Big tech firms are going all-in on green

Earth Day is a national holiday that was inaugurated in 1969 at a UNESCO conference held in San Francisco. Every year since, earthlings worldwide have dedicated April 22 as a day for environmental renewal, through local initiatives like planting trees and cleaning parks. While that intention has not changed over the past 50 years, the technology that is relied upon to get the job done has — dramatically. Let’s look at a few examples of how tech is keeping Mother Earth greener today.

Apple increases iPhone recycling in an effort to lower carbon emissions

Apple’s dream is to produce consumer products from 100% recycled materials. With this lofty goal in mind, attention is being drawn to Apple with the opening of a new e-recycling plant in Austin, TX.

In an Apple press release, the company boasts of their environmental plan to create all new products from recycled materials. The first step in that plan was revealed last year with the release of Daisy. The 33-foot robot has five arms with the sole purpose of dissecting 15 different kinds of iPhones. Everything from the 2012 iPhone 5 to the 2018 iPhone XS can be disassembled after a consumer gives the phone back to an Apple Store or a Best Buy as part of the Apple Trade-In program.

Their newest announcement by Apple was the 9,000 sq. ft. e-recycling facility in Austin, TX. Dubbed the Material Recovery Lab, the facility is built entirely around a Daisy. This facility is where academia and scientists are welcome to help Apple redesign the way we recycle electronics.

To date, Apple has received 1 million products through its network of trade in programs. Each Daisy is capable of disposing of approximately 200 iPhones an hour; that’s 1.2 million phones a year. In 2018, Apple refurbished 7.8 million devices, saving close to 48,000 metric tons of electronic waste from the dumps.

Because of this significant change in the way Apple does business, they have been able to lower the carbon footprint of several products still in production. The latest Macbook Air and Macbook Mini have half the footprint of their predecessors. This result comes from innovation and engineering of 100% recycled aluminum alloy. This alloy is recycled with the help of Daisy, and used in the manufacturing of the latest Macbook models.

It is because of these triumphs, that the Materials Recovery lab has been born. Apple hopes to continue to expand their electronic recovery procedures into the future resulting in a 100% recycled new product.

Microsoft empowers environmental scientists with AI for Earth

AI for Earth is Microsoft’s way of giving back to the environment. The grant program is designed to give computing resources to environmental scientists and organizations working on earth friendly programs.

Scientists and organizations are offered two main grant categories: Data Labeling Services and Azure Compute Credits. In addition, the applicants can specialize in four environmental sub-categories: agriculture, biodiversity, climate change, and water.

Data Labeling Services allow organizations to create key data sets in one of the four environmental sub-categories. All data sets that are labeled through the grant program are hosted on Azure and made publicly available to other organizations and individuals for training models.

Azure Compute Credits are available if you have access to a labeled dataset and are ready to start computing in the cloud and accessing Azure AI tools. The participant will get a denomination of Azure compute credits to be used for the cataloging and computing data in Azure software.

Examples of projects funded by Microsoft’s AI for Earth include using artificial intelligence for forest mapping, fighting extinction, increasing crop production, using insects and drones to track emerging diseases and even to help fight poaching. When human ingenuity and technology converge, great things are bound to happen.

Technology can save the world

With advances in technology and AI, humans can do what was once unimaginable. The research being accomplished by both, Microsoft and Apple, is a testament to human ingenuity. For veterans, an opportunity to contribute represents the next frontier in the battle against humanity’s existential threats. We look forward to seeing the new and wonderful things that can be produced by these organizations and the people who are empowered by them.

The Best Paying and Most In Demand Programming Languages in 2019

The Best Paying and Most In Demand Programming Languages in 2019

At Code Platoon, we track national demand for programming languages so that our veterans and military spouses are trained with the best tools for a career in software development.

But whether you’ve never coded before or you’re a veteran looking to pivot, when you’re deciding which programming language to learn, the following demand-based insights can help inform your strategy.

This article attempts to answer which programming languages command the highest salaries and are most frequently targeted in job postings.

How we identified the current top programming languages

To answer our questions, we conducted simple searches on Indeed.com, one of the largest job listing sites.

For the question of compensation, we started by searching for the top 15 most popular languages in a recent Stack Overflow survey and mapped the average salary for job listings with those languages. For demand, we tracked the number of total job postings targeting those same languages.

