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Strategies for filling the seats
Launching Code Bootcamp has one huge hurdle — attracting prospective students. But we were up for the challenge since day one; after all, we knew what we had was going to be something big for Sioux Falls.
We believe that if we can get our message, syllabus, and program out in front of our great community, we will not have a hard time getting our minimum of six students signed up in time to launch the first class in May 2015. I wish I could say that we had it all figured out, but we do not.
Falls Foundry Series
We are proud to announce (although you may have already heard this) our partnership with Falls Foundry and EPSCoR to offer a three-part series on building websites for businesses. The series is going to be taught by my co-founder Josh Stroschein.
We chose this series as a lead-in for anyone who might be considering Code Bootcamp but wants to give the Josh a try as a teacher before committing. After all, if you are going to spend eight weeks listening to Josh lecture, you better like him! Anyone who attends any of the Falls Foundry courses will receive a 10% discount off the Code Bootcamp tuition.
There is no prior experience necessary to attend any of the sessions, so bring your laptop and join us. The cost is $25 each and you can sign up on the Falls Foundry Facebook page.
Talking to our Community
this is obvious, I know, but we are not just talking to hear ourselves talk. Over the past few months we have met with dozens of people in our community to listen to their ideas, not to push our ideas. We feel that Code Bootcamp is a community project; after all we are not going to be employing our students— you are.
We want those in our community to help drive our passion through the best directions to build the best skills possible. Anyone can read a book, take an online class, or Google their way through writing code — our goal is to instill lifestyle skills in those who want to excel as developers and allow them to write their own future job offers.
In the coming months, you will likely be seeing Josh or me talking at various network events around Sioux Falls. Definitely come up and talk to us, we want your feedback.
Our community outreach has been wonderful. We have received a lot of great advice, guidance and support from everyone that we have met. We would still love to hear from more of you, so send us email, stop by Queen City Baker on Thursday mornings, or shoot me a Tweet! We will make a meeting happen.
Business Outreaches
Long before we committed to launching Code Bootcamp we spent some time talking to the companies around Sioux Falls who build websites and hire developers. We wanted to learn from them what they look for in candidates and how they go about finding good talent.
During this outreach, we are also approaching companies to be sponsors of Code Bootcamp in one of two ways:
First option: Being an outright sponsor of Code Bootcamp by paying to be part of our internal, private job fair at the conclusion of the class. Allowing sponsors to negotiate a job offer with any students that they wish to before they even graduate. Letting sponsors sell their businesses to our students, and also being part of our community.
Second option: Allow us to train their new hires, people that they may be hiring anywhere. Training is a struggle that all small businesses face, since it takes resources away from your existing developers, who are already overworked or you wouldn’t be hiring someone new. Businesses can send their new hires to us for their first eight weeks and we will handle the training and management of projects for our sponsors. It is a win-win for everyone.
Enlisting You
We know that we don’t have all the answers and would love to hear your thoughts on ways to get in front of prospective students.
We are taking applications today — Apply online, no commitment.
Apply Online TodayCode Bootcamp is sponsored by:
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I would love to hear from you about Code Bootcamp or see you attend our first session in May 2015. Please send me a Tweet at @wbushee, or drop me an email. After all, shouldn’t we all keep learning?
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