So excited to partner with @karliekloss on the #KodeWithKarlie scholarship for high school girls. Learn to code. Change the world.

Flatiron School Partners with the White House on TechHire—a Plan to Expand Access to Tech Education

We are thrilled to have collaborated with President Obama and his Administration on the TechHire Initiative—a multi-sector effort and $100 million in grants to help Americans find technology jobs. As technology has permeated every aspect of our lives, it has transformed the economic landscape, rendering every industry from medicine to publishing inherently technical. Today, there are half a million jobs open in technology fields—many of which did not exist a decade ago—and these numbers are only expected to rise.

Behind these job openings are companies who need more people than ever to fill technical roles. TechHire was developed to give more Americans the education they need to succeed at these jobs, meet employer demand, and create a positive feedback loop between a skilled workforce and a strong tech economy. TechHire was developed not only to help connect people with well-paying jobs but also to support the future competitiveness of our country.

One of Flatiron School’s biggest goals has always been to put our students on the path to better employment prospects, and ultimately, a better life. It has been an honor to partner with the City of New York on the NYC Web Development Fellowship and help New Yorkers launch new careers in tech. As part of TechHire, we have committed to pro bono consulting to expand and improve training programs like the Fellowship.

We can not wait to grow the Fellowship, iterate on its model, and help even more cities and communities train people for fulfilling careers. For more on the TechHire Initiative, read the whitehouse.gov Fact Sheet.

Flatiron School Pre-College Academy at SXSW

This week, our Pre-College team is hanging out in Austin, Texas at SXSW. If you're in town, catch us on Tuesday at booth 428 at the Education Expo. We'll be raffling off a drone from 2:00-8:00PM.

Here's what else is on the schedule so far:

What: Lyel Resner, Director of K-12 Programs at Flatiron School, will speak about the changing role of tech in education. Learn more.

When: Tuesday, March 10, 2015 5:00 - 6:00PM

Where: Austin Convention Center EH4 - STEM Pavilion 500 East Cesar Chavez Street

Stay tuned for even more Flatiron School events and workshops at SXSW. Hope to see you there!

Code History Lesson: Edsger Dijkstra

Computer Scientist Edsger Dijkstra shaped his field from both an engineering and a theoretical perspective. Today, he is best known as the inventor of structured programming, a master of tongue-in-cheek commentary, and a former owner of a Volkswagen van dubbed “the Touring Machine.” Despite what he might have said about object oriented programming, Dijkstra is always a part of Flatiron School lectures.

A Flatiron Alum Learns Web Development to Pay off Student Loans

Like almost 70 percent of college seniors, Flatiron alum and Bronx native Armando Amador graduated with student loan debt and uncertain job prospects.

After several years working in editorial design, Armando wasn’t able to make much progress toward paying off his loans—but he did discover an interest in software engineering. When he found that he was eligible for the NYC Web Development Fellowship, he decided to apply.

After graduation, Armando landed a job at Wizard Development where he is currently pursuing a new passion and earning a salary that will allow him to pay off his student debt in just a few years. 

Although salary shouldn’t be the guiding force behind switching careers, it does make a difference. “Now I have leeway to pay extra on my student loans,” Amador told credit.com. “And I don’t have to sacrifice going out with friends or buying gifts because of payments on my student loans.”

Read the rest of Armando’s story or check out even more Flatiron alumni stories.

Hackers and Theater-Makers: Code as a Creative, Collaborative Medium

Alum, Fog Creek Fellow, and former Lighting Designer Amanda Chang is currently an Instructor in Flatiron School's Web Development Immersive. Now into her new career, Amanda took a moment to reflect on what she's brought with her from her theater days: a collaborative spirit and the desire to create. When I decided to enroll at the Flatiron School and shift my career from theater lighting design to web development, I worried unnecessarily that I would lose my drive to create. In practice, I constantly meet other developers with creative passions. My mentor, who I met through the Fog Creek Fellowship, is also a musician who keeps guitars in his office. One of my current Flatiron School students used to be a curator. The list goes on.