Ranking programming languages by pay and number of openings

The Best Paying and Most In Demand Programming Languages in 2019

Python: Possibly the best coding language according to the data, Python is tied for #1 in Average Salary with Ruby, which ranks lower on total job listings available. Python, by contrast, takes the #2 position for Job Postings, and holds an enormous lead in that category before third place. Python is an interpreted, multi-purpose programming language. It is often used to build web applications, and seeing exploding growth due its use in data science, machine learning, cybersecurity, and dev ops.

Javascript: Often called ‘the language of the web,’ Javascript tied with C++ for #3 in Job Postings and #5 in Average Salary. Javascript is an indispensable language to know for writing web applications, as it works both in the browser and on the server side.

Ruby: Highly-valued, Ruby ties for #1 for Average Salary and #6 for Job Postings. Like Python, Ruby is an interpreted, multi-purpose language that is relatively easy to learn. Its popularity stems largely from its web development framework, Ruby on Rails, which is very powerful, widely used, and relatively easy to get up and running.

C++: This was once a premier top-level programming language and is now used primarily in gaming and high-performance applications. C++ stands at #4 in Average Salary and tied for #3 in Job Postings.  The common and useful language C++ was designed for application and systems programming. Since its creation, it’s often been used for office applications, games, and advanced graphics. C++ is very fast and stable, but difficult to learn relative to the other languages in this list (except possibly C).

Java: Integral to large-scale legacy business applications and gaining new relevance through its adoption by Google for Android, Java maintains #1 in Job Postings and #6 in Average Salary. Java’s rankings were an exact flip of Ruby’s in each category. Originally developed by Oracle, Java is extremely popular because it can be used for mobile, web, and desktop app development, and more. Reasonably stable and fast, it is very popular at the enterprise level.

C#:  Similar to Java with Android, C# maintains a solid user base through its adoption in the Unity gaming engine, standing at #5 in Job Postings, and #8 in Average Salary. C# was specifically designed by Microsoft as a competitor to Java. Often used to build desktop apps and video games, as well as web apps, C# remains very popular in the enterprise realm. It runs on Microsoft’s .NET platform.

Swift/iOS: The biggest jump in salary from 2018 to 2019, Swift owes its rankings of #3 in Average Salary, and #8 in Job Postings to its dominance in the mobile market. Created by Apple, Swift is now often the default language for writing iOS apps (Objective C preceded it). If you want to write apps for the iPhone, look no further.

PHP: The language that powers WordPress, PHP is #7 in Job Postings, and #9 in Average Salary. PHP is a general-purpose scripting language used for the development of web applications. One of the earliest languages for web development (released in 1995), it remains widely popular today.

C: C is one of the oldest and most widely used programming languages in the world, and holds #7 in Average Salary, and #9 in Job Postings. It is used to program everything from operating systems to hardware. What makes this language so difficult to learn is in part why it is so powerful: a lot of concepts that are hidden to users in scripting languages like Python, Ruby, and even Java are exposed in C, so that the programmer has more flexibility and complexity available.

What changed from 2018 to 2019?

changes-coding-salary-job-listings

For those making a career, the direction the market is going matters as much as where it is now, so we wanted to look at some of the changes from 2018 to 2019. Since we used the same methodology for similar research in 2018, it will be helpful for a comparison.

Python and Swift developers saw the largest increases in average salary ($9,000). Python climbed the most in number of jobs posted in 2019, posting an additional 3,000 jobs. Ruby saw the largest drop in popularity, posting 5,000 fewer jobs in 2019.

What will be the most popular programming language in 2020?

It’s difficult to speculate how these programming languages will fare in the future because the supply of qualified applicants affects the number of open positions. However, as the Stack Overflow survey points out: “Python has risen in the ranks of programming languages on our survey, surpassing C# in popularity this year, much like it surpassed PHP last year.”

Python now has the largest Google search traffic of any programming language, recently passing Java. Java and Javascript come next.

If you’re also looking for more information on the usefulness of various programming languages, the TIOBE Index and Stack Overflow provide two of the most authoritative reports. Both reports consider industry demand as well as additional perspectives, and incorporate different approaches in determining the usefulness of programming languages.

