coding schools and campuses. Plus, shout out to simpleprogrammer.com, who featured us on their list of Ultimate Developer Podcasts in November!

Read below or listen to our latest Coding Bootcamp News Roundup Podcast!

General News

• Hack Reactor unified their branding, bringing MakerSquare and Telegraph Academy under the Hack Reactor name. (Read More on Course Report)
• The UN’s International Communication Technologies agency is working with Coder Factor Academy, an Australian coding bootcamp, to help spread the bootcamp model to the Philippines starting in February 2017. (via Business Insider)
• An experienced programmer talks to Business Insider about unethical code he was asked to write for a pharmaceutical company, and points out that coding bootcamps should include ethics training.
• According to Time.com, software bootcamps are apparently getting easier to pay for.

Related: How to Pay for a Coding Bootcamp
Related: Coding Bootcamp Loans and Financing
 

Bootcamps vs Computer science degrees

• Can you really apply for a lot of tech jobs without a computer science degree? The Skillcrush team finds out in this Alley Watch guest post.
• Carrie Ghose of Biz journals explores the employer perspective of coding bootcamp grads, and finds out about the diversity in experience that they bring to the table.
• Are coding bootcamps replacing software engineering degrees? Watch this Fox Business News piece that includes an interview with our own Liz Eggleston!

Related: CS Degrees vs Coding Bootcamps
 

Diversity

• Code to Inspire, the first coding school for women in Afghanistan, launched in November 2015 (via the Guardian).
• CNBC profiled U.S. Army veteran, John Deng who was stationed in Baghdad and is now stationed in upstate New York, doing Hack Reactor Remote, and crushing HackerRank.
• Hackbright CEO Sharon Wienbar wrote a piece for Tech Crunch about hiring and retaining well-qualified female engineers.

Related: Alumni Spotlight: Jon Dyson of RefactorU (veteran alumni)
 

Outcomes

• Galvanize coding bootcamp in Denver released their outcomes report in November.
• With the growth of coding bootcamps in Austin, the TWC (Texas Workforce Commission) is cracking down on bootcamp education regulations.

Related: TWC career education directory
Related: Outcomes Spotlight: Turing School
Related: Outcomes Spotlight: Thinkful
 

New Bootcamps/Bootcamp updates/courses

• Northeastern’s Level coding bootcamp is expanding to Toronto, Canada in January (via BostInno).
• New Orleans nonprofit coding bootcamp Operation Spark is looking to expand statewide to more cities in Louisiana (via NationSwell).
  Related: Alumni Spotlight: Alon Robinson of Operation Spark and Hack Reactor
• The Mirror reports that the UK government is funding a free 10-week cyber security bootcamp to teach students to protect the country from hackers.
• Free 12-week coding program Revature has expanded to University of Missouri (via The Maneater).
• National American University has licensed RefactorU’s curriculum (JavaScript) to start a 10-week bootcamp in Lewisville, TX (via Campus Technology).
• Coding Dojo bootcamp, with campuses around the country, has launched a new training program for Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa (via Geekwire).
• Miami Herald reports that coding bootcamp Wyncode is moving to its own 3100 square foot dedicated campus that is more than four times larger than their space at The LAB Miami.

New Schools:

• Berkeley Coding Boot Camp, San Francisco, California
• Craft Academy, Gothenburg, Sweden
• Bottega, Orem, Utah
• George Washington University Coding Boot Camp, Arlington, Virginia
• Alliance for Digital Employability, Athens, Greece
• National American University, Dallas, Texas
• DeltaV Code School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
• MisterBit Coding Academy, Ramat Gan, Israel
   

Question of the Month

“Is the programming language taught at a coding bootcamp important?”

• Seems important, but actually isn’t really, unless you want to work in a job market that strictly hires in one specific language
• Do a search on Indeed to find out what languages employers want in your city
• If you learn one object-oriented programming language, then you can learn another in time to start a job
• Remember that whatever language you learn, in 10 years (even in 10 months), it may be obsolete, so learning your first programming language is just the start- you’re signing up to be a lifelong learner.
   

Favorite Pieces on the Course Report blog:

Lauren Stewart:

• Jack Yeh was in the Marines, studied environmental management, worked for brands like Walmart and Groupon then went to Turing School because of he saw inefficiencies with the supply chain technology. He is now a Full Stack Developer at a healthcare tech company.

Imogen Crispe

• I spoke to three Flatiron online students in three different locations – a mom, a world traveler, and a full time accountant – to compare their experiences, and reasons for choosing Flatiron.

Liz Eggleston

• Our new Coding Bootcamp Glossary has over 100 terms for newbies who are ready to start researching but are like- what’s Agile Methodology or what’s MEAN Stack.

FURTHER READING:

• October 2016 Coding Bootcamp News Roundup + Podcast
• September 2016 Coding Bootcamp News Roundup + Podcast
• August 2016 Coding Bootcamp News Roundup + Podcast

About The Author

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.