This November, we’re talking about one major bootcamp acquisition and three fundraises (including one over $75MM)! But of course, the biggest news this November was the U.S. election, so we’re covering news about the Trump administration’s legacy on private education, and what the bootcamp industry can expect under the new Biden administration. Coding bootcamps continued to partner with workforce development programs to educate students for free, and also rolled out several initiatives for military veterans. Plus, learn about the 10 new coding bootcamps we added to the Course Report school listings this November!
If you’re a bootcamp alum reading this roundup, don’t forget to take our Life After Bootcamp survey! It takes only a few minutes to complete and you’ll be entered to win a $500 gift card to Amazon. Friday, December 4th is the last day to take it!
Curious about what happened in October? Check out last month’s episode with the biggest bootcamp news from October 2020.
1 ACQUISITION & 3 FUNDRAISES
- The recent Education & Workforce Innovation Investment Trends Report put out by Pitchbook and OnRamp shows investments in online workforce development programs are soaring in Q3 2020.
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Tech Elevator was acquired by Stride (formerly K12) for $23.5M cash. Stride also owns Galvanize and Hack Reactor.
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Udacity raised $75 million in debt facility with Hercules Capital as the underwriter.
- According to Reuters, Udemy is reportedly raising around $100M in a Series F round.
- According to TechCrunch, ex-co-founder of Udemy, Gagan Biyani, is launching a new cohort-based learning platform.
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Sabio raised over half a million dollars from Latino tech investors to continue supporting women and people from diverse populations looking to transition into tech. Sabio also took home first prize in FastPath's pitch competition!
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Flatiron School has added Ron Selvey to its leadership team as chief marketing officer and named Pooja Agarwal chief operating officer.
WHAT A BIDEN ADMIN MEANS FOR BOOTCAMPS
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EdSurge outlined what coding bootcamps could expect under the new Biden administration.
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EdSurge dove into how Income Share Agreements (ISAs) could be impacted by the upended labor market, highlighting the San Diego Workforce Partnership which runs the Workforce ISA fund with UC San Diego.
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EdSurge examines Trump’s legacy on education, which focused on job skills rather than higher ed credentials.
UNIVERSITY BOOTCAMPS
- 2U, which owns Trilogy bootcamps, released their Transparency Report, which pulls insights from 2019 data on demographics, completion rate, and graduate employment.
DIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS + VETERANS IN TECH BOOTCAMPS
- Course Report’s list of scholarships and tuition assistance for veterans!
- On Federal News Network, Charmain Bogue (Executive Director of VA Education Service) gave a great overview of the VET TEC program and how to use it towards a coding bootcamp tuition.
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Galvanize hired Lawren Bradberry as Senior Manager of Military Programs to help it expand its support services for military vets.
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Nucamp partnered with Warrior Rising to help veterans shift careers into software development and entrepreneurship. They also announced a $50,000 Veteran Coding Bootcamp Scholarship Fund to assist U.S. military veterans impacted by the COVID-19 economy.
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The Hechinger Report reported this month that the pandemic may be stalling folks who are already underrepresented in tech from landing skilled jobs and also from finishing their college degrees.
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BuiltIn Chicago highlighted recent, city-sponsored initiatives to diversify Chicago’s tech talent pool, including Tech Talent South and Chi Codes, which was created in partnership with Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership and Coding Temple.
- OfferUp partnered with Ironhack this month to create a $250,000 career empowerment scholarship specifically aimed at improving diversity in tech.
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Wamda spotlit Codi, a coding bootcamp in Lebanon, which is focused on training unemployed and marginalized young people (especially women!) with little academic background. Codi offers a free laptop loan program to ensure access to tech training.
BOOTCAMPS + WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
- As of November 20th, AP News reports that unemployment benefits rose to 742,000, which is being attributed to the resurgence of COVID.
- Check out Course Report’s list of workforce development grants to help you cover your coding bootcamp tuition with federal and state aid!
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BizJournals took a closer look at how Wyncode is maximizing workforce development dollars in South Florida in partnership with CareerSource South Florida.
- Using the CARES Act, WCNC reports that Tech Talent South has teamed up with the city of Charlotte to offer free tech training.
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WAVY-TV reports that Tech Talent South is now offering a free tech training program to those in the Portsmouth, Virginia area.
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Zip Code Wilmington received funding through the New Castle County Innovation Grant in order to create the TECHPRENEUR Incubator Pilot and Java Certification program as well as scholarships for displaced workers.
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Technically DC highlighted how Coding Dojo and Flatiron School transitioned to online learning. Flatiron School has expanded its NexTech 100 Scholarship, a full-tuition scholarship program sponsored by the Cognizant U.S. Foundation. Flatiron School is also partnering with Arlington-based Excella again to offer a full-tuition scholarship for the third year in a row.
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Bronx News 12 reports that The Knowledge House launched a 12-month, fully funded job training program where students of color can learn coding and tech skills and then a paid internship.
ACING THE INTERVIEW + WHERE TO APPLY
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Tech Republic reported this month that more than two-thirds of top employers actually increased their tech hiring in Q3!
- In Fast Company, Sharon Patterson, chief human resources officer for LHH, points out that companies have budgets for 2021 and they want to have new team members onboarded in January. This makes the holidays a busy time of year for hiring!
- On TheNextWeb, Twitter software engineer Yen Huang shares his wealth of knowledge on how to ace coding interviews.
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TheNextWeb named the 10 books that will help you become a better software engineer.
7 NEWLY-LAUNCHED CAMPUSES SCHOOLS
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Fullstack Academy has partnered with Colorado State University to launch in-person and online coding and cybersecurity bootcamps.
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Trilogy has partnered with University of Miami to launch an online FinTech bootcamp.
- The One Club has created a UX bootcamp called 2nd Skill that’s specifically aimed at art directors, copywriters, and graphic designers who are looking to upskill.
- In Estonia, Johvi Coding School announced that they will officially open in Fall 2021.
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Tech Elevator has opened a new campus in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Galvanize announced its newest campus in Dallas, Texas, which is scheduled to open in January 2021.
- The UK’s Mayden Academy rebranded to iO Academy.
10 NEW BOOTCAMPS ON COURSE REPORT
We added 10 new bootcamps to the Course Report school listings this month:
OUR FAVORITE PIECES ON THE BLOG
Jess recommends checking out the new Machine Learning vs Deep Learning breakdown, which was created with Lighthouse Labs Data Science mentor Andrew Berry, even if you’re not in data science because machine learning and deep learning are all over the news these days!
Jess also enjoyed working on The Beginner’s Guide to Prototyping with UX Designer and Thinkful UI/UX Design mentor Jon Haines. (Plus, you can sign up for Jon’s free UI/UX Design webinars at Thinkful!)
Liz worked with Curtis Schlak, a Hack Reactor instructor with over 20 years of engineering experience to create a software engineer career roadmap. This guide breaks down what it takes to go from junior to senior developer roles, plus how to become a thought leader at your company.
