We Can Code IT Pre Bootcamp

We Can Code IT is committed to solving the lack of representation of minorities and underrepresented groups in technology. This includes those who identify as Black and African American, LatinX, Native American, women, Veterans and members of LGBTQ+ community.  

Two of the biggest barriers for individuals belonging to underrepresented groups and communities, from considering technical training are a lack of previous exposure to foundational technical skills and a lack of confidence in their own abilities. Our solution to this problem is the Pre bootcamp. Delivered virtually, providing 27 hours of hands-on exposure to coding over a two week period, the Pre bootcamp awakens self-belief and instills confidence in students. If scaled, our solution can enable students from marginalized communities to gain digital literacy and coding skills that they can carry forward into advanced software development training and career pathways or pursue other occupational roles in a digital economy. 

Inequities adversely impact digital inclusion of minorities and certain groups. We Can Code IT strives to increase their representation in the tech space. According to: https://www.beamjobs.com/diversity/racial-diversity-in-tech, “Hispanic/Latinx and Black people are the most under-represented in tech relative to their representation in the US. While Hispanic/Latinx make up 18% of the US population, they only account for 8% of employees in tech in our data. Black people make up 13% of the US population but only 5% of employees in tech”. Lack of resources and confidence to pursue tech training, due to exclusion from the tech sector, are some factors.  In 2018, We Can Code IT received a grant from the Cleveland Mayor’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, to help residents from low income, minority neighborhoods, attend our full bootcamp. A vast majority of those who enrolled for our full stack bootcamp dropped out from the 14-22 week program. Upon reviewing the data, we found students who did well didn’t have higher aptitude for programming, but rather, stronger tech skills. In response, we designed the Pre bootcamp to help students gain the foundation and confidence prior to entering our full stack bootcamp.

Our solution is called the ‘Pre bootcamp’. We designed the Pre bootcamp to awaken and instill confidence in students who may be interested in attending our full stack bootcamp but lack the foundation and confidence to go through an immersive 14 weeks (full time) or 22 weeks (part-time) experience, which can be quite nerve wracking for someone new to the field. The Pre bootcamp takes place virtually every month and consists of 27 hours of instruction spread out over two weeks or 9 days, 3 hours each evening from 6 to 9 pm. This timeframe was chosen to accommodate a student’s work schedule and give them adequate exposure to not just learn the basics of programming but see for themselves if a career in software development is something they would like to seriously pursue. Through this program students learn the following skills: computational thinking,  javascript, CSS, HTML to build a simple app or a chatbot with the help of an instructor. 

The target population whose lives we are working to address are those considered underrepresented in technology and identify as Black or African American, LatinX, Native American, women, Veterans and members of the LGBTQ+ community.  We are working with several local, regional and national organizations to help their constituents access our software development training program. 

We have created some programs to attract these individuals. They are as follows:

1. A monthly free virtual session on ‘overcoming Imposter Syndrome & why a career in tech is great for you’.

2. A free monthly 6 hour virtual session spread across three days, two hours each day on ‘Intro to code series’ to help individuals get a taste for coding and see if coding is for them.

3. Our Pre bootcamp provides a deeper dive to help individuals who are interested but lack confidence in their own potential and ability to pursue our full stack/ immersive bootcamp. We have designed the Pre bootcamp to be cost free to a student with financial need and supported by a community based organization, if that student is a constituent of that organization.  We Can Code ITs Pre bootcamp was specifically created to serve the needs of low income residents of Cleveland neighborhoods through the Mayor’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative grant. Based on our initial failure and the realization that prospective students faced a number of  concerns that were preventing them from moving into the technology arena, especially lack of confidence. The risk felt too great. Many expressed fears in entering an entirely unfamiliar industry, particularly when their previous exposure to these topics was limited.  For most, signing on for our full-stack bootcamp meant leaving a current job, risking their family’s livelihood, to enter an industry, subject matter, and physical space that was unfamiliar to them.  All before they knew whether they would enjoy coding, or succeed at it. A more realistic pathway was critically needed.