If you’re a military veteran or military spouse interested in learning to code, you can apply for one of our cohorts now.

coding-boot-camp-tech-jobs

The VA is serious about helping veterans get jobs in the tech industry

As a non-profit serving veterans through software coding training, we love keeping up with current trends for veteran interests and the technology sector. Let’s look at what’s new for the week of March 25, 2019.

Tech jobs are still a good choice for veterans

According to USA Today’s list of the Top 25 Jobs for 2019, software developers are still in high demand with an unemployment rate under two percent and a median salary in the six figure range, showing that tech jobs are still on top. In fact, out of all possible jobs in the article, software developer is #1.

So how do veterans get the hard skills to get into one of these coveted, high end tech jobs?

The VET TEC program incentivizes veterans to get coding jobs

Most veterans already know they can use their benefits of the Post-9/11 GI Bill® to attend a conventional college or coding boot camp to learn to code. But now the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is offering another wonderful opportunity to get into technical programs with their newly created Veteran Employment Through Technology Education Courses (VET TEC) program.

Starting in April, 2019 the Department of Veterans Affairs will use VET TEC to get motivated, hard working veterans into tech jobs. VET TEC has been designed to give veterans another opportunity to use nontraditional training like coding boot camps to access jobs in information technology, computer software, information science, media application, data processing and computer programing fields.

As long as the vet has even a single day of GI Bill benefits available to use, VET TEC is free to the veteran but doesn’t use up their GI Bill benefits up.

The VA’s goal is to focus more on the job outcome than the education, and they’re willing to incentivize veterans to follow along. The veteran, of course, still ends up with debt free tuition as long as they work towards a job in a technical industry, and can still fall back on other GI Bill forms if they change their mind.

Vet Tec makes sure that the student does not pay anything for tuition. However, the program has delayed payment to the education institution to incentivize them to facilitate measurable results for graduates. Upon the veteran’s acceptance into the program, the VA will pay the training provider 25 percent of tuition and then another 25 percent once the veteran graduates. Finally, when the veteran gets a job in their area of study, the VA will pay the last 50 percent of tuition.

Why is the VA pushing for coding boot camps?

Coding boot camps, which are condensed, job-focused software development courses, are growing in popularity.

According to Inside Higher Ed, many coding boot camps cater to people with a bachelor’s degree who cannot afford another certificate or degree program. For these students, this short range, intense training program is an add-on to their traditional education that will not be a replacement, but an enhancement to their technical skills and resume.

However, coding boot camps are still ideal for absolute beginners because they have a compressed curricula and focus highly on job placement in high demand, relevant career fields. Because of the success of this type of learning, many universities are changing the focus of their traditional programs to include a version of a condensed coding boot camp program.

Evidence suggests that many higher education programs are starting to shift from strictly four year degrees and incorporating a boot camp style course to help fill gaps in employability after graduation.

In other words, the coding boot camp is proving to be the more vital program, as boot camp graduates are having better outcomes in many cases than their undergraduate computer science counterparts.

The Apprenti program proves the VA is serious about veteran jobs in technology

As previously stated, employers want a slew of skills and experience when looking at a potential hire. Apprenti is taking a huge leap forward for veteran technology jobs by removing the burden of experience and education. Once a veteran passes a few basic tests and qualifies for the program, Apprenti places the veteran in a well-paying technology apprenticeship in a major company for at least a year. The intent is to bring the veteran as a full-time hire, and they’ll certainly benefit from the apprenticeship regardless.

The stress of finding experience and education is eliminated by this program by placing veterans into a technology apprenticeship. During this apprenticeship the veterans are taught the appropriate skills needed to maintain a job in their chosen technological career fields. According to Apprenti’s statistics, almost 50 percent of students start the program without a prior degree and approximately 85 percent of participants are retained by the company with which they have done their apprenticeship!

Apprenticeships like those offered by Apprenti give one more avenue to get that desired tech job. Currently, there are almost 2 million vacancies in the industry, and only 65,000 students will be graduating with the requisite computer science degree. This leave a lot of gaps that need to be filled and a lot of opportunity for veterans to get their foot in the door.

What can veterans do next for a tech job?

Not all military jobs line up perfectly with jobs in the civilian world, and that means more training upon transition from your respective branch of service.

