July 2022 Coding Bootcamp News

Table of Contents

• 2 ACQUISITIONS & $10M FUNDRAISE
• REGULATORY NEWS: PELL GRANTS + OPMs + ISAs
• SKILLS-BASED TECH HIRING IN 2022
• APPRENTICESHIPS & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT GRANTS
• NEW BRIDGING THE TECH GAP INITIATIVES
• 2 NEW SCHOOLS & 3 NEW OFFERINGS
• OUR FAVORITE PIECES ON THE BLOG

This July, the coding bootcamp industry heated up with a $10M fundraise, an acquisition, and a $2B rumor. Drama about OPM regulation continued, and there’s still a lot of back-and-forth about whether the Pell Grant expansion will include online programs. Skills-based hiring continues to be a top trend in 2022, including how to diversify tech teams with women technologists and formerly incarcerated individuals. We saw more news about successful apprenticeship programs and workforce development partnerships. Plus, find out which 9 new coding bootcamps we added to the Course Report directory in July!

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

2 ACQUISITIONS & $10M FUNDRAISE

• GeekWire reports that Coding Dojo received $10M from Eastward Capital Partners.
• TechCrunch reports that Holberton School has been acquired by African Leadership Group (ALG). Holberton’s online tech platform will become part of ALG’s current learning platform, and the physical Holberton campuses will become a separate business that will be under the current Holberton COO, Florian Bucher. 
• According to Tech.EU, Le Wagon has bought online learning provider, Emil.
• Bloomberg reported on a rumor that Indian online-education provider Byju has offered to buy 2U, Inc for $15 a share, which would give 2U an enterprise value of about $2 billion.

REGULATORY NEWS: PELL GRANTS + OPMs + ISAs

• Higher Ed Dive reports that 14 leaders of universities and organizations like Cengage Group, OneTen, and Southern New Hampshire University (which owns Kenzie Academy) delivered a letter to Congress imploring them to include online programs in the Pell Grant extension. 
• Workshift columnist, Michelle Van Noy points out that the conversation too often focuses around funding programs that get graduates high-paying jobs, which is ignoring a key part of the labor market.
• Higher Ed Dive reports that the House Appropriations Committee called on the Ed Department to crack down on the contracts between universities and OPMs. 
• Phil on Ed Tech reviews a Wall Street Journal article from July about 2U and their university partners called “That Fancy University Course? It Might Actually Come from an Education Company.”
• Inside Higher Ed highlighted the new bipartisan bill targeting ISA regulation. (We’ll dive more into this in our August News Roundup!)

SKILLS-BASED TECH HIRING IN 2022

• HR Dive reports that a rise in skills-based hiring could be due to an Accenture report that detailed the presence of 27.4 million “hidden workers,” a group that includes employees who were inactive, on long-term unemployment or who missed hours due to economic reasons or child and family care reasons.
• Higher Ed Dive highlighted a new report from cybersecurity professional organization, (ISC)2, that had really positive findings about employers who take on entry-level and junior-level cybersecurity hires. 

APPRENTICESHIPS & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT GRANTS

• The Job dug into a case study about The Missouri Chamber Foundation’s Industry Driven IT Apprenticeship, which has trained 1,565 tech workers—including 640 people of color—since its creation with a $6M federal grant two years ago. 
• We updated our roundup of 12 tech apprenticeships that are perfect for bootcamp grads! If you’re interested in the Microsoft LEAP apprenticeship, check out our Q&A with Sabio grad & LEAP apprentice Rob for his tips on getting into the program.
• NYC EDC announced they have partnered with Fullstack Academy to offer the second annual Cyber NYC Fellowship scholarship program aimed at low-income and unemployed New Yorkers. 
• Financial Times weighed the success of online vocational training programs that are upskilling Brits and backed by the British government. They pointed out the skepticism around UK bootcamp outcomes, and that reporting outcomes seems inconsistent right now. 

NEW BRIDGING THE TECH GAP INITIATIVES

• In an interview with a Gusto Benefits Engineer, CIO focused on how tech executives need to take constant, intentional action to continue to drive towards a more balanced, diverse IT organization.
• Technical.ly DC reports that Ada Developers Academy is hosting a hybrid hackathon at the end of August that covers the Supreme Court‘s recent overturn of Roe v. Wade.
• WLTX spotlit the Persevere Program, a new coding bootcamp helping women at a South Carolina correctional facility certify as full stack developers.
• CNBC reports that large companies are participating in programs such as Next Chapter (which works with Hack Reactor) to help formerly incarcerated individuals learn tech skills and land tech jobs.

2 NEW SCHOOLS & 3 NEW OFFERINGS

• Congrats to Tech Elevator, which hit its 7 year anniversary of training developers!
• Codesmith announced that it will be launching in-person learning in NYC this October. (Applications open August 1st!)
• Virginia Tech has partnered with Fullstack Academy to offer an online product management bootcamp. 
• Code Fellows has partnered with Yellow Tail Tech to offer tech career pathways to underrepresented individuals in the Washington, DC metro area.
• The Tech Academy announced that they are now offering a cybersecurity bootcamp and free online coding classes for beginners. 

We added 9 new bootcamps to the Course Report directory:

• Saint Code Bootcamp
• Tel Ran
• StackTrek
• Code Labs Academy
• Masai
• Obsidi Academy
• Jagaad Academy
• Techtorial Academy 
• Acadium Plus

OUR FAVORITE PIECES ON THE BLOG

Jess was excited to speak with Eleven Fifty Academy grad Zach about why he chose to enroll in an online cybersecurity bootcamp right after high school graduation. Zach shares what motivated him to enroll at a bootcamp instead of college, and how his bootcamp experience has helped him launch a really successful career as a SOC Analyst at a cybersecurity company. 

This month, Liz published each panelist’s advice from our latest webinar, What I Wish I Knew Before a Coding Bootcamp. If you’ve been thinking about enrolling at Sabio, General Assembly, Springboard, Coding Temple, or DigitalCrafts, don’t miss these recent bootcamp grads' top tips for making the most of your bootcamp experience!

Stay tuned for our next live Q&A webinar, How to Get into 5 Different Bootcamps, on September 7th!