With the demand for developers ever-growing, four-year colleges can’t crank out graduates fast enough. Staff augmentation firm Corporate Elevator aims to speed that process up and chip away at the widening gap of qualified developers versus open positions with their intensive IT Bootcamp.
“We teach web development over a 12-week period,” says Corporate Elevator Principal Ivan Israel.
The program will tackle Java, JavaScript and other backend frameworks which graduates can parlay into careers like junior developer, junior business analyst and business tester straight from the program. A former ITT-Tech and DeVry professor with 25 plus years of experience will head up the course which will focus on project-based learning. Israel says the purpose is not just to teach, but to learn through hands-on training on real-world projects.
Corporate Elevator is accepting applications through the end of the month for the program.
“What we look for are people that are really passionate about it,” Israel says of applicants. “The people who do best in IT are those who have a passion for it.”
From the green, to the coding dabbler and the self-taught, Israel is more concerned with a zeal for the industry than pervious experience when selecting bootcamp participants.
Dedication will also be a major influencer. Students will be required to do about 90 hours of pre-course work, reading up on various programming topics so they can hit the ground running on day one. Once the program kicks off, likely sometime in May, students will be immersed in 10-hour days, Monday through Friday, with an additional five hours of coursework on Saturday.
The Joseph, 620 N. High St., in Short North will be home-base for the bootcamp, providing a bustling backdrop for daily breaks. Other pluses include a laptop for each student to work on and a catered lunch at least once a week.
The program comes with a price tag of $16,000, but considering the time and money a typical four-year degree requires, it’s a steal. Corporate Elevator estimates that a four-year degree takes 208 weeks to complete and costs an average of $84,000. Since it’s run by a staff augmentation firm, the bootcamp comes with the added bonus of a little help with the next step.
Israel and Corporate Elevator Account Manager Rupesh Parikh decided to initiate the bootcamp based on what they were seeing in the field.
“One thing that we continually hear from some of our clients is that there is just a lack of good developers out there or people who like to develop,” Parikh says.
The duo figured they could ‘water the soil’ to close the talent gap, home-growing developers to put into open positions.
“The reception to this education model has been great,” Parikh says. “IT Bootcamps have been taking place for the past four years in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, etc.”
This will be the first round of the bootcamp in Columbus, but based on the success of the first six to 10 students it nurtures, Corporate Elevator hopes to repeat the program every 15 weeks.
For more information, visit corporate-edu.com.
