News & Press Archives » Page 8 of 9

We’re adding an assistant instructor courtesy of Motorola!

November 6, 2017/in Blog, News & Press /by Code Platoon

We’re proud to announce today that we’ve received a $10,000 USD grant from the Motorola Solutions Foundation, the charitable arm of Motorola solutions, Inc. We’re using the grant to provide an assistant instructor for our Spring 2018 cohort. The assistant instructor will work directly with the lead instructor to help bring more personalized coding and programming opportunities for our students.

The Motorola Solutions Foundation awards grants each year to organizations that support and advance public safety programs and technology & engineering education initiatives. This year, programs that served underrepresented populations, including females, people with disabilities and veterans were prioritized. I can speak for Rod and the rest of us when I say that we’re absolutely honored to receive this grant, which will help us create more opportunities for our veteran students to learn and grow.

For more on the Motorola Solutions Foundation grants, click here.

To read our press release on the Motorola Solutions Foundation grant, click here.

Can’t make it to our office in Chicago? Don’t worry, we’ll come to you!

October 30, 2017/in Blog, News & Press /by Code Platoon

Here at Code Platoon, we see more and more veterans and military spouses transition into the world of coding and development every single day. However, we know that veterans or military spouses come from every corner of the nation – not just the Chicagoland area – and that’s why we’re excited to share that we’re expanding our offerings to include a new remote initiative!

We’ll be piloting this new program during our next cohort and we’re looking for two highly motivated veterans and military spouses to participate; if that sounds like you or someone you know, read our full brief below.

Our new Remote Attendance Program offers:

ABSOLUTE CONVENIENCE – Whether you’re traveling or you’re on the other end of the world, our Remote Attendance Program is all about providing our veterans and military spouses with a convenient path to access our tried and true curriculum. While we’d love to have you visit our AO, you no longer have to make the trip over here to learn everything you need to become a full-stack developer.

FREE ADMISSION FOR VETERANS AND MILITARY SPOUSES — Our regular program is a 14-week long, in-person coding program located in Chicago, Illinois. For in-person students, the cost is $13,000, but all admitted veterans or military spouses receive $10,500 in scholarships so they’re essentially paying $2,500 out of pocket. For our veteran or military spouses students who are going to be remote, we’re upping that scholarship to the full $13,000 so that they won’t have to pay a cent.

HIGH QUALITY INSTRUCTION — The Remote Attendance Program is very much the same program that our in-person students participate in. Remote students will have access to everything that in-person students have, and will be able to participate in live discussions, ask questions, and receive real-time answers. What’s more, our remote students will work on the same assignments and team projects as their in-person counterparts. The only thing that’s different for our Remote Attendance Students is that they won’t be eligible to participate in the internship program, or at least not with Chicago-based internships.

If you’re interested in taking advantage of our remote offering, make sure you apply now! There are fewer spots for our Remote Attendance Program and our admission standards for these spots will be more rigorous than our in-person program given that we can only take so many. Additionally, we will give preference to veterans with disabilities.

If you’d like to learn more about our remote offerings, you can head to our Remote Attendance Program page for more information or contact us at info@codeplatoon.org.

Denver Startup Week: An Ambassador’s Experience

October 11, 2017/in News & Press /by Code Platoon

I had the distinct privilege of being part of the inaugural Ambassadors class for Denver Startup Week (DSW). The DSW Ambassadors program was a 3-day all-expenses-paid trip where out-of-town entrepreneurs, business leaders, and technical folks got the opportunity to visit Denver and experience their startup ecosystem. Having never been to Denver, I knew this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up and thankfully, I was selected to experience this vibrant city firsthand.

Stereotypically, when outsiders think of Denver, we think of ski resorts, a vibrant outdoor lifestyle, and of course, marijuana; Denver traditionally does not hold a reputation of being a technology hub like San Francisco or Chicago but in recent years, there have been rumors of it starting to establish itself as a real technology player. I am happy to report that these rumors are true: Denver is certainly establishing itself as a prime technology hub ripe with top talent.

As an Ambassador, I got the opportunity to visit 6 Denver companies that helped sponsor my class and talked with their business leaders. I learned the history of each company’s inception, their growing pains, and what they were excited about looking into the future. A number of themes/lessons persisted:

As a business leader, exemplify your company’s values. If you set an unlimited vacation policy in hopes reduce employee burnout/turnover but never go on vacation, neither will your employees. Be the example for your company
Taking a longer time to hire the right employee is a better return on investment than rushing to hire someone to fill a role. The amount of damage that a poor hire can wreak on your company can be immeasurable.
Your company’s success will likely depend on how well your team members can work with each other and communicate effectively. High emotional IQ is often a greater indicator of future successes than a high amount of technical talent.
Personally, the most welcome surprise of attending DSW was finding out how warm Denverites were and and how they truly wanted outsiders to join their community. While many people and cities pay lip service to welcoming others to their hometowns, I actually received personal phone numbers from folks who told me to call them if I needed help moving. The entire city was a warm and inviting place with a high emphasis on helping their fellow community member – fellowship takes precedence over the bottom line. I would highly recommend Denver as a city to start any company – the top technical talent, beauty of the landscape, and community-driven people make it second to none.

Deja Baker’s Coding Journey Leads the Way for Women and Veterans Alike

September 11, 2017/in Blog, Career Tips, Jobs, News & Press, Programming /by Code Platoon

Despite the fact that the tech community is growing faster than ever, there are still two demographics that are often overlooked – women and veterans. However, the dearth of representation from both communities is quickly changing, especially when you have individuals like Deja Baker spearheading the effort. Baker, who enlisted in the Navy as an Analyst, eventually pursued her interest in technology as a Computer Science major at the Naval Academy.

Seeking to further her education in the coding industry, Baker applied for and received Code Platoon’s Women In Technology Scholarship, which fully covers her tuition, and is scheduled to attend the all-veteran coding bootcamp this fall. While there were a number of other bootcamps to choose from, Code Platoon was always the first choice for Baker.

“One reason why I chose to apply for Code Platoon is because its exclusively for veterans,” Baker said. “I feel that being around people from a similar background, who are working towards the same goals, will prove more beneficial to the process.”

In addition to providing a sense of community, Baker believes that an all-veteran bootcamp will likely be composed of the most highly motivated and disciplined students in the coding industry.

“Veterans have worked in a variety of different roles all over the world, and because of that, veterans have a wide array of experiences that allow them to adapt quickly when engaging in new projects,” Baker said. “I feel that a lot of veterans have the drive and the aptitude to work towards a role in tech.”

Although many of today’s veterans often have skillsets that translate well to coding and programming few choose to pursue a career path in the tech industry. Baker says that veterans who have given thought to a career in coding should, at the very least, give it a try.

“I know a lot of people that are interested in coding who are too worried to see what it’s all about, but there are abundant resources online to just dabble in it and see if coding is for you.”

It’s a sentiment that’s shared by leading tech giants such as Google, IBM, and Intel, all of whom have taken measures to help veterans gain a footing in the tech sector. And because there are plenty of opportunities waiting for veterans with strong programming skills, Baker says she’s eager to begin her first day at Code Platoon.

“I’m excited to have this opportunity to study and work towards becoming a developer; I’m looking forward to working in teams in a highly collaborative environment and to be challenged while solving difficult problems.”