Through the ages, attending college with the Montgomery GI Bill and Post 9/11 GI Bill has always been tried and true options for veterans entering the workforce after service. However, with veterans urgently needing post-service careers, and the college education pipeline failing to supply coders to meet the total job openings in tech fields, veterans have some other options.

Programs like Apprenti and Vet Tec bring a fresh new look to the education field with cutting edge opportunities that not only give veterans the skills needed to fill in of those job vacancies, but it gets right to the paycheck as well.

Code Platoon, our non-profit coding boot camp for veterans and military spouses, accepts the GI Bill and offers scholarships for many students who do not have GI Bill benefits. We also place most of our graduates in paying apprenticeships that lead to careers with their host company.

If you’re a veteran or spouse interested in our training, please click here to apply to our program.

golf platoon celebrates graduation

Golf Platoon celebrates graduation

Code Platoon is excited to congratulate the graduates of Golf Platoon, our seventh class of students.

We held our graduation ceremony on December 7, 2018 at 2:30 PM CST at the Motorola Solutions office in Chicago, Illinois. Eight students graduated, six of whom received tuition scholarships in order to attend our program.

These graduates will continue in their journeys with software development internships exclusively offered for Code Platoon attendees to further their coding careers. The internships for this cycle are provided by Enova, Guaranteed Rate, CTC, Prota Ventures, DRW, and Novetta.

rod levy code platoon golf graduation

Executive Director Rod Levy had this to say about the graduating class, with whom he worked directly throughout their training:  

“We are extremely proud of Golf Platoon, our seventh cohort. They worked extremely hard over the last fourteen weeks, really came together as a group, and have demonstrated impressive growth in a very short period of time. I’m sure they will be incredible contributors to the companies where they go work, and continue on to be leaders in the tech community in years to come.”

Golf Platoon graduate testimonials

Golf Platoon celebrates graduation

 

I have to admit that I was somewhat nervous about attending a program that had only been in existence for two years. I ultimately decided to take the risk because I could not have attended boot camp without the financial assistance provided by the GI Bill®. It ended up being the best educational experience I’ve had.

-Katherine R.

 

I had zero experience in programming before Code Platoon. After attending the course, I was able to make apps with Ruby on Rails, React.js, and React-Native with iOS. I was taught algorithms, object orientated programming, building servers, using git and github.com, HTTP/2, and databases. This is a true full-stack developer course.

-Dan F.

 

Code Platoon really hones in on and expands on everything you need to be a successful web developer and creating full stack web applications. They are very accommodating for veterans and have their true interests at heart.

-Anonymous

 

The instructors do a great job of talking about best practices, as well as giving you plenty of opportunity to practice what you’re learning, culminating in two week-long projects in the end that give you a great sense of accomplishment!

-Skyelah B.

 

Graduation Ceremony of Code Platoon Graduates

Code Platoon would also like to thank the sponsors who made this particular cohort possible, including Motorola Solutions and Boeing.

Sponsors and donors make Celebrate Code Platoon 2018 a success

Sponsors and donors make Celebrate Code Platoon 2018 a success

With over 150 friends of Code Platoon in attendance, we celebrated our first three years of serving veterans and helping them find careers as software development professionals.

We held Celebrate Code Platoon 2018 on November 16 from 5:30-8:00pm in Chicago. The Illinois Technology Association and Tech Nexus, graciously hosted everyone and provided a unique space for our inaugural fundraising event.

Our Executive Director, Rodrigo Levy, hosted the program portion of the evening, where he reminded our guests that the goal of Code Platoon, “is to serve those who have served our country.” Two of our alumni, Michael Dorsey and Scott Plunkett, recounted their stories of finding Code Platoon and how our program has changed their lives. Code Platoon Chairman of the Board, Edward Donovan, also spoke on the need for organizations like Code Platoon as veterans and military spouses find themselves looking for meaningful careers.

The highlight of the program was the premiere of our new video, featuring alumni sharing their stories.

Celebrate Code Platoon 2018 was a success, in large part, thanks to our event sponsors, including presenting sponsors DRW, CTC, and Capital One. These sponsors, along with our guests, helped to raise over $48,000 for our program! These contributions will be 100% invested into our program, helping more veterans and military spouses find our program and start a new career in software development.

While our event was a success on many levels, we still need your help to grow this program and reach more veterans and spouses! Donate now to Code Platoon by visiting our donations page or texting CP to 243725.

