Lima Platoon

Lima Platoon Begins Their Coding Journey

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On May 4, Code Platoon welcomed Lima Platoon – its 12th Full-time cohort. Seventeen students are part of the cohort.

During the first week of class, Lima students tackled the fundamentals of Python and Javascript. They also covered pair-programming, unit testing, and a workshop on giving and receiving feedback. They also completed several coding challenges.

Due to the COVID-19 virus, Lima is starting off as an all-remote class. The first in Code Platoon history. Lead Instructor Tom Prete, a Marine Veteran and Instructor Noa Heinrich, an AmeriCorp graduate, are leading the group of Veterans, Military Spouses, and transitioning servicemen.

“We are looking forward to this cohort becoming part of the wonderful Code Platoon community,” said Noa. “I can’t wait to see just how far the students will go as they learn more about software development and find careers in the growing technology sector.”

Over the course of the 14-week, high-intensity Bootcamp, students will spend 60-80 hours per week in lectures, coding challenges, and career-development programs. Career-development and job placement are key components of the Code Platoon program.

Students will also develop and present a personal project and a group programming project prior to graduation in August.

Join us in welcoming Lima platoon and wishing them well on their coding journey!

Brenna Koss is Code Platoon’s Development and Operations Coordinator. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina Greensboro in Political Science and French. In her free time, Brenna loves to travel and spend time with friends and family. Follow Brenna on LinkedIn.

When Grit and Opportunity Meet: a new programmer’s journey

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I think I can summarize the majority of my Code Platoon experience just by explaining my individual project: unlimited potential, ever-present help, and a community that cares.

For me, it was my personal project where I finally felt like a real programmer.  When I started Code Platoon, I had little experience, and the pace very quickly started to make me nervous if I’d be able to keep up.  But there was one thing I didn’t properly account for at the beginning, and that was the support of the instructors and my fellow classmates.

I knew I wanted to do something that would be challenging, unique, and fun.  After a slew of ideas that sometimes lasted about as long as it took to come up with the idea, I finally had it.  I was going to make a digital game of Hot Potato that used each player’s phone as the controller via texting.  Now smart people plan everything out first; overly excited people like me recklessly jump in head-first.

Since the player interfaces with the game through texting, I knew I’d have to be able to figure this out for anything else to even be possible.  So everything started with this, and I had no idea what I was doing.  The downside to wanting to do something unique is you don’t have a working solution you can easily reference.  After scouring tutorials (and a lot of trial and error), I finally had it working, and you’d swear I just cured cancer!  It did one thing, and I couldn’t tell enough people about it.

The real excitement was watching this program grow from nothing.  As I kept adding new commands for my program to be able to understand incoming texts and to respond in kind, it was like watching a child learning how to speak.  My program was growing before my eyes, getting ever smarter and ever more adaptable.   The more it was able to do, the more I wanted to make it do.  The more situations it could respond to, the more edge cases I wanted it to be ready for.

As my project kept growing, my allotted sleep kept diminishing, because I never wanted to stop working.  Meals became protein bars because they had the smallest time-commitment.  Everything became a race to see how much I could make my project do before running out of time.

From esoteric host-player functions to being able to connect my backend to my front in real-time via Django Channels, I ended up with a project that I was truly proud of.  It really felt like my personal thesis.  By the time it came to present my project, there were way too many features than I’d have ever had time to explain.  But I knew what it could do, and for me, that was all that mattered in fostering my actual love of coding.  Before coding was something I knew I was able to do, now it’s something I want to do.

Here’s where I need to bring things back to Code Platoon. What I didn’t explain was what allowed me to get to the finish line, and my personal drive and lack of sleep was only a small part – the community was the rest.  I had support from every possible angle.  My fellow students cheered me on, anybody I reached out to for help, including instructors and teaching assistants, responded without hesitation.  Everyone supported everyone.  I hate to casually throw around a word like “magical”, but no regular word quite fits.  Thank you, Code Platoon, for a magical time!

Kenneth Malley is a 15 year Air Force Veteran. He graduated Code Platoon in April 2020 as part of Kilo Platoon.

Life after Graduation

Preparing for Life After Graduation

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Motivation. Strength. Resilience. These character traits are vital to success in a coding Bootcamp. They also provide the foundation for a successful career in software development. As the Career and Partnership Lead for Code Platoon, my goal is to help every student combine their individual character traits with their new technical skill set and find their dream job!

