How have Delaware coding bootcamps changed in the past five years?

That comes especially amid the collapse of several prominent national programs. However, at the same time, bootcamps and similar tech education programs geared toward adults have grown in markets like Wilmington: Locally, the number of bootcamps has increased during the COVID-19 era. You could even say that the model is thriving in this smaller market.

Coding camps first came to Wilmington through the nonprofit IT works with Tech Impact program, which focuses on adults ages 18 to 26 without a college degree. Tech Impact has a permanent base in Wilmington today and is deeply embedded in Delaware’s tech ecosystem, but when it first started running cohorts in Wilmington, instructors traveled from Philadelphia and held classes in the spaces provided of local partners.

The first fully-Wilmington-based coding bootcamp is nonprofit Zip Code Wilmingtonfounded in 2015 and based in Rice mill coworking space. Zip Code has seen leadership changes since its inception, but it has only grown and diversified its programming. Then came Code varies, which took the bootcamp model and made it more flexible and accessible, especially for low-income parents and community members. Finally, Tech Elevatora Cleveland-founded bootcamp network, opened a school in Wilmington in January 2022, with support from Tech Impact.

These aren’t the only coding education programs in Delaware. Local colleges and universities have software development certification education, and there are many location-neutral online bootcamps you can access from First State. But when talking about bootcamps in Wilmington, the ones mentioned are the big ones.

Predictions about the demise of coding bootcamps in the mid-to-late teens are based on several things: One, there’s been an explosion of for-profit online coding camps that don’t deliver on promises of high placement rates of work, which destroys. model reputation. And two, the original bootcamp model that originated in the ultra-competitive Silicon Valley culture of the aughts doesn’t necessarily translate to other parts of the country.

Based on the old-school version of coding bootcamps, maybe they’re dying. But what evolved from the concept — that someone could learn software development fairly quickly if they immersed themselves in it, sans college degree — is very much alive.

So, technical.ly asked the leaders of Tech Impact, Zip Code, Code Differently and Tech Elevator: How have Delaware coding camps evolved over the past five years? What they say is, for those interested in becoming technologists, there’s something for almost everyone if you compare and contrast the programs — and that’s just one thing that’s changed in recent history.

Bootcamps promote inclusive tech workplaces

Early coding camps taught corporations to rethink some of their hiring practices, as they produced certified, quality entry-level candidates.

“More and more employers are realizing that a four-year degree is not essential to being a productive and contributing member of the application development team,” said Patrick Callihan, CEO of Tech Impact. “They are more willing to hire non-traditional students from bootcamps/workforce development programs. This is now necessary to remain competitive for talent in the market and to meet their growing demand for tech talent.

As diversity, equity and inclusion become more important to tech employers, coding camps — especially tuition-free ones like Tech Impact’s IT Works — have become part of the pipeline for diversification.

Bootcamps keep pace with growth

The number of coding bootcamp graduates has exploded over the past few years.

“In less than a decade, the coding bootcamp landscape has gone from a desert to a jungle,” said Desa Burton, executive director of Zip Code Wilmington. “According to the study of Course Reportthere are 6,740 bootcamps [graduates] in 2014. This has increased to 24,975 by 2020 and may be closer to 30,000 today. However, there are still hundreds of full-stack, in-person bootcamps across the country and only a handful of nonprofits like Zip Code Wilmington.

Zip Code originally offered one course, focused on Java. After hearing the needs of its corporate partners — those who continue to hire Zip Code grads — it launched its data engineering and analytics course, which focuses on the practical applications of data collection and analysis using software tools like Python, Panda and Spark.

In nine months, Burton said, “we were able to develop a curriculum with input and guidance from our corporate partners, advertise the program to the public, and launch the first cohort in 2020.”

Other Zip Code programming launched within the last two years include B1ue N0te Youth Training Program offered through Delaware high schools; The Coding Builds Community Loan Programdeveloped through collaboration between Discover Bank and Stepping Stones Community Federal Credit Union; and the Break Into Tech Scholarship & Stipends Programavailable to low- to moderate-income Delaware residents enrolled in a Zip Code program.

Bootcamps focus on communities

Code Differently, founded in 2018 by Tariq Hook and Stephanie Eldridgetook the basic coding bootcamp model and made it more intentional in its focus on helping underrepresented people, especially Delawareans of color, access careers in software development — often, high-stakes careers salary that can potentially transform families and communities.

Its programming is experiential and intensive, but it doesn’t require students to commit to long-term work like a more traditional bootcamp. Code Differently is also nonprofit, its cohorts are tuition-free, and if a participant is struggling financially, they may qualify for a stipend. Depending on a student’s needs, they may receive additional assistance such as childcare or transportation.

“They really got to where it fits into real life so it can be done,” said Curra Lathama Code Differently student and technical consultant with Code Differently Service Today. “It’s easy to tell a bunch of 18- and 19-year-olds living at home with their parents to stop whatever you’re doing for 13 weeks, but for many of us, we’re adults with kids and bills and houses and mortgages. So for me, the part-time option allowed me to keep my full-time job and still gain more technical knowledge.”

Options like part-time study don’t make cohorts any less connected than more traditional fully immersive programs, Code Differently project coordinator Anthony Robbins said.

“It’s a unique training provider because of everything they offer, it’s not just a bootcamp, it’s like a family,” Robbins said. “We go the extra mile for the family and we make sure we’re here to hold each other accountable — because we know, at the end of the day, we’re trying to build progress. That’s just the culture.”

Bootcamps teach a range of skills

Anthony Hughes, cofounder and CEO of Tech Elevator, has a national vision and a Midwestern base. Just over a decade ago when coding bootcamps started to take off, they were on the coast, and mainly geared towards people who wanted to launch tech startups.

“What we’ve seen emerge as the industry has matured is a greater representation of the full stack and a greater representation of enterprise languages,” Hughes said. “And I mean, in our particular case, we teach both Java and dotnet, where the original bootcamp started is a high concentration of startups that are more likely to use languages ​​like Ruby on Rails because fast it, easy to rotate. things move fast. Now you’re using more enterprise languages ​​like dotnet, and we’ve seen a growing segment of the industry represented in those languages, driven in part by the fact that organizations like Tech Elevator are grow more and gain market share and more and more individuals come to us because of our outcomes.”

Another big change is the focus on more than just technical skills. Each coding bootcamp highlighted in this story, including Tech Elevator, also teaches soft skills and tips for the job search process.

“In the early coding bootcamps, there was such a pent up demand that they were able to focus purely on technical skills,” he said. “They were in markets like New York, Boston, San Francisco, where the first graduates could get a job quickly. But as the type of industry started to increase and became more mainstream, what started to happen was the rates started to drop. of placement — it’s not enough to have the skills, you have to navigate the job search process. So when we started Tech Elevator, we asked ourselves a fundamental question, which is the people who come to us to learn how to code, or are they coming to us to get a job as a software developer and learning how to code is just a means to that end? And really, the answer to that question is the last one. And if you want to be absolutely sure that you can be effective in delivering on helping people get to where they want to be, you can’t just m can be taught how to code. You have to support them.”

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