We are humbled by the generosity of our supporters and excited for our upcoming classes!

Code Platoon Awarded Boeing Grant to Support Veterans and Milspouses

Code Platoon Awarded Boeing Grant to Support Veterans and Their Families

CHICAGO, November 19, 2018 – Code Platoon, a Chicago-based nonprofit that transforms veterans and military spouses into professional software developers through an immersive, educational bootcamp, mentorship, and internship program, announced today that it has received a grant for $50,000 USD from The Boeing Company. Because of this generous investment, Code Platoon will expand its program to serve more veterans and military spouses.

“We are honored to receive this grant from Boeing,” said Rod Levy, Executive Director of Code Platoon. “This grant is recognition of the learning and hard work of our students and their success in the market after leaving our program. This generous donation will allow us to move forward in our mission to help veterans and military spouses develop the skills necessary to compete and excel in the fast-growing tech industry. With this funding, we will be able to grow our program and offer more Chicago based veterans the opportunity to become software developers.”

The Boeing Company has committed more than $55 million in grants to more than 500 nonprofit organizations across the globe in 2019. Specifically, The Boeing Company is concentrating efforts around their pillar of investment, Our Heroes: Veterans and Their Families, providing nearly $8 million in veteran grant investments, representing a year-over-year increase of 50 percent from 2018 to 2019. The investment in Code Platoon builds on Boeing’s commitment to support military veterans and their families transitioning into the civilian workforce.

Boeing’s annual contributions include a three-year commitment of more than $25 million in support of veterans’ recovery and rehabilitation programs and transition services. Their charitable grants package will fund programs through 2019 and supplement an anticipated $117 million in company-wide business and employee contributions to similar causes—bringing Boeing’s total community investments to approximately $167 million this year alone. A full list of 2019 contributions made by Boeing can be found in their official press release.

“We aspire to be a top performer in every area of our business, and that includes leading in the communities where our employees and their families live and work,” said Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing chairman, president and chief executive officer. “By harnessing our teammates’ unique skills and passion for giving, our professional networks and partnerships, and our financial resources, we will inspire the dreamers and doers of tomorrow and drive positive, lasting change in our communities across the globe.”

About Code Platoon

Based in Chicago, Illinois, Code Platoon provides software coding training for veterans and military spouses interested in pursuing meaningful careers as professional software developers. While some participants hold traditional degrees, the only requirements for enrollment are a deep desire to become a professional software developer, a positive work ethic, and a tremendous amount of tenacity. Each veteran and military spouse is eligible to apply for a scholarship that covers approximately 80% of their tuition, and additional scholarships are available for groups traditionally underrepresented in technology fields, including women. The program consists of 8-15 students per class who spend 70 hours a week learning together for 15 weeks, frequently culminating in a local, paid internship. For more information on Code Platoon please visit codeplatoon.org.

About The Boeing Company

Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company and leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners and defense, space and security systems. A top U.S. exporter, the company supports airlines and U.S. and allied government customers in 150 countries.

 

Contact:

Rod Levy, Executive Director

Code Platoon

(312) 767-7673

rod@codeplatoon.org

 

launching a website as a non-profit

Our experience launching a website as a non-profit

Code Platoon officially launched a new website in October of 2018. While the new website looked better, functioned more smoothly, and provided a higher-quality user experience for those outside our organization, what we most appreciated at Code Platoon was the straightforwardness of the development process, thanks to the contributions of many.

In the web development world, projects of this scale often take an enormous amount of time and don’t come out as planned, if they ever make it to deployment. Sometimes they’re outdated by the time they go live. They can be stressful, run way over budget, and functional changes can even end up having unintended, adverse consequences for the organization.

That was not our experience with the Code Platoon 2018 website launch. What was even more improbable was that we were able to circumnavigate those common pitfalls and launch the website of our dreams when we’re a non-profit company without the same resources as bigger businesses on the web.

We’d like to share what our website overhaul considerations and challenges were, how we overcame them, and how other organizations might do the same (especially other non-profits)!

Background

When Code Platoon first opened its doors, volunteer and staff availability was extremely limited.

Providing our veteran and military spouse students with a world-class training program and career transition experience was (and still is) top priority. A website could serve as beacon to educate those who might benefit from such an experience, but at the time, a perfect website was not mission-critical.