My role is dedicated to one outcome — collaboratively working with our alumni to help them get their first job after Code Platoon. I am a bit biased but that is the coolest part of joining Code Platoon. You get a career coach whose sole function is to identify job opportunities and help you secure them.

Resume building, interest and skill-based job sourcing, interview preparation, networking, and career coaching are important aspects of any career services program. The career placement success of Code Platoon stands out because of our passion for developing a pure connection with each student. The connection is built on consistent engagement and accountability, which are vital to any working relationship.

Our career readiness journey actually begins while you are still in class. We connect with each student weekly to best understand their career goals, strengths, and areas of opportunity. This allows us to develop a customized plan of attack for their upcoming job search, immediately upon graduation. It is my priority to spend time listening, learning, and understanding your goals and expectations, and establishing a respectful and trusting team approach.

Through weekly on-call support including video check-ins, personalized job search assessments, and one-on-one career readiness workshops, Code Platoon is committed to enhancing your candidacy as a software engineer. We are focused on fostering a genuine support system that will always be in your corner, helping you navigate this new career path

Job searches can be hard, especially in a shifting economy. My priority, along with the team at Code Platoon, is to remove that barrier of entry for each of our students. If you have any questions about the career readiness and job placement parts of our program, reach out to me! I’m available at rich@codeplatoon.org

Rich Luby has more than fourteen years of experience in disability and inclusion training, initiative development, and workforce development for healthcare organizations, educational institutions, and Fortune 500 companies. Rich recently leveraged these experiences to build out career development programming for national startups in tech education. He leads with an empathetic nature and attains results through collaborative approaches. Follow Rich on LinkedIn. 

Kilo Platoon Graduation

Congratulations Kilo Platoon!

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Code Platoon is excited to congratulate Kilo Platoon on their graduation. On April 17th, 20 students finished the program making it our biggest graduating class yet! After 14 weeks of intensive training and study, students’ work culminated with this moment.

As part of our graduation ceremony, four teams of students presented group projects featuring demos of their original applications. This is where the rubber meets the road as these teams put their coding knowledge to the test. Over a period of two weeks, groups collaboratively worked on creating one really impressive app. Final projects showcased Code Platoon students’ well-rounded knowledge of full-stack software development, strong team working skills, and engaging presentation abilities.

For the first time in Code Platoon’s history, students experienced an entire graduation ceremony online. Over 80 viewers composed of family, friends, alumni, and employers hopped on their computers and tuned in to watch Kilo Platoon’s graduation live stream via Zoom and YouTube. The online audience enjoyed an interactive experience as they posted questions and supportive comments throughout the presentations.

Most of these graduates will continue in their journeys with paid software development internships coordinated by Code Platoon, launching them into their coding careers. We are excited to see the amazing work these graduates will do  in their new positions, adding to the powerful legacy of the Code Platoon alumni network.

“Kilo students were resilient and adapted to the additional stresses from COVID-19 without much friction,” said Tom Prete, Code Platoon’s lead instructor. “I was constantly impressed by how they were able to expand and push their knowledge to create amazing personal projects and exquisite group projects.”

Congratulations Kilo Platoon and best of luck on your next coding chapter!

Brenna Koss is Code Platoon’s Development and Operations Coordinator. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina Greensboro in Political Science and French. In her free time, Brenna loves to travel and spend time with friends and family. Follow Brenna on LinkedIn.

Code Platoon Feature

GUEST BLOG: FROM MILITARY LIFE TO SOFTWARE PRO: A CHICAGO CODING BOOT CAMP’S IMPACT

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Today, uncertainty frightens the American population as many find themselves either newly unemployed or at high risk of losing employment due to COVID-19.

Although before the global pandemic, the feelings of uncertainty and insecurity were known all too well by Air Force veteran Gary Coffey and wife Karin Matsuyama when Coffey left the service in 2017. Despite having managed million-dollar projects and having worked as a Linux system administrator while in the Air Force, the only job Coffey could find once leaving was as a mattress salesman.

“It was definitely a big difference going from this job with hard problems to solve,” said Coffey. “To this job that was pretty much sitting in a store all day, trying to talk people into buying mattresses.”

Back then, Coffey was just one of the many underemployed veterans across the United States. In a study by Linkedin, 2017 data showed that veterans were 38% more likely to be underemployed compared to non-veterans. Additionally, current U.S. Department of Labor data shows a 3.5% veteran unemployment rate. And when it comes to military spouses, the unemployment and underemployment rates skyrocket to 30% and 56% respectively according to Blue Star Families.

