Dev Bootcamp

Dev Bootcamp was an immersive coding program that turned beginners into job-ready web developers. Founded in 2012 and owned by Kaplan from 2014, it ran campuses across the US, including New York City. In 2017, I worked in admissions at the New York campus, on Wall Street, and hosted its events, helping people answer one question: is coding for me?

The challenge

For a career changer, a bootcamp is a big bet: months of your time, thousands in tuition, and a leap into an industry that can feel like it wasn’t built for you. People needed more than an ad. They needed to see themselves in the people who had already made the switch, and to get straight answers about cost, outcomes and what the work is really like.

What I did

• Explained code in plain language. Object-oriented programming had clicked for me in an evening Python course at Charleston’s CODEcamp, through metaphors like reptile classes and a gumball machine. In admissions, I used the same kind of metaphors to show prospective students that coding is a way of thinking they could learn.
• Told the story in 30 seconds. Coding and innovation are essentially problem-solving, so that became the idea for a 30-second spot to get the word out.
• Answered the practical questions in person. Morning info sessions with a tour of the space; Getting a Return on Your Bootcamp Investment, with alumni and our lending partner Skills Fund on how to finance it; From Finance into Tech with WeWork, where alumni who had made the switch told their stories.
• Brought the industry in. AI 101: Data and Machine Learning with x.ai’s team, and lightning talks from bootcamp graduates across New York.
• Opened up the conversation about who gets to build. With Abernathy, a Black History Month panel on technology as a path to empowerment; with Kenzan, Rethinking Tech Talent, on pipelines and placements; and Culture & Code II in Brooklyn, with leaders from Viacom, BuzzFeed, Prolific Interactive, Haute Hijab and Pixod on how diverse teams build transformational products.

What I took away

While working at Dev Bootcamp, I discovered that “diversity” covers identity and differences of opinion. I learned it by talking with our students, customers and industry partners day in and day out. Great products aren’t built on talent alone; they come from people willing to collaborate and give each other honest feedback.

Dev Bootcamp closed in 2017, but the community outlasted it. Bie Aweh, the career developer who joined our 2017 panels, later came on Megashift to talk about venture capital at HBCUs. And the habit of building events around the real questions people are asking has followed me to every role since.