What does help, though, is that nonprofits can often receive discounts offered by web design studios, and we were fortunate to do so in establishing our initial website, which also included a hosting plan.

That version of the website, for a time, served its purpose. It displayed our mission, informed stakeholders of our value, and was a catalyst in expanding our program from one to three cohorts per year. It relied on the WordPress content management system, which was intuitive enough that non-technical team members could log in and make changes as needed. As our organization grew, the team added new features, such as a student application form and new visuals.

Without a dedicated web administrator to test changes and maintain quality, and with so much attention focused on the actual program, two things happened: Code Platoon became a force in the coding bootcamp scene, and its website fell behind in effectively communicating that message.

To make things even harder, the backend of the website became increasingly more cumbersome to manage. For example, when a talented volunteer designer created the amazing logo and theme colors we still proudly display, the team sought to globally apply the elements to the website, but the child theme of our hosting provider would no longer permit it. Another volunteer offered to help, and was able to manually code the changes. Cracking open the website template and discovering more issues, though, made it apparent that the first iteration of the website would not be able to scale with the growing organization much longer.

Key Considerations

We could have resolved those concerns on the old website with a bigger budget, but as a nonprofit startup, there wasn’t any extra financial padding built into our budget to cover luxuries such as customization costs from a web design studio or an in-house, full-time paid web development team like a major corporation might have.

And because we are a non-profit that relied on the generosity and participation of many stakeholders, we had lots of potential audiences for our website. Although we needed to reach prospective students, we were also aware that donors, grantors, sponsors, volunteers, staff, and third-party awards organizations would use the website as a focal point in their research. There was an enormous pull to please everyone at once, which made a website project both more complicated in planning and more enormous in scope.

Another potential solution involved leveraging volunteers to develop, deploy and administer the new website. We considered this option for several months and designed prototypes with other themes. We even attempted reformulating the aging website structure and content in order to gain a sense of the scope and magnitude of such an undertaking. During this time we reflected on ways we might maximize our productivity and performance after rolling out a new website, and we created a standard operating procedure for managing future changes.

With more and more hours invested in the process, the unsustainability of fully relying on volunteers became more apparent and significant. Even while some dedicated hosting providers offered in-house customizations at reasonable rates, the possibility of hiring and training their team at a moment’s notice was far from ideal. Hammering out the details of a contract and allowing an established web design studio to build a site from scratch with tried and true tools and practices seemed like the best solution.

That left us with many questions for the potential new provider. If we encountered a problem, would we communicate by phone, chat or email, during what times and with how fast of a turnaround?

At what point would bandwidth and storage limits be enforced? After roll out, to what extent would we be able to customize the site, and would they collaborate with us in that process?

To what degree would they outsource services such as web hosting and WordPress management to third parties, what were their policies, and would we have the ability to interface directly with them as needed?

Were essential services offered, such as optimizations (compression, caching, redirects), continuity (website backups, server backup, and security), security (SSL, brute force protection, password policy, file change detection, spam filtering) and updates (CMS, plugins, staging area)? Were such services included in the contract or provided as add-on costs?

The Code Platoon Solution

After seriously considering and walking away from a few lower cost options, Code Platoon identified a development and hosting provider with an impeccable track record, a commitment to quality, and the flexibility to meet our unique demands. With cost a potential sticking point, they worked with us to structure a plan that we could justify to our stakeholders in the immense value we would attain in the short and long term.

Once the decision was made, our team fielded each team member’s valuable perspectives in order to refine the website mockup into the best it could possibly be: strategy, planning and execution, look and feel, technical requirements, SEO, and stakeholder outreach were all thoroughly deliberated and settled by consensus. When the time arrived for our design studio to lay the hammer to the chisel, progress was quick, and before long, the basic site structure was complete.

We could have at that point rushed the remaining work to publish the site in a much shorter time frame. Instead, we had each member comb the site with its array of new features to assess whether new opportunities existed for further improvement that we may not have considered at the outset of planning. Sure enough, we ended up with plenty of new requests that we didn’t imagine could all be accepted and implemented.