The fact that I've met a surprisingly large number of creative people in the NYC tech community may be explained by an essay written by programmer and writer Paul Graham entitled "Hackers and Painters," which was one of the first readings assigned to me as a Flatiron School student. In his essay, Graham enumerates the similarities between computer programming and art. He explains:

Make Your Data Meaningful: Announcing Introduction to Data Science

We’re so excited to announce the launch of Introduction to Data Science—a two-week course designed to give students the tools to make their data even more meaningful.

About Introduction to Data Science

This part-time course provides students who are already familiar with concepts in data science with the skills to extract meaning from datasets too large for Excel. Over the course of two weekends, students will learn to gain customer insights by analyzing a public dataset with hundreds of thousands of records using the pandas library and Python.

Why Data Science?

In our connected world, the ability to analyze data and communicate insights is an increasingly valuable skillset. Data science positions are on the rise, but finding a great data scientist isn’t easy. It’s difficult enough for recruiting departments to find adept PhDs and talented programmers to fill their open positions—let alone candidates with both a solid understanding of data and the programming schools to match.

We’re so excited to start helping people who are passionate about data get the programming skills they need to meet the realities of today’s job market—and to make their data even more meaningful.

Prerequisites

All Data Science students should feel comfortable using Excel for basic statistics—including concepts such as mean, mode, median, outliers and normal distributions.

Course Details

Tuition is $1,500. Students who are already comfortable with Python do not have to attend the Python portion of the course. These students can contact us at info@flatironschool.com for a discount code.

All courses will be taught in-person at the Flatiron School campus in The Financial District.

Learn more or enroll now!

hbspt.cta.load(69751, 'b3fbe7be-034e-426a-acdb-aa6b51198992');

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio Shares a Flatiron Alum's Story

In a talk at the Ford Foundation, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio shared the story of Flatiron alum George Taveras—a Bronx native who dropped out of college to take care of his family and who now works as a software developer at XO Group. We are honored to be a part of George's story and a part of NYC's efforts to make technology available to all New Yorkers.

Watch the full speech or read more Flatiron Alumni Stories.

From a High School Computer Lab to Makerbot: a Flatiron Alum Shares the Importance of Mentorship for Aspiring Developers

Keith Williams grew up with limited expectations of success. Although he didn't have a computer at home, he did have a lot of people around who supported him through school and guided him into a career in tech. Now a graduate of the NYC Web Development Fellowship and Web Engineer at Markerbot, Keith chatted with us about mentorship and his decision to start programming. Can you share a little bit more about your background? What were you doing before you came to Flatiron School?

I went to NYU Poly, and got a degree in electrical engineering from NYU. After college, I worked as an engineer for five years, and left to become a tech consultant at Accenture. I always wanted to be in computer science but I never really had the opportunity. I went from electrical engineering to tech consulting in the hopes of getting more involved with software—but it didn’t end up happening. By the time I left Accenture, I was ready to just go for it and learn on my own. What made you decide to leave tech consulting and start learning how to program? 

Spotify Names the Chloe Weil Scholarship to Help Flatiron School Women Fund their Education

We’re proud and honored to announce a partnership with Spotify to support women in technology. This popular music platform will offer generous scholarships to our Spring 2015 class—and a paying internship for one Flatiron graduate.

Spotify has generously provided $10,000 in scholarships—nearly $600 per student—to be divided among all of the women in our class. Following graduation, Spotify will interview and hire one paid intern from the group of scholarship recipients. Spotify has named the program the Chloe Weil Scholarship as a memorial to Chloe Weil, an inspiring designer and engineer who took a strong interest in creating opportunities for women in technology. Chloe's path to a technology career wound through art school, a chemistry major and positions at Internet-based companies on both coasts—and when she joined Spotify, Chloe sought challenges that pushed her creatively and required technical exploration and learning.

“We hope the recipients of the Chloe Weil Scholarship use this time to push themselves, study, learn and find their place in an ever expanding tech industry that now more than ever offers opportunities for women with passion to build something they love.”

