Welcome to the first News Roundup of 2018! We’re already having a busy 2018 – we published our latest outcomes and demographics report, and we’re seeing a promising focus on diversity in tech! In January we saw a significant fundraising announcement from an online bootcamp, we saw journalists exploring why employers should hire bootcamp and apprenticeship graduates, we read about community colleges versus bootcamps and how bootcamps are helping to grow tech ecosystems. Plus, we’ll talk about the newest campuses and schools on the scene, and our favorite blog posts. Read below or listen to the podcast!
News From Over the Holidays
Top News
Hiring Coding Bootcamp Grads
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Revature CMO Joe Vacca wrote a guest post for IDG Connect about why companies need to hire bootcamp grads, mentioning practical skills and diversity.
- An article in The Hill looked at the rising costs of hiring programming talent, and how companies are turning to outsourcing their development tasks, or to coding bootcamps to hire developers.
- Alison DeNisco Rayome of TechRepublic looked at how coding bootcamps are beginning to catch up with 4-year Computer Science programs in terms of number of graduates and average starting salaries.
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Utah Business looks at the types of jobs you can get without a bachelor’s degree, and how skills-based training, like bootcamps, is becoming more desirable for employers in Utah.
- The Globe and Mail interviewed an instructor from HackerYou coding bootcamp about what UX Designers earn, what they do, and how you can learn UX Design.
- Yiren Lu of NYmag profiles two Dev Bootcamp grads from Chicago, Grant Hummer and James Fickel, who started a crypto-currency-focused investment fund.
- Jeff Winkler from Origin Code Academy wrote a handy list of tips for junior developers who are job seeking for The Times of San Diego.
What to Learn at Bootcamp
Increasing Diversity in Tech
- Liliana Monge, the founder of Sabio, said she wasn’t attending CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) in 2018 because it kicked off with zero women speakers.
- Sharon Florentine of CIO looked at how coding bootcamps are producing graduates who are more diverse than Computer Science degree graduates based on the unique nature of the learning model.
- ELearningInside considered whether online learning can Close the Gender Gap, and mentions Bloc’s announcement of their Close the Gap scholarship, 50% of enrollments have been women.
- A Fast Company article profiled Hackbright grad Lindsay Grizzard about being the only woman in her company at her first software engineering job.
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Outsmart magazine profiled Veronica Diaz, a UT Austin Coding Boot Camp graduate who won an Edie Windsor LGBTQ Coding Scholarship to attend bootcamp.
- Pop Sugar profiled Clinay Cameron, a woman of color who took classes at Hack the Hood in the Bay Area, who now works at Yelp and helps mentor other women of color.
- A technical lead engineer, Cai Gao, wrote an opinion piece in Wired called “How to Buck the Brogrammer Culture and get Women into Stem,” mentioning coding bootcamps, local organizations, and what companies and engineering managers can do to increase diversity.
Learning For the Future
Bootcamp Scholarships
Bootcamps Around the World
- Rana Freifer of Wamda profiles various efforts to teach refugees to code in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, and how organizations like ReBootKamp and Re:Coded aim to help young refugees and their tech education.
- One of Dev Bootcamp’s co-founders, Dave Hoover, who now leads a software team at Raise, hired two Andela fellows, and recently visited Andela in Lagos where he met all the fellows, and explored the city.
- Elise Jone, a Trinidad transplant from Atlanta, GA, announced her plans to start a bootcamp in Trinidad and Tobago. She says computer skills are “one way that people from socially or economically disadvantaged backgrounds can improve their lives.”
Bootcamp Updates
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Flatiron School has announced their new Washington DC location will be at WeWork White House, with classes beginning in March. WeWork recently acquired Flatiron School, and the school plans to expand to more WeWork locations in the future.
- WeWork announced a partnership with 2U, which will license Flatiron School's Learn.co online learning platform, and pay $13 million to lease it. This was widely covered by publications including Inside Higher Ed, Bloomberg, EdSurge and Fast Company.
- DC Inno looked at Launch Academy’s failed attempt to launch Prism Shift, an all women’s coding bootcamp in DC. Staff reported that there wasn't enough interest in the program for it to launch due to a turbulent year in D.C.’s coding academy and education programming landscape.
- According to the Triad Business Journal, Coder Foundry filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in December and has now closed. It’s a school for computer programming based in Kernersville, North Carolina, with campuses in Charlotte, North Carolina, and New York City.
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Galvanize has a new CEO – Al Rosabal. He was most recently with National CineMedia, serving as the city’s Chief Technology Officer for the last decade, and replaces Jim Deters, who stepped down last year.
- Business Insider announced that RED Academy has launched a work-study program for international students to provide more diverse talent to Canada’s tech sector.
- HR Dive profiled Rowdy Orbit Impact, a coding bootcamp which trains African American and Latinx ex-prisoners for programming and tech jobs. The article also mentioned that websites like Glassdoor are banning job posts which discriminate against applicants with criminal records.
New Bootcamps in January 2018
Favorite Pieces on the Blog
Lauren Stewart
- Lauren enjoyed researching a piece called “Changing the Face of the Tech Industry.” It digs into the current landscape of the diversity in the tech industry and looks at how coding bootcamps are poised to help change the face of tech in 2018.
Liz Eggleston
- Liz was excited to publish the latest Course Report Outcomes and Demographics report, which provides readers with real data from graduates of bootcamps. We surveyed 1450 bootcamp grads, asked about who they are and what sort of success they’ve seen after they graduated. Read about average salaries, salary increases, student backgrounds, and how long it takes to find a job.
Imogen Crispe
- Imogen enjoyed reading a piece Liz did with a LinkedIn Engineer, Neha Jain, who mentors Holberton students! She had some great things to say about Holberton students, explained why she wants to give back to the community, and gave some tips for new developers. Neha also talks about the community for mothers in tech, PiMothers!
FURTHER READING/LISTENING
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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.