To our surprise, the design studio was fully on-board with the revised requirements and invested in making the site the best it could possibly be. To ease communication, a Code Platoon volunteer became the liaison between both teams and expedited the remaining changes. At a point where the site was publishable, our team applied another quality control comb through and arrived at a much smaller, easily implementable list of revised requests, and prioritized those that were necessary for launch versus those that could be implemented later.

Reflection

We got the website we wanted in a budget and timeline that we could handle and still have a happy, ongoing relationship with our web developer.

We were able to achieve these results by:

1. Focusing on our mission.

We decided early on that the website layout and messaging needed to focus primarily on our potential students. We had faith in our supporters to see the website as a portal for applicants above all. And not just in terms of where the most resources were committed, but also in removing distractions for students that might be appealing to other audiences.

2. Relying on dedicated people who understood the mission.

For us, this was our volunteer and staff team, our sponsors, grantors, and donors, and our world-class web design studio, Digital Ammo.

If you are an organization under similar circumstances, start with a simple goal. Collaborate with all of your stakeholders, and reflect on each soft decision to consider different perspectives before finalizing. Compromise, get consensus early in the project, and follow qualified expertise whenever you reach an impasse.

And most of all, never lose sight of the mission.

Code Platoon Receives Amica Companies Foundation Grant

Code Platoon Receives Amica Companies Foundation Grant

Chicago, Illinois – October 26, 2018 – Code Platoon, a nonprofit working to transform Chicagoland veterans and military spouses into professional software developers through an immersive, educational boot camp and mentorship program, today announced it has received a grant for $20,000 USD from the Amica Companies Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Amica Insurance.

Through this grant, Code Platoon will use these mission critical funds to thoughtfully and meaningfully grow their program to include more students and more support services. The Amica Companies Foundation awards grants each year to organizations, such as Code Platoon, which support and advance individuals to become economically independent and strong.

“Veterans and military spouses step forward to serve our country, and they deserve our help. The impact of this generous grant from the Amica Companies Foundation will help us create more opportunities for our students to learn and grow as software developers,” said Rodrigo Levy, founder and executive director of Code Platoon.

“Amica recently hosted a business conference in Chicago, and it’s important for us to support the communities where we live and work,” said Meredith Gregory, charitable giving coordinator at Amica. “Amica is proud to support military programs, and Code Platoon’s mission strongly aligns with ours to help people become economically independent and strong.”

  • For additional information on Amica, please visit: Amica.com.
  • For more information on Code Platoon, please visit Codeplatoon.org.

About Code Platoon

Based in Chicago, Illinois, Code Platoon provides software coding training to help local veterans and military spouses find meaningful careers as professional software developers. While some veterans and military spouses do have four year degrees, the only requirements of enrollment are a deep desire to become a professional software developer, a positive work ethic, and a tremendous amount of tenacity. Each student is eligible to receive a scholarship that covers about 80% of their tuition making this career path affordable and attainable. Code Platoon also offers extra scholarships to women veterans who join the boot camp as they are historically underrepresented in technology based careers. Students can also use their GI Bill® benefits to complete our program. The program consists of 8-12 students per class who spend 60-80 hours a week together for 15 weeks. Students are taught the Python and Ruby on Rails technology stacks, which are increasingly popular in the software development field. Instruction is a carefully curated mix of lectures, advanced coding training, and team projects, frequently culminating in a local paid internship.

About Amica Insurance

Amica Mutual Insurance Co., the nation’s oldest mutual insurer of automobiles, was founded in 1907. The company, based in Lincoln, Rhode Island, is a national writer of auto, home, marine and umbrella insurance. Life coverage is available through Amica Life Insurance Company, a wholly owned subsidiary. Amica employs more than 3,700 people in 44 offices across the country. For more information, visit Amica.com.

Milspouse Coder Scholarship

Milspouse Coder Scholarship Recipients, October 2018

We recently announced that we are providing two scholarships to our coding boot camp for military and veteran spouses. We’re able to do this in partnership with Milspouse Coders, angelhack, and Operation Code, who put on a hackathon event to raise interest in software development among military spouses.

Now that our scholarship recipients have been selected, we would like to congratulate them and share their stories!