To address this issue WCCI created a curriculum that addressed the needs of those students who had minimal computer skills and were unsure of their ability to succeed in the web development world.  The program, referred to as pre-bootcamp,  consists of 27 hours of instruction. Each student is guided through the development of a web application.  It encompasses keyboarding skills and familiarization with javascript, cascading style sheets and HTML, the basic building blocks for designing web screens. The successful completion of this free cohort provides a firm foundation for those who go on to attend the WCCI full bootcamp.  However, if a graduate of the pre-bootcamp chooses to not attend full bootcamp, they will bring additional computer skills to their future pursuits whether it be manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, food service or administrative tasks.  The student gains valuable skills regardless of their choice of future path. We are also planning to enhance the value of the Pre bootcamp by providing students with a digital badge, a list of digital roles, a mini career services workshop and additional training resources related to other non-coding tech areas.

WCCI presents monthly pre-bootcamp cohorts of 27 hours in duration.  Pre-bootcamps are being presented virtually over a 2 consecutive week period, during COVID. This has given us the ability to scale our program to other cities and states nationally. We welcome this opportunity to bring more people into the tech space who have been left behind.

1. Full Stack bootcamp: Our modern, high quality software education meets Industry standards for in-demand software development skills. Our top notch and experienced instructors teach coding in a project-based environment using hands-on methodologies. 

Our stringent curriculum standards and accountability result in 89% of our career seeking graduates getting employed within six months of graduation, earning an average annual starting salary of 56K. A great ROI on a 14 or 22 week program. We are close to 59% when it comes to meeting our student population diversity goals. We Can Code ITs vision is to graduate 10,000 students by 2030 with 70% considered underrepresented in technology. This includes those who identify as Black or African American, LatinX, Native American, women, Veterans and members of the LGBTQ+ community.  

Besides gaining solid programming skills through 315 hours of coding and project development, Students gain soft skills with the help of our career services team.  Students are thoroughly prepared in job search strategies, resume development, LinkedIn optimization and networking strategies, interviewing skills and more to land jobs with some of the best and largest employers of IT talent, including Fortune 500 companies.

We Can Code IT is a top rated coding bootcamp five years in a row (2017-2021) by Course Report, the leading authority on coding bootcamps. 

We Can Code IT is one of the only two bootcamps recognized by the State of Ohio to be eligible to get the Income Share Agreement through the Ohio to Work program from Jobs Ohio. 

We are constantly seeking grants and scholarships from state, local and community partners to subsidize education for our target populations, many of whom come from economically disadvantaged communities and backgrounds due to historical systemic and structural racism. We often plough money back into scholarships from our limited revenue and resources.

Our solution aims to help individuals from low income backgrounds, minorities and groups considered underrepresented in tech gain access to digital literacy and tech education, specifically programming. We Can Code ITs  Pre bootcamp helps them develop digital and tech skills to participate and thrive in a digital economy. Our solution focuses on building confidence in students by teaching them coding in a gradual, step-by-step manner until they are fully confident and ready to enroll in the full stack bootcamp. We take the necessary time and care to help them feel comfortable in an inclusive environment where they see others like themselves and feel welcomed. Our aim is to teach full stack programming skills to help them land a job within six months of graduation. We have a dedicated career services team to provide one-on-one and group coaching on job search and networking strategies, soft skill development, resume and interviewing skills, and several employer meet and greet opportunities. 

The Pre bootcamp is a fairly new program at We Can Code IT. In 2020, 73% of students attending pre bootcamp, graduated. We had a lot of students who enrolled for the Pre bootcamp funded through The Cleveland Mayor’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative or the NTI grant. NTI paid for 50% of the bootcamp tuition after Pre bootcamp which is why we had so many students. In 2020  33% students who enrolled into the Pre bootcamp, went on to pursue the full bootcamp.

Pre-bootcamp has been offered to students for over a year now, and has produced excellent results in terms of helping students prepare for future career goals and training.  Primarily, these efforts have remained in Ohio, with a focus specifically on Cleveland and Columbus.  As we know that the challenges that pre-bootcamp addresses are not unique to Ohio, we hope to expand these efforts nationwide.

