March 2020 Coding Bootcamp News

Table of Contents

• Bootcamps Responding to Coronavirus
• Bootcamp Acquisitions & Fundraises
• Regulatory News: Holberton School and Lambda School
• Bridging the Tech Gap with Diversity Scholarships
• Tech Jobs for Bootcamp Grads
• New Coding Bootcamps + Campuses + Courses
• Our Favorite March Pieces on the Course Report Blog

In the face of the global coronavirus pandemic, this month has shown that coding bootcamps are uniquely prepared to deliver quality remote learning to those now staying indoors, working from home, or even unemployed. In addition to COVID-19 news, March brought a $19 million fundraise, regulatory news, several scholarships to close the gap in diversity in tech, and 6 new schools in the Course Report directory!

At Course Report, we have been keeping tabs on how coding bootcamps are responding to and meeting the needs of their current and upcoming cohorts. We’ve seen in-person coding bootcamps transition to delivering live remote instruction, and also a slew of new hardship scholarships and initiatives to support students breaking into tech now. For those who are new to learning remotely or just need some inspiration, we pulled together our top tips for making the most of your online courses plus how to choose the right online bootcamp for you. (And if you’re looking for the best online bootcamps, check out our guide!)

Curious about what happened in February? Check out last month’s episode where we round up the biggest news from February 2020.

Bootcamps Responding to Coronavirus

• As of March 24th, UNESCO reports that 1.24 billion students were out of school worldwide. We’re keeping track of every bootcamp’s updates and announcements in this article. 

• Curious about how Coronavirus will impact the tech industry (and education) into the future? EdSurge published a piece called “COVID-19’s Long-Term Impacts on Education in 2020 and Beyond,” looking at pandemic’s impact on higher ed and predicting that education will remain countercyclical to the market meaning that demands for educational services increase in times of economic downturn.

• EdSurge also made a prediction about the influx of MOOCs. Udacity announced that it would make nanodegree programs free for one month to help students looking to develop new skills in response to COVID-19.

• The New York Times published an article wondering if Big Tech could emerge from Coronavirus stronger than ever – one thing is clear: tech has been more resilient than other jobs in the economic downturn. 

• In The Logic, CEO of Lighthouse Labs, Jeremy Shaki suggested that Canadian businesses need commercial-lease forgiveness in order for brick & mortar businesses to survive the pandemic.

Bootcamp Acquisitions & Fundraises

• EdSurge reported that Paris-operated coding bootcamp Le Wagon closed a funding round of $19 million this month. The funding round was led by Cathay Capital and Africvest. 

• Multibriefs dug into K12’s $165 million acquisition of coding boot camp Galvanize. For Galvanize, the acquisition means a substantial influx of funds for new projects, such as expanding its services and growing its corporate learning business. This acquisition will also help propel K12’s hybrid high school and career training program.

• EdSurge reported this month that Emerge Education, a London-based seed fund for startups focused on skills training and education, has closed on 10 million pounds for its seed fund. Its backers include Trilogy founder Dan Sommer and former 2U CFO Rob Cohen.

• According to TechCrunch, Microverse raised $3.2 million in seed funding from venture capitalists including General Catalyst and Y Combinator. Similar to Lambda School, Microverse is a coding school that utilizes ISAs, but focuses on students in developing countries. 

Regulatory News: Holberton School and Lambda School

• Bloomberg reported on Lambda School and ISAs, centered around the question “What if people could sell stock in themselves?” 

• Claire Boston wrote for Bloomberg about the Lambda School ISA and she breaks down the actual ISA terms.

• The Verge reported on the Lambda School employee Sabrina Baez who broke her NDA to talk about working at Lambda School.

• In early March according to San Francisco’s CBS News, students filed complaints against Holberton School’s San Francisco location, accusing them of giving students credit for education not completed and other things. Holberton has appealed the emergency decision and is now allowed to continue enrolling new students on a modified and discounted program that no longer includes a career track.  

Bridging the Tech Gap with Diversity Scholarships

• CisionPR Newswire reports that Learn@Forbes and Fullstack Academy will be providing 30 scholarships to incarcerated women engaged in Televerde. Through its partnership with the State of Arizona, Televerde provides women with professional skills and resources so they successfully re-enter society.

• Fashion United reported that fashion resale platform Vinted and coding bootcamp Ironhack are offering scholarships to encourage women to get into tech. The scholarships can be used to enroll in either Ironhack’s web development, UX/UI, or data analytics courses.