Soris Cox: Milspouse Remote Scholarship recipient

From her application:

“The opportunity to attend remotely through the 14-week intensive boot camp is just what I need to refresh my skills, build my confidence and create a portable career for myself as a developer. As a military spouse, I set aside my career ambitions for the past eight years to move across the world multiple times, care for my family, and home educate my my child. Now that we are at a new duty station and are settling in, I have time I can devote to learning and growing as a programmer to become employable once again in this ever-changing industry. This scholarship opportunity could not have come at a better time! I know that I have the potential to be a successful developer, but I need assistance in bringing my skills up-to-date and in marketing myself to potential employers.”

Caroline Cessaro: Milspouse In-person Scholarship recipient

From her application:

“My husband, Michael Cessaro, took part in the Bravo Platoon in January 2017, I accompanied him to Chicago and witnessed the vast amount of knowledge he gained in a remarkably short space of time. We have since moved to Chicago and I recently heard Code Platoon is now accepting military spouses as part of their training program. Originally, last year, we did actually ask if I could also take part in Bravo Platoon with my husband, so I am thrilled to hear this is now the case! Coding has always been of interest to me – I find it akin to solving a puzzle and love the challenge. I took great enjoyment picking up languages last year when Michael was taking part in the program. I know it to be a rapidly expanding job market, where women are especially sought after, and this is a future career I am excited to pursue.”

Code Platoon offers many scholarships to accommodate students, and most students pay very little out of pocket to attend our coding boot camp. To find out your eligibility for these scholarships, apply now, or read more on our scholarships page.

Code Platoon receives Newman’s Own Award

Code Platoon receives Newman’s Own Award

Chicago, Illinois – October 5, 2018 – Code Platoon, a nonprofit working to transform Chicagoland veterans and military spouses into professional software developers through an immersive, educational bootcamp, and mentorship program today announced it has received a Newman’s Own Award and grant for $37,500 USD. This award is given through a partnership with Fisher House Foundation, Military Times, and Newman’s Own Foundation.

Presented in the Hall of Heroes at The Pentagon, the Newman’s Own Award seeks to recognize non-profit organizations for their innovative programs that improve military and veterans quality of life. Just under 300 entries were submitted for the 2018 program. This prestigious award was presented by General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Jeffrey Smith, Vice President of Operations of Newman’s Own, Inc.; Dave Coker, President of Fisher House Foundation; and Andrew Tilghman, Executive Editor of Military Times.

“Code Platoon is honored to be recognized as a leader in helping our nation’s veterans and military families. This award is an incredible acknowledgement of our commitment to our nation’s greatest national treasure. Our team is inspired to grow our program to serve more veterans and military spouses, providing access to career opportunities in software development.” said Rodrigo Levy, founder and executive director of Code Platoon.

“We are grateful to the men and women of our military, veterans, and their families for their commitment to protecting the freedoms and opportunities we enjoy as Americans,” said Bob Forrester, Co-Chairman of Newman’s Own, Inc. and President and CEO of Newman’s Own Foundation. “We’re proud to have participated for the past 19 years with the Military Times and Fisher House Foundation in recognizing so many outstanding organizations focused on helping our veterans and their families, and we’re especially proud to support this year’s award recipients.”

About the Newman’s Own Foundation

As a long-time supporter of military non-profits, Newman’s Own carries on the legacy of Paul Newman, founder of Newman’s Own, who wanted to help make a difference in the lives of others. Paul, a Navy veteran, served in the Pacific during World War II. Over the years, Newman’s Own Awards has provided funding for organizations across the country, which have addressed veterans’ issues such as mental and physical health, housing, education, career development, entrepreneurship, family support.

About Code Platoon

Based in Chicago, Illinois, Code Platoon provides software coding training to help local veterans and military spouses find meaningful careers as professional software developers. While some veterans and military spouses do have four year degrees, the only requirements of enrollment are a deep desire to become a professional software developer, a positive work ethic, and a tremendous amount of tenacity. Each student is eligible to receive a scholarship that covers about 80% of their tuition making this career path affordable and attainable. Code Platoon also offers extra scholarships to women veterans who join the bootcamp as they are historically underrepresented in technology based careers. Students can also use their GI Bill® benefits to complete our program. The program consists of 8-12 students per class who spend 60-80 hours a week together for 15 weeks. Students are taught the Python and Ruby on Rails technology stacks, which are increasingly popular in the software development field. Instruction is a carefully curated mix of lectures, advanced coding training, and team projects, frequently culminating in a local paid internship.