Noticing this gap and that both Coffey and Matsuyama both wanted to move on to something bigger, Matsuyama researched for ways in which the couple could take steps to find the careers they felt they desired and deserved. Eventually, she came across Code Platoon.

Code Platoon is a nonprofit, 14-week coding boot camp initially created to chip away at high veteran unemployment statistics. Today, the program provides veterans and military spouses with the opportunity to affordably obtain job-ready skills and join one of the most lucrative and growing industries to date. With 82% of graduates gaining employment within 180 days of program completion, students emerge equipped with top-notch training and the network necessary for a transition from military to civilian life as, in most cases, full-stack software developers.

Founder and CEO Rodrigo Levy began Code Platoon with this goal.

“I had an experience with the coding boot camp model and I saw how effective it was in giving in-demand skills to deeply motivated learners in a very compressed time frame,” said Levy. “There was no one out there offering this type of training in a nonprofit scenario, offering strong scholarships with a tie to the veteran community.”

Coffey and Matsuyama are now both alumni of Code Platoon. They are also full-time software developers, almost debt-free and new owners of a three-flat apartment building they plan to rent out as they grow their real estate portfolio. The couple currently works from home due to COVID-19 and will continue to do so for its duration.

The post FROM MILITARY LIFE TO SOFTWARE PRO: A CHICAGO CODING BOOT CAMP’S IMPACT originally appeared on April 10, 2020, on the Medill Reports, Code Platoon thanks Anika Exum and the Editors at Medill Reports for their permission to repost this blog.

Code Platoon Alumnus Robert Jones Gives PSA on CAN TV

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Code platoon is always eager to find new outlets to share our mission. We are thrilled to announce that this past December, CAN TV featured Code Platoon on their channel.  CAN TV is an independent nonprofit established in 1983 as the public’s space on cable television free of commercials, filters, and censors. They have five local channels where you can see the diversity of people and ideas that reflect Chicago, including voices often excluded from the mainstream media.

Code Platoon alumnus Robert Jones spoke on CAN TV’s “Putting People First” segment. Before Code Platoon, Robert served over five years in the US Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. Robert joined India Platoon in 2019 and excelled in the program. After graduation he went on to intern as a software engineer at ShipBob, Inc.

On CAN TV Robert shared about the employment problems veterans face saying how “unemployment rates for young post-9//11 veterans is well below the labor statics average.” He then shares about Code Platoon’s life-changing program and how it is meeting the needs of post 9/11 veterans. It is an honor to be highlighted as one of the important organizations reflecting the city of Chicago’s collective mission of serving the veteran community. Thanks CAN TV for shining the spotlight on our impacting work!

Click here to see the video

Thank you Robert for being an amazing Code Platoon advocate and congratulations on being our alumni of the month!

Brenna Koss is Code Platoon’s Development and Operations Coordinator. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina Greensboro in Political Science and French. In her free time, Brenna loves to travel and spend time with friends and family. Follow Brenna on LinkedIn.

top 3 questions

Top 3 Questions Asked by Code Platoon Candidates

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We get a lot of questions here at Code Platoon about what we do, how people sign up, and what our program is like. But there are a few questions that stand out as being the most common, so we figured addressing those might clear up a few points of confusion.

So here are our Top 3 most commonly asked questions, answered as simply as possible.

“I have no coding experience. Will this prevent me from attending Code Platoon?”

The short answer is no, absolutely not! But let’s offer a little bit more than that as a response.

As many instructors of our program have noted, the number one skill needed to succeed in our program is, interestingly enough, the same skill that was highly valuable in the military: a strong desire and willingness to learn a new skill!

We would rather have an inexperienced person with little skill, but a strong willingness to work hard and learn, than someone who knows everything and is lazy. Coincidentally, so would most of the employers we work with. If you have the work ethic and desire to teach yourself something new, you can do this.

“I’m a recently-separated veteran—how do I pay for Code Platoon?”

That’s one of our most common questions, and there are a few answers, each of which will be provided with further links for more information.

Option one: Our first recommendation is to look into VET-TEC, a pilot program from the VA designed to help veterans learn specialized training in technical schools like ours. Think of it as a GI Bill for coding bootcamps, but better. We are a VET-TEC affiliated program, and it works great for what we do (and it doesn’t take away from your GI Bill).