How to Become a Software Developer: Lessons in Fearlessness and Fortitude from Fog Creek and Flatiron School

Flatiron Alum and Fog Creek Fellow Vaidehi Joshi originally posted this piece on her path from writer to developer in her blog Words and Code. She graduated from Flatiron School in December and has recently accepted a position as a Software Developer at Friends of the Web. There are a lot of scary things out there. To start, there are lions and tigers and bears. But if you go a bit below the surface, that’s where you’ll hit the dark stuff—the kind of stuff that I was forced to confront when I started as a student at The Flatiron School.

How to Get a Job After Graduating From a Programming School

Flatiron alum Kyle Doherty originally posted this article on his blog. He currently works as a Software Engineer at AlphaSights. DISCLAIMER: This is just my opinion based on what got me a job and what my company looks for when we’re evaluating junior candidates.

In the past five months I’ve gone to programming school demo days, career fairs, and other recruiting events to help recruit more junior developers to our team. As a recent grad myself, students ask me what they should focus on post graduation to help them get a job.

The problem, I tell them, is you want to get a job ASAP and there is too much to learn and not enough time to do it in. Generally people advise you to, review everything you’ve learned in the past 9-12 weeks, and then give you 30 other things study…oh yeah, and go to Meetups, ask people to coffee, write blog posts, and work on side projects.

The Flatiron School Partners with Teach for America to Launch the Computer Science Education Fellowship Program

To celebrate the launch of The Computer Science Education Fellowship, Flatiron School's Director of K-12 Programs Lyel Resner discusses the lack of qualified computer science teachers and explains why we've partnered with Teach for America to help great teachers become great CS teachers. We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Teach for America and the Computer Science Education Fellowship. Our instructors will train TFA corps members and alumni to teach Flatiron School’s curriculum in their schools—expanding access to computer science education for all students and helping to address the shortage of computer science education nationwide.

Teaching Teachers Code

Although only one in ten U.S. schools offers computer science courses, educators are increasingly aware of the value this education brings to K-12 students—fluency in a relevant skill set that students can take with them to college and beyond. As pressure mounts to expand and improve their CS curricula, schools are faced with a serious lack of people to actually create and teach the material. There are virtually no teachers who have both the technical knowledge and the classroom ability to meet the skyrocketing demand for CS educators.

To help fill this gap, a few forward-looking organizations are experimenting with bringing engineers into the classroom on a volunteer basis. These organizations are doing important work—but there is so much more to do to bring programming expertise into the classroom.

What Working in Baseball Taught Me about Web Development

Flatiron School Alum and Developer Adam Jonas left his job as a Major League Baseball Scout to pursue a career in software development. Although he thought he left baseball behind him, he found that successful ball players have a few things in common with successful developers—the ability to learn from mistakes, stay consistent, and be professional. In this post, Adam shares what baseball taught him about building software. Before I was a web developer, I spent my time on baseball fields helping teenagers realize their ultimate dream of playing in the Major Leagues. All of them had talent. Somewhere, someone had seen glimpses of it. Cultivating that talent and turning their potential into performance was the primary purpose of my job. Now, four years removed from the game, most of the players I worked with are out of professional baseball. Those who did succeed found a way to endure the grind and adjusted to the game’s emotional and mental demands.

Code History Lesson: Anita Borg

Anita Borg dedicated her career to making the tech industry a better place. Although she was a respected computer scientist, she is given the most credit for her tireless advocacy for and mentorship of women in computing. In honor of her 66th birthday tomorrow, here are three reasons to celebrate her memory.

1. She taught herself how to program

From Deloitte to Google: a Flatiron Alum’s Path to Rediscovering What He Loves About Tech

Before enrolling in Flatiron School, Basar Akyelli was an Electronic Discovery manager at Deloitte. Concerned that his skills were slowly becoming outdated and driven by an enthusiasm for Apple products, he enrolled in Flatiron School’s iOS Development Immersive. Now a Product Manager at Google, Basar spoke with us to share what spurred his career change, and how he rediscovered what he loves about tech.

Tell us a little about your background—what were you doing before applying to Flatiron School?