November 2023 Coding Bootcamp News

Table of Contents

• $31M IN BOOTCAMP FUNDRAISES + AWARDS
• AN OPM SHAKE-UP 
• THE LATEST ON SKILLS-BASED HIRING + APPRENTICESHIPS
• HELPING VETERANS GET INTO TECH
• 8 NEW BOOTCAMPS
• OUR FAVORITE PIECES ON THE BLOG

Skills training in the classroom and on the job continues to gain steam in November. With the rise in apprenticeships, there’s also continued momentum behind skills-based hiring. In honor of Veteran’s Day, we share a few initiatives helping military veterans get into tech careers. Plus, read recent news in the Online Program Manager (OPM) world and find out which 6 new bootcamps we added to the Course Report directory in November.

Curious about what happened in October? Check out last month’s episode to hear our October coding bootcamp news roundup!

🧑🏾‍💻 Don’t forget to RSVP to our upcoming Live Q&A with four bootcamp alumni who work in AI! It’s happening on Wednesday, December 6th at 1:00PM EST and we’ll be answering your questions live!

$31M IN BOOTCAMP FUNDRAISES + AWARDS

• London-based Spotted Zebra, which is a skills-based workforce management platform, announced a £7.7M Series A this November.
• Startup Daily reported that the Aussie sales training bootcamp, Earlywork raised $1.5 million in a seed round. 
• MacKenzie Scott awarded $5 million to the organization, Skills for Chicagoland’s Future. 
• Jobs for the Future announced a $20 million donation from MacKenzie Scott as well. 
• Perdoceo Education, which owns DigitalCrafts and Coding Dojo had a great quarterly showing, and they attribute that, in part, to their recent acquisition of Coding Dojo. 
• The Web3 education platform, Rise In, has acquired Web3 edtech company, BlockBeam.

AN OPM SHAKE-UP 

• Higher Ed Dive reports that Academic Partnerships is buying Wiley’s OPM business for $110 million with an additional $40 million if they hit revenue targets and 10% of the common units of Academic Partnership’s parent company. 
• Podium Education has teamed up with Intel and charity:water to offer a for-credit program, The Global Tech Experience (GTE), through over 50 universities. 
• 2U and USC announced that they would part ways this November. USC faced lawsuits over their online master’s in social work program. 

• 2U announced that their longtime CEO, Chip Paucek, has stepped down. 

THE LATEST ON SKILLS-BASED HIRING + APPRENTICESHIPS

• Minnesota announced that it’s ending degree requirements for most of its state jobs. 
• In Oregon, a historic vote unanimously approved a new apprenticeship pathway to attorney licensure in addition to the traditional bar exam.
• HR Dive highlighted a Udemy report about employers opting to focus on skills over degrees, especially when it comes to the growth of generative AI.
• A new survey out of Denmark and highlighted in the Chicago Booth Review emphasizes the lasting career effects for jobless workers who completed classroom training, rather than just on-the-job training. 
• Multiverse has partnered with Burning Glass to dive into how the U.S. can increase economic opportunities through apprenticeships.
• Merit America has created a new apprenticeship program for its alumni called Skills-to-Staff through YUPRO, a job placement firm. 
• FE News posited that investing in skills bootcamps is a pragmatic response to the challenges presented by AI and can significantly contribute to the overall adaptability of the workforce in the face of technological innovation. They point to Code Institute, an online, European-based bootcamp as a solution in Europe. 
• Nick Curry, Sr. Manager of Emerging Tech Pipelines team at AWS wrote about why their on-the job training program works. The program just celebrated their 1,000th AWS apprentice! 
• A recent survey commissioned by AWS found that 73% of employers are prioritizing hiring workers with AI skills. 
• Cognizant announced its new training initiative called Synapse, with a commitment to training 1 million people worldwide in basic digital literacy and gen AI. 

HELPING VETERANS GET INTO TECH

• A November 8th report from McKinsey & Co concluded that by taking this approach, the U.S. workforce could add $15 billion to the U.S. economy over a 10-year period!
• A new careers bootcamp in Des Plaines, Illinois was created specifically to teach veterans how to interview, create a portfolio, and land jobs at local organizations through sponsored networking events.

• Ottawa-based Coding for Veterans will have its first U.S. cohort start in early 2024. Students will be able to use their GI Bill towards the program. 

8 NEW BOOTCAMPS

• Dark Mode, an in-person tech bootcamp aimed at increasing diversity in the industry, is opening up in Charlotte, NC. Its first cohort starts in February 2024. 
• FE News reports that the School of Coding & AI has set up a new bootcamp for students located in Shropshire. This program will be funded by the UK government.

6 NEW SCHOOLS ADDED TO COURSE REPORT

• Sigma Academy
• Sales School
• GOMYCODE
• New Haven Code Academy 
• Portnov Computer School
• Mission Impact Academy 

OUR FAVORITE PIECES ON THE BLOG

Jess spoke to two military vets this month about their career changes into tech, and both used VET TEC to cover their bootcamp tuitions!

• Army vet & former postal worker Jesse enrolled in the online cybersecurity bootcamp at Fullstack Academy to land a job as a Tech Admin role at PwC. 
• Army vet Chris enrolled at Sabio’s in-person coding bootcamp in downtown LA, and became a Software Engineer at a consulting company. 

Since the Canadian bootcamp, Lighthouse Labs, is celebrating 10 years, Liz caught up with Khurram Virani, the co-founder of Lighthouse Labs, to learn how the bootcamp has grown with integrity. If you’re interested in a Canadian bootcamp, then check out where Lighthouse Labs is headed!