Students in UR Coding Boot Camp's inaugural cohort graduate after demonstrating skills for regional employers

June 5, 2018

In October 2017, the University of Richmond School of Professional & Continuing Studies (SPCS) partnered with Trilogy Education Services to launch UR Coding Boot Camp, a 24-week professional education program that prepares students to become full-stack web developers.

About six months later, on April 19, 2018, we hosted local employers for our inaugural Demo Day, a networking event that connects Coding Boot Camp students with local hiring managers and other professionals in the Richmond technology community. Students used the opportunity to showcase their final projects for meaningful feedback.

According to student success manager Yuri Tuppince, Demo Day gives employers an opportunity to “act as interviewers who ask challenging, real-world questions about student projects. They want to know which technologies were used, challenges encountered during the development process, overall project management and ideas for further development.”

The goal for students is to demonstrate competency with concepts covered in the curriculum and on-the-job skills.

Representatives from the following companies attended Demo Day: Collabera, CoStar Group, Soft Tech Consulting, Connexus Secure, Authentic, Virginia Commonwealth University and Universal Leaf Tobacco. Employer representatives expressed appreciation for the opportunity to see students’s talent and skills showcased, prepared to receive resumes and applications from the students following Demo Day, and looked forward to the next cohort’s Demo Day.

Just two days after Demo Day, on April 21, SPCS celebrated the 27 graduating students in the inaugural cohort during an awards ceremony and reception. Dean Jamelle Wilson and Senior Program Manager Garrett Stern presented professional certificates to the graduates while friends and family members joined the celebration.

Of the 27 program graduates, four received employment offers prior to the conclusion of Coding Boot Camp, and another four had already been hired by Trilogy itself to serve as tutors and teaching assistants for future Richmond cohorts. Among those who received employment offers prior to graduation is Victor Canas, who developed an eCommerce website for a paid client while enrolled in Coding Boot Camp. He accepted a full-time position with Dominion Energy as a Network Programmer Analyst.

Members of the inaugural graduating cohort range in age from 21 to 63 with an average age just over 33. Three quarters of the students started the program fully or partially employed. Reasons for enrolling in UR Coding Boot Camp included beginning a brand new career (for recent college grads), switching careers, better supporting their families, learning new and updated coding languages, taking advantage of promotional opportunities with current employer and finishing something they’s previously started.

Since the inaugural cohort started in October 27, four new cohort have started the program: two cohorts started the 24-week program in January, and two additional cohorts started the 24-week program on April 23, just two days after the inaugural cohort graduated.

To learn more about UR Coding Boot Camp, visit codingbootcamp.richmond.edu/learn.

And congratulations to these graduates of our inaugural cohort of UR Coding Boot Camp!

  • Nikki Aaron
  • Jared Barnum
  • Tristan Benedict-Hall
  • John Blackwell
  • Aaron Brinkley
  • Victor Canas
  • Zachary Carter
  • Michael Clautice
  • Nicole Clements
  • Aaron Cross
  • Andrew Eaton
  • David Friend, Jr.
  • Olivia Garrett
  • Brittany Gillespie
  • Mary Hall
  • Colin Henderson
  • John Kim
  • Jessica Leigh
  • Rob McCracken
  • Peter Norman
  • John Rodriquez
  • Jared Ross
  • Jordan Shear
  • Syed Shehzad
  • Kevin Surmacewicz
  • Corey Vaughan
  • Steve Zinski