Currently there are two popular paths towards a career in software development; traditional college or software development bootcamps.  Unfortunately, both of these solutions leave a large gap in providing opportunities for many students who have not had the same access to tech equipment or training as their peers due inequities in our society.  Previously, students who may have had the capacity or talent to succeed in this industry, but may not have had the access or the same exposure to technology in their secondary education, were left behind.  Pre-bootcamp is innovative in that it is designed to reach these populations specifically.  Not only does this program help fill the gaps in training and access, it also takes into consideration other challenges that are unique to these communities. Our community outreach, advocacy and implementation always include partners that are well trusted in the communities we serve, virtually and, for face to face sessions held in their neighborhoods.  This is meant to acknowledge that students are already stepping outside of their comfort zone to learn something new, in an industry where they may not know anyone, and see few who look like them.  Students are also exposed to career planning topics, as well as current software developers that can understand their experiences and serve as mentors.  

We have served 95 students through our Pre bootcamp. In one year we hope to serve 150 students and in five years we hope to serve a 1000 students.

We are measuring success by determining the number of students who successfully complete the program.  While we also measure the success of those graduates in our full stack bootcamp, a large part of our goals surround helping students gain the exposure they need to determine if this is the right career path for them.  Students who complete pre-bootcamp, but choose to apply those skills to a different career are still a success!  As we are able to scale this solution, we'll track our success based on both completion of all students enrolled in pre-bootcamp, as well as completion rates in full-stack bootcamp for those who choose to continue.

We have 6 full time staff plus Instructors who work on our solution team:

Our Founder and CEO, Director of Campuses and Compliance, Director of Education, Director of Admissions, Director of Career Services and Business and Community Development Manager.

We Can Code IT (WCCI) was born out of a vision by Melanie McGee, the founder and CEO, that embraced the fact that large groups within our population were being excluded from the lucrative and rewarding field of information technology.  In 2014, Mel answered a calling. Women kept asking her to teach them to code so they too could gain lucrative skills and the ability to create technological solutions to problems. She replied with a resounding, "Yes!" After over 20 years as a developer, application architect, CTO, educator, and entrepreneur, Mel knew she could help them gain skills and financial stability through technology, and We Can Code IT was born. 

We began organically, filling an educational need for those typically left out of tech, and have been growing ever since. We have cracked the code, inverting the number of women, People of Color, and low-income technology graduates from those traditionally found in college computer science classrooms. Today, we are graduating hundreds of students annually through our inclusion-focused coding boot camps, triple that of most university CS programs. We want to bring this same success to your constituents starting with our Pre-Bootcamp Education Program. 

An aggressive vision of diversity and inclusion created the mission for WCCI to champion social equity through technology.  WCCI’s vision is to graduate 10,000 students by 2030 with 70% being underrepresented in technology.  The underrepresented 70% are those who identify as black or African American, LatinX, Native American, women, and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community.  

We Can Code IT is a very diverse and inclusive organization. We attract individuals who have a passion and commitment to helping individuals across  communities through our mission, vision and our core values. As a team, we have a combined experience of 70+ years in Software development, technology education, higher education, admissions, career services, job placement, workforce development and working in the non-profit arena. 

One of our most important Core Values at We Can Code IT is Championing Diversity and Inclusion.  This ties into our mission of Social Equity Through Technology Education in regards to providing opportunities for our students, but also in regards to our team.  MIT's principle and definitions of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity are at the core of our hiring practices and how we work with our team.  Policies for both students and team members are focused on creating an environment that is welcoming for all, and every team member is heavily involved in steering that, whether through frequent surveys and requests for input, or through a variety of channels that allow them to share ideas or concerns openly, or privately depending on their comfort level.  Each of our 7 Core Values (Championing Diversity and Inclusion, Do the Right Thing, Embracing Agility, Strive to Understand, Own Your Own Stuff, We Mean Business, and Be the Best at What We Do) help us to build, and maintain a diverse, equitable, and inclusive team.