Blog
Increasing the Visibility of Women in Tech after Codesmith
6/24/2019
Alex was interested in coding throughout college but initially dismissed it, thinking that coding just wasn’t for her. But seeing the potential of technology while working for nonprofits, she decided to revisit software engineering, and loved it. Alex won the Edie Windsor Lesbians Who Tech Scholarship to attend Codesmith coding bootcamp in New York City, and now works on a team that values diversity. Alex tells us about her experience learning in Codesmith’s supportive environment, how she landed her new role as a Software Engineer, and why she’s happy to be increasing the visibility of women in tech.
Continue ReadingWhy Datadog Hires Solutions Engineers From Flatiron School
5/31/2019
Being a Solutions Engineer at Datadog takes a unique combination of technical and soft skills. And since many Flatiron School graduates come armed with previous client-facing experience, Datadog has hired 8 of them for this role! We sat down with Avery Johnson, a Technical Solutions Recruiter for Datadog, to understand the value bootcamp grads bring to the Solutions Engineer role, their partnership with Flatiron School, and what their new hires are working on at their jobs.
Continue ReadingHow to Land a Data Science Job in Seattle
5/17/2019
Curious about landing data science interviews (and ultimately, a job) in Seattle? Today, we’re diving into the Seattle data science job market, the types of companies that are hiring, and advice about standing out in a crowded pool of applicants. Our panel will share advice from two different perspectives: Nathan Thompson is a graduate of data science bootcamp Metis and has landed three jobs since 2016, while Marybeth Redmond is a career coach who helps nurture the careers of new data scientists in Seattle. They share their wisdom about the best ways to get your foot in the door at Seattle companies (and their advice is applicable to students in any city)!
Continue ReadingWhy CD Baby Hires Developers (and interns!) from Epicodus
5/13/2019
CD Baby is one of the largest music distribution companies for independent artists. As they’ve built out their technical team to support the 21st-century music industry with digital and streaming services, CD Baby has hired several bootcamp graduates from Epicodus. We spoke with VP of People, Gretchen Boster, about how their new hires are performing on the job, why they participate in Epicodus’ internship program which facilitates internships for all Epicodus students, and her advice for other employers considering hiring new developers from a coding bootcamp.
Continue ReadingHow Feedback Shapes the Curriculum at Lighthouse Labs
6/21/2019
Why is Lighthouse Labs changing their web development bootcamp curriculum again? In 2017 they lengthened the bootcamp to be 10 weeks long, and now it is becoming a 12-week program! Amy Mansell, Lighthouse Labs’ Product Manager, Education, tells us how the team is always looking to enhance the student experience and outcomes by getting feedback from employers, alumni, and mentors. She explains why this new curriculum means a wider range of financing options for students, and how the team has incorporated more fundamentals to deepen and strengthen student learning outcomes.
Continue ReadingWhat is Natural Language Processing?
5/8/2019
Data Scientists need a whole toolbox of skills to be able to analyze and manipulate data on the job. One of those skills is Natural Language Processing (NLP), which helps machines understand and classify human speech and writing. To learn more, we asked Data Scientist Lauren Washington, who also mentors Thinkful data science students, to explain what NLP actually is, how companies like Google and Facebook use it, and why it’s a useful skill for data scientists. Plus find resources to help you get started with Natural Language Processing!
Continue ReadingMeet Ashley: A Working Mom who Changed Careers with DigitalCrafts
5/7/2019
Ashley had found success in social work but was searching for a job with less stress and more balance for her young family. She attended DigitalCraft’s 16-week full stack immersive bootcamp in Atlanta and is now an Associate Engineer with Riskalyze! What was it like switching careers for this mom of two? Ashley shared why she chose DigitalCrafts, how she juggled attending a bootcamp and being a mom, how social work continues to influence her career path, and why it was important for her to prioritize a career change and demonstrate to her daughters that girls can do cool tech jobs!
Continue ReadingHow Hinesh Landed a Job at Google after Rithm School
5/1/2019
After college, Hinesh found himself in a technical support role, and discovered a passion for software development. He decided to pursue programming full time and attended Rithm School coding bootcamp in San Francisco on a friend’s recommendation. After 16 weeks of bootcamp study, a real-world project with Course Report, and two months of job seeking, Hinesh is “incredibly happy” to be a software engineer at Google! He explains his Google interview process, and how the skills he gained from Rithm School help him learn new technologies on the job!
Continue ReadingApril 2019 Coding Bootcamp News Roundup
10/17/2019
Each month, the Course Report team rounds up the most interesting bootcamp industry news that we read and talked about in our office. In April, we were showered with a ton of exciting fundraising and acquisition news, ISAs (income sharing agreements) continued to be a hot topic, and coding bootcamps began getting approved for a new veterans program called VET TEC. We also saw some great diversity initiatives and scholarship opportunities for bootcamps in the US and abroad. Plus, a report from the Christensen Institute looked into bootcamps as disruptors, and two schools are planning to expand the bootcamp model into healthcare – read to the end to find out more.
Continue ReadingMeet UX Design Instructor Nick Basile of Lambda School
4/29/2019
As a self-taught UX designer and coder, Nick was looking for a way to pay it forward and help others transition into an exciting career. He found an opportunity to be the first UX Design instructor for Lambda School’s online UX Design school! Nick tells us about his own UX background, why the Lambda School education team is always tweaking and improving the UX design curriculum, and how he tries to be “the most engaging instructor” to help motivate and encourage his students to launch new UX design careers!
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