• According to Campus Technology, Flatiron School is offering $3000 scholarships called Access Scholarships to attract more students from under-represented groups.

• The Piscataquis Observer reported that The Bangor Savings Bank in Maine awarded a grant to Maine’s bootcamp Code Maine Coding Academy. Maine Coding Academy provides tuition-free software development and professional skills training for under-advantaged high school graduates. 

Tech Jobs for Bootcamp Grads

• In Fast Company, Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson responded to the media citing bootcamp developers as the reason the Iowa caucus app by Shadow Inc. failed. Lawson reminded the tech community that all beginning developers whether they graduated from a bootcamp or a computer science program need good mentors to become excellent, experienced developers. Lawson cites his own company Twilio’s apprenticeship program as a model for how companies can mentor and teach their new hires to fully integrate them into their teams. 

• Real Leaders published an article about how technology will affect a company’s ability to lead, saying a company can reskill 25% of its workforce, and that coding bootcamps may be the answer for the remaining 75% of the workforce that needs upskilling. 

• BuiltIn featured the data science apprenticeship program created and maintained by adtech & big data company Red Ventures. 

• Revature CEO Ashwin Bharath in HR Technologist suggested three impactful ways companies can bridge the skills divide on their team now, including diving into a non-traditional talent pool to find tech talent, forming public-private partnerships to influence curriculum at academic institutions and help train students in the skills they need today, and investing in a company apprenticeship program. 

• Tech Republic published 8 tips for female developers, that include combat any imposter syndrome with a strong support network, always keep learning, and know your worth.

• Forbes published a piece by policy expert Wesley Whistle on the question of “Are coding bootcamps worth it?” Whistle says more research needs to be done on short programs like coding bootcamps in order to create full transparency as to just how many graduates are getting well-paying jobs. 

• Wyncode posted its annual Miami Tech State of the Union this month. Wyncode has 10 trends on their radar this year, including a new preference for the programming language Elixer over .NET and a rise in Full Stack JavaScript. Wyncode also notes that AWS is now a must-know, and DevOps skills are now in high demand.

New Coding Bootcamps + Campuses + Courses

• Yahoo! Finance reported that George Washington University announced its new FinTech Boot Camp in Washington, D.C. This bootcamp is in partnership with Trilogy Education.

• According to AZ Big Media, Arizona’s three Maricopa Community Colleges are now partnering with Promineo Tech to offer an affordable, 18-week coding bootcamp focused on back end software development.

• According to Yahoo! Finance, Fullstack Academy is now partnering with the University of North Florida to offer a part-time, 26-week cybersecurity bootcamp. 

• Fullstack Academy is also expanding its partnership with the University of San Diego. According to University Business, Fullstack Academy will now offer a full stack Javascript bootcamp with a 12-week full-time option and a 26-week part-time option.

• The Journal Times reported this month that Racine, Wisconsin’s Gateway Tech has created an affordable, 15-week coding bootcamp to meet the rising tech demands of that area. 

• Tulsa World reports that Holberton School just opened a new campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Holberton will also be offering it’s deferred tuition option at the Tulsa campus.

• Nucamp launched an affordable coding bootcamp this month. According to Cision PR Web, Nucamp’s new bootcamp is aimed at providing equal access to coding education to lower-income and underemployed individuals, with a discounted tuition of $2,000. 

• Oil City News reports that the coding bootcamp Array is now creating an affordable apprenticeship program to make a coding education more accessible to those living in rural areas of Wyoming. Students in the new apprentice program would have four months of tuition-free, intensive coding training, and then will be paid to work on projects for real-world clients, such as Visit Cheyenne and Flowstate. 

In March, we added these 6 new bootcamps to the Course Report directory:

• 365 Data Science

• Jigsaw Labs

• The Coding Boot Camp of University of Northern Florida (in partnership with Fullstack Academy)

• Growth Marketer Academy

• Uvaro

• Always Hired 

Our Favorite March Pieces on the Course Report Blog

Liz was excited to create two new helpful guides for readers this month: a Guide to Low Level Programming and a Guide to QA Engineering!

Jess had three favorite pieces this month and all featured online bootcamp courses! Jess was happy to interview CareerFoundry alum Kasia and Springboard student Stephanie, both artists now in the tech world. Jess also enjoyed interviewing SV Academy graduate Baba and hearing more about his exciting career in tech sales.