November 2018 Coding Bootcamp News Podcast

Table of Contents

• Top News
• Success at Coding Bootcamp
• Landing a job after bootcamp
• Regulatory News
• Diversity in Tech
• Growing Tech in Communities
• Bootcamp Announcements
• New Bootcamps in November
• Favorite Articles on the Blog

This November has been super busy in the immersive coding education world, and at Course Report! We read about how Amazon’s new headquarters will impact the coding bootcamps in New York City, we celebrated successful coding bootcamp grads, we were sad to hear that a school is closing, we heard advice for being successful at bootcamp, and found out about new initiatives to improve diversity in tech! Plus we look at new schools and campuses around the world and discuss our favorite pieces on the Course Report blog.

Top News

• EdSurge looked at how education providers, including coding bootcamps, in Washington DC and New York City, are responding to Amazon’s new headquarters announcement.
• According to Technically Philly, New York Code and Design Academy is closing down, with the last class graduating in March 2019.

Success at Coding Bootcamp

• Pointe Magazine highlights Shoshana Rosenfield, a ballerina who left full-time dancing to study economics at college, then go to coding bootcamp. She went to Grace Hopper, and now she is a teaching fellow there!
• A Galvanize Data Science Bootcamp graduate wrote a blog post about his background growing up in Ethiopia, and how his journey led him to become a software engineer at Uber!
• The Star Beacon profiles graduates of WeCanCodeIT’s first class in Ashtabula, Ohio, which was part time, had 5 students, and was held at St John School. We Can Code IT plans to run a full-time coding class in the area in January 2018.
• WRAL Tech Wire attended Momentum Learning’s 2nd demo day, and recorded a podcast episode with interviews the founders about why they started the bootcamp, and with students about their projects. Momentum also wrote a guest blog post for WRAL about the companies in Durham which are sending their employees to coding bootcamp.
• Thinkful wrote a guest post about a student at Thinkful who did a data analysis project using data from the Austin Animal Shelter, and used machine learning to see what influences adoption rates.
• Geek Wire reports that the first class has graduated from Apprenti, an apprenticeship initiative in Seattle, Washington, which places students in coding bootcamps and apprenticeships to to help them break into the technology industry.
• CNBC’s show “FIx My Career” highlighted a coding bootcamp grad trying to make a career change. He attended part-time program at CareerDevs in Providence Rhode Island. 

Landing a job after bootcamp

• I am Expat looks at how tech, unlike other fields like law, doesn’t require a university degree, and people can teach themselves to code or go to coding bootcamp. The article mentions coding bootcamp Ubiqum Code Academy in Amsterdam.
• Alphr.com looks at the types of tech jobs people can get without a degree, mentioning alternative training such as coding bootcamps, online training, and digital apprenticeships.
• Sarah Butcher wrote for eFinancial Careers about whether coding bootcamps are worth it, and talked to three bootcamp grads from Le Wagon, Actualize, and Makers Academy about their experiences.
• Coding Dojo CEO Michael Choi wrote a guest post for Entrepreneur about how companies can hire the most motivated tech talent. He suggests startups look for innovative ways to  expand talent pool, mentioning grads from online coding academies and coding bootcamps.
• UX planet put together 10 pieces of advice for someone who wants to be successful at coding bootcamp, with suggestions like networking and writing
• A survey of software developers by Canadian website Course Compare has found that one tenth of professional developers in Canada have studied at a coding bootcamp. The survey also compared salaries of developers who had different levels of education.
• In a guide to software development for the non-technical founder, Yahoo news mentions coding bootcamps as a way for business founders to get familiar with what your developers are doing.

Regulatory News

• An opinion piece on Townhall, a conservative news and political commentary website, looks at the Trump administration’s emphasis on technical and STEM education. The author, Jesse Grady, thinks we need more vocational training in K-12, useful college degrees, and more postsecondary options, like apprenticeships or coding bootcamps.
• Former Chairman of the Republican Party of Ohio, Matt Borges, wrote an opinion piece for The Daily Caller about coding bootcamps as an alternate route from the typical college track.
• Campus Technology looks at degrees vs certificates, and how we can figure out who is completing what type of qualification. The reporter mentions that some coding bootcamps may choose not to report completions at all, and how the Trump administration has suspended a law which required for-profits and nonprofits running non-eligible programs to report annual completion alongside debt repayment data.