Option two: If you are attending in person, the GI Bill is still a great way to go.

Option three: Perhaps the trickiest to figure out, but one that is still worth considering, is Voc Rehab (Vocational Rehabilitation through the VA). Schedule an appointment with a Voc Rehab counselor and see if you qualify. We have at least one alumni who successfully used this program.

Option four: If for some reason you do not qualify for any of the above options, we have several scholarships available which very often will cover most, or all, of the tuition – one of which you are sure to qualify for.

“What kind of jobs are available after I complete Code Platoon?”

We train students to be full-stack software developers, which is a decidedly in-demand area of the job market right now. Visit our Outcomes page for more information, but the down-and-dirty facts right now are that the median salary of our graduates within 6 months is about $65,000 per year, and it rises to around $85,000 within two years.

The future looks good for software development, and we prepare you to start a career that takes full advantage of that.

Do you have a question that wasn’t among the top three? Then send it in and we’ll address it with you personally and maybe turn that into a blog post in the near future!

Greg Drobny is a former Airborne Infantryman, PSYOP Team Chief, political consultant, professional mil blogger, and is Code Platoon’s Student Outreach Coordinator. He holds a BA in history, a Masters of Science in organizational psychology, and is currently pursuing an MA in history. He is married with four children who keep him more than slightly busy and is passionate about helping veterans find their paths in life and develop the skills needed to pursue their goals.

Are you a good fit for Coding Bootcamp?

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Many people are considering jobs in the high tech industry. And to get there, rather than pursuing traditional computer science degrees, more and more people are enrolling in Coding Bootcamps – intensive courses in programming, design, and data science.

Immersive Coding Bootcamps give students the opportunity to learn by doing in a collaborative environment. Many hours are spent coding and applying the principles taught in the lectures; working on teams to solve complex code challenges that simulate real-world work experience.  This type of environment has resulted in some coding bootcamps having demonstrated placement rates comparable to top four-year colleges.

But are these programs right for you? We’ve come up with three “Are you ready..” questions for you to ask yourself and three “Right fit” questions to ask about a Bootcamp to determine if a program works for you.

Three “Are you ready…” Questions to ask yourself if a Bootcamp is a good fit for you.

  1. Are you ready for an accelerated, high-intensity learning experience? If the idea of learning the intricacies of Full-stack development for 10 to 12 hours a day for 15 weeks sounds a bit crazy, that’s because it is. You have to be mentally prepared to challenge yourself in a Full-time learning environment. (Sound a little intimidating? Consider Evening and Weekend options.)
  2. Are you ready to make a commitment to coding?  There will be moments when it’s going to be much easier to give up than to continue. If in the back of your mind you’re thinking, “It is not that serious,” you may have already sabotaged yourself.
  3. Are you ready to learn with others? One of the best reasons to attend a Coding Bootcamp is that you get to learn and network with a bunch of committed people who are also smart, hard-working, and dedicated to becoming skilled software developers. A huge benefit to the Coding Bootcamp model is that many employers will require you to pair program, or at the very least collaborate with other team members to complete projects and resolve issues, so a collaborative education will prepare you well for the workplace.

Three “Right fit” questions to ask about a Bootcamp program.

  1. Do they provide internships and career placement assistance? Many Coding Bootcamps do not, or their placement assistance is weak and lacks connections with employers – most particularly connections within the IT department and HR/hiring managers of employers.
  2. Is the Course Curriculum the right fit for your career needs and what employers are looking for? You want to ensure that when you are done you have the skills employers are seeking. Comprehensive Bootcamps focus on Full-stack development. Most sophisticated web applications can be thought of as being composed of two parts: the front-end, and the back-end. The front-end of the stack revolves around what the end-user sees, which is the web page. HTML, CSS, and Javascript are some of the important technologies which are used to build and manipulate web pages. React.js is a very powerful library for working on the front-end. The back-end of the stack is where data gets stored, manipulated, and analyzed. Our tools-of-the-trade for backend development is Python and SQL.
  3. Is the Bootcamp the right fit for you? A good Bootcamp will pre-screen you and require you to pass an assessment to determine your readiness level for success in their program. Otherwise, you could end up in a program that is far too intense and “above your head”; a terrible situation to find yourself in given the cost in both time and money.

Being able to answer these questions is a great start to deciding if a Coding Bootcamp is a good fit for you.

