Develop Me, a Bristol-based digital skills school, is launching a 12-week intensive coding school initiative, called the Coding Fellowship, to help individuals learn to code and access careers as web developers. It is also offering potential funding to help provide the opportunity for people to access careers in web development who otherwise might not be able to.
“We hope to start chipping away at the skills gap and increasing diversity in the digital industries”
Develop Me has form; it has already delivered more than 650 hours of content to 159 individuals from over 25 businesses in the last 12 months. It is now hoping to expand on that to get more people ready for the demands of the ever-expanding tech sector.
Pete New, one of the founders of Develop Me, says: “With over one million digital jobs advertised nationally in 2014 and a 5.4% growth predicted over the next 5 years, the industry needs to be adopting and encouraging new routes into the sector.
“Our ‘Coding Fellowship’ is a fast track into a career in one of the most exciting and innovative industries of our times. With the fellowship, and the support of industry, we hope to start chipping away at the skills gap and increasing diversity in the digital industries.”
Develop Me in action: Attendees at Angular JS workshop
The Coding Fellowship has been developed and is delivered by industry experts, with input into the curriculum directly from digital businesses, and is bolstered by valuable industry experience through a work placement with one of the region’s key employers and career support to help secure a job upon graduation. The programme will take students from beginners to professional junior developers in 24 weeks.
Unlocking potential and increasing diversity
The demographics of the tech sector have come under scrutiny in recent months with most of the major players revealing that their workforces are anything but diverse – being predominantly white, middle class and male.
Building on established, international coding ‘bootcamp’ offerings from New York’s Flatiron School, London’s Makers Academy and Paris’s 42, the Coding Fellowship introduces a model that gives access to those who otherwise might not be able to embark on these careers, with sponsored places available for those most under-represented in the sector.
With the first cohort of fledgling coders starting the programme in April 2016, the Coding Fellowship will run 3 times a year. The project driven course will teach the key coding techniques, tools, technologies and processes, used by professional developers in their day to day working life, to students looking to break into a career in the sector.
You can find out more at the Develop Me website or by following them on Twitter: @develop_me_uk
