The Latest on our CUNY Java Bootcamp

Our first on-site university Java bootcamp at City University of New York (aka CUNY) is about 1/3 of the way through the 12-week program. I figured this would be a good time to check in with their trainer, Patrick Walsh, to find out how the class was doing (and if there had been any meltdowns – it’s pretty intense). I’m happy to report… no meltdowns!

A little background for those of you not familiar with how this works. Revature and CUNY have partnered to offer their graduates a free coding bootcamp where they can learn the next-generation, enterprise-level and in-demand coding skills. Admission is pretty selective. This particular group (or “batch” as we say) are all computer science or IT-related majors, although not with any real-world experience. Yet. They attend class from 9-5 every workday for 12 weeks. They learn a variety of skills in addition to the basic language they are learning. Once they’ve successfully completed the bootcamp, we place them in entry-level positions with our clients. Whew.

This class of 15 is focusing on Java and DevOps. In case you weren’t aware, DevOps has become a critical skill for every software developer (but more on that in a later post). It’s a challenging curriculum, and according to Patrick, he is seeing scores off the charts from these folks! Based on how they are doing, Patrick says, “their skills are not going to go stale anytime soon,” a key challenge for a lot of developers as technology keeps moving at the speed of light.

An unusual dynamic in this class is, according to Patrick, since many of the associates know one another from around campus – primarily Queens College – their comfort level and communications skills are extremely strong, leading to great collaboration on projects.

The next CUNY bootcamp at Queens College, slated to begin mid-February, is just about filled.  As for this batch, we can’t wait for their completion to see where they end up to start their careers in software development.