Fifty enthusiastic students formed the first cohort of the GW Coding Boot Camp by starting class the week of January 30. The students divide into two groups of 25 each with one group attending class on Monday and Wednesday nights and the other on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The two groups then come together for class on Saturdays during the day.
The 24-week intensive program in web development is a great fit for working individuals who are looking for advancement within their current jobs and also for career changers who have decided to enter a new field. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, web development is one of the fastest growing careers with a projected 20% growth rate by 2020.
The Boot Camp, launched at GW’s Arlington Graduate Education Center, offers a full-stack curriculum which is based on the most in-demand technologies specific to the Washington, DC market. It includes HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Java, Bootstrap, jQuery, Node.js, MongoDB, MySQL and more in order to prepare students as proficient frontend and backend developers.
Monday/Wednesday Class Section of Coding Boot Camp Students
Additionally, career planning services and job placement assistance is a major feature of the program which is achieved through having a dedicated career director and also interactions with a network of local employers and current web developers.
For this program, the College of Professional Studies (CPS) has partnered with Trilogy Education Services (TES) which has similar partnerships with 18 prestigious universities all across the country and is one of the leading companies for coding boot camps. “Today, more than ever before, knowing how to code is a form of literacy just like the ability to read and write. We’re thrilled to be working with George Washington University, and are excited about helping students in the Washington D.C. area accelerate their careers in the Digital Economy,” says Trilogy’s CEO and founder Dan Sommer.
In his remarks about the launch of the Boot Camp, Dr. Ali Eskandarian, Dean of CPS and Virginia Science and Technology Campus, said: “I am excited about this new partnership with TES, as it would allow us to address some of the important workforce needs of our region and also to achieve our aim of establishing high-quality substantive learning experiences that can be completed within a reasonable time frame.”
CPS exercises full control over the curriculum and the hiring of instructors. Dr. Sara Hooshangi, Director of the Integrated Information, Science & Technology program, oversees the academic content and quality of the boot camp.
CPS and Trilogy are in the planning stages of launching a second part-time cohort and also a three-month full-time program with daytime classes during the working week.