Diversity in Tech

• Ryan Carson, founder and CEO of Treehouse wrote a guest post for Harvard Business Review about his struggles to diversify his engineering team, and his efforts to figure out why it was hard, how he launched an apprenticeship for new talent, and what advice he could give other team leads.
• The Next Web looks at the gender inequality in the Blockchain industry. Research from eToro says that blockchain is witnessing a major gender divide – only 8.5 percent of cryptocurrency users are female. The writer, has suggestions for companies to diversify their blockchain teams, and mentions Lightning Labs’ scholarships for female blockchain devs in NYC. On a semi-related note, in China activists have turned to blockchain in order to document the stories of sexual assault victims.
• Al Jazeera profiles a Palestinian woman who quit her job as an English teacher to learn to code at Gaza Sky Geeks coding bootcamp in Gaza.
• Mena Bytes looks at how Global Shapers Giza Hub is teaming up with Cairo-based coding bootcamp Al Makinah to offer full scholarships to 7 women to go to the 14-week software development bootcamp.
• Bustle spoke Flatiron School graduates – three women who switched careers into tech - a former fashion designer, a former flight attendant, and a former athlete who all now have great jobs as software engineers!
• Straight.com looks at an initiative called TechStart at Lighthouse Labs which aims to help people coming from overseas, like refugees, to get into the tech industry, where the Immigrant Services of B.C covers 50% of the tuition, and Lighthouse Labs offers scholarships to cover the remaining 50%. Lighthouse Labs has also launched another initiative called TechWomen, a part-time program for female immigrants and refugees.

Growing Tech in Communities

• Tony Wan from EdSurge looks at the uphill battle facing edtech organisations in Asia. The article specifically focuses on Japan, and how edtech startups are struggling to get local and international investment.
• WBTV looks at the growing tech job market in Charlotte, and tech training in the area including bootcamps and a program called T.R.A.P. (Training Responsible Advanced Professionals), a free online tech training program for 16 to 23 year olds, who are veterans or people with a criminal record, through IBG Software.

Bootcamp Announcements

• Inside Indiana Business reported on Course Report selecting Eleven Fifty Academy as one of the Best Coding Bootcamps of 2018-2019! 1150 Founder Scott Jones says: "We are the jet fuel for accelerating a fulfilling and successful career in tech and we are particularly excited about catapulting the careers of veterans, women, and minorities, too."
• Code Fellows has partnered with Ten Habitat in Barbados to launch the island’s first coding bootcamp and the first coding school in the Eastern Caribbean. It will be called The Source Code Developer Academy.
• American Inno reports that Flatiron School’s new Chicago campus will be in WeWork’s River North location. Flatiron already has ties to Chicago since it purchased UX Design bootcamp Designation earlier in 2018.
• Business Den reports that Flatiron’s new Denver campus will be in WeWork’s RiNo location at The Hub. Applications are open now and the first classes will start in March. The addition of these two new campuses brings Flatiron’s total number of campuses to 9. 11Alive also profiled Flatiron’s first Atlanta cohort, and talked to the campus director and a number of students.
• The Software Guild has announced it is teaming up with the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) with the first program starting on December 1, 2018.
• EdScoop reports that Google is launching a 10-week machine learning bootcamp at Mills College in Oakland, a liberal arts women’s college. The course aims to address industry demand for a larger computer science workforce, and promote diversity in the indistry.

New Bootcamps in November

• University of Saint Katherine’s San Diego Code School, in San Diego, CA,
• WeCloudData - a data science bootcamp in Toronto, Canada
• Elbrus Coding Bootcamp - in Moscow, Russia

Favorite Articles on the Blog

Liz Eggleston

• I talked to a Hackbright instructor, Heather Mahan. She was a technical writer before she actually went to Hackbright, and now she’s an instructor at Hackbright Academy’s South Bay campus. We had a great conversation and you can get to know her on the blog!

Imogen Crispe

• I had a fascinating chat with Mariya, a graduate from the Grace Hopper Program, another all-women’s bootcamp, who graduated 2 years ago and has been working at nonprofit Crisis text line ever since! She told me about getting promotions, seeing her work make a difference to the volunteers who mentor texters, and why it’s important to her to use her coding skills for a good cause.

FURTHER READING

• October 2018 Coding Bootcamp News Roundup + Podcast
• September 2018 Coding Bootcamp News Roundup + Podcast
• August 2018 Coding Bootcamp News Roundup + Podcast

If you enjoyed this podcast, help other future bootcampers find it by subscribing to the Course Report podcast on iTunes, and leaving a review. Course Report is also on Stitcher!