Code Platoon was created to connect members of the Veteran community with career opportunities in the technology field while helping to facilitate the transition into civilian life.  Code Platoon teaches Veterans and military spouses marketable skills that leverage core competencies, transforming them into software developers through an immersive, hands­-on, educational process and paid internship program. Over 80% of people who attend a Code Platoon Bootcamp find a job within six months with an average salary increase of $25k.

Traditional boot camps cost $10,000 or more. Code Platoon’s sponsors and corporate partners help to make this an affordable option for veterans and military spouses through scholarships. Code Platoon also is also GI Bill and VET TEC approved for eligible applicants. Code Platoon is a Department of Defense approved Skillbridge program, in accordance with DODI 1322.29 and NAVADMIN 222/15.

Jim Hennessey is Code Platoon’s Director of Marketing. Jim brings a strong background in no-profit marketing and start-up enterprises to the mission of Code Platoon. Jim is a graduate of Clemson University and currently lives in Chicago. Follow Jim on LinkedIn.

skillbridge

Code Platoon part of DoD Skillbridge program for transitioning service members

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Code Platoon is a Department of Defense approved Skillbridge program, in accordance with DODI 1322.29 and NAVADMIN 222/15.

Code Platoon provides transitioning service members with an opportunity to develop in-demand job skills while still serving. Specifically, service members who participate via SkillBridge can use their last 6 months of active duty to participate in Code Platoon’s Full-time Coding Bootcamp.

In addition to the accelerated, high intensity, 14-week Coding Bootcamp with small classes focused on hands-on experience, Code Platoon offers a variety of career enhancement opportunities. These include career planning and job search strategies and skills-building, with resume writing and interview techniques. Code Platoon also provides interaction with tech industry leaders and a competitive internship program with our hiring partners.

The Skillbridge program is open to military service members who are within six months of separation or retirement. Participants take part in the Code Platoon Full-time remote program or may attend In Person with command approval. This means you’ll be able to take the program from wherever you live now or attend a live setting at our Chicago classroom.

Code Platoon provides a special full scholarship for the remote program for students who attend through SkillBridge. Partial Scholarships or the GI Bill can be used for the In-person program.

Eligibility:

The Code Platoon Skillbridge program is open to military service members who are within six months of separation or retirement. It is also open to recently transitioned veterans.

ACTIVE DUTY SERVICE MEMBERS MUST:

  • Secure command approval to participate.
  • Complete the Code Platoon Step One application. During the application process, list yourself as active duty and select that you are interested in the SkillBridge scholarship.
  • Complete  Part Two of the Code Platoon application.
  • For those interested in attending in-person, work with the VA for GI Bill approval and command approval.
  • If you have any questions or need additional information, please email info@codplatoon.org.

Disclaimer: The Department of Defense and service branches do not endorse any company, sponsor or their products or services.

Jim Hennessey is Code Platoon’s Director of Marketing. Jim brings a strong background in no-profit marketing and start-up enterprises to the mission of Code Platoon. Jim is a graduate of Clemson University and currently lives in Chicago. Follow Jim on LinkedIn.

Making good at coding bootcamp

Making Good at a Coding Bootcamp: An instructor’s view on traits of the successful Bootcampers

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You have probably heard the phrase “coding Bootcamp”. Maybe, since you’re on the Code Platoon website, you’re already thinking of enrolling in one yourself. There’s never been a better time to do so; web development is one of the fastest-growing fields in the world, and Bootcamps are an effective and relatively low-cost way of breaking in. However, that doesn’t mean Bootcamps are the best fit for everybody.

My name is Noa Heinrich. I graduated from Dev Bootcamp in the Spring of 2016. I later went on to be an instructor, first at the Flatiron School, and now Code Platoon. I have been through the Bootcamp experience as a student and helped many others through it as an instructor.

The most successful students I’ve encountered have always embodied the following three traits. Without at least one of them, you might just find yourself burning out before you graduate.

The first and most important trait is resilience. They are called coding Bootcamps for a reason. As a student, you will be learning and working all day, every day, for months. The Code Platoon Bootcamp spans 14 intensive weeks of study.  You’ll go to bed and dream about coding, and then wake up the next day to do it all over again. It isn’t an experience for the faint of heart.

Another essential trait for succeeding in a Bootcamp is a growth mindset, as opposed to a fixed mindset. A person with a fixed mindset says “I’m not a coder”, while a person with a growth mindset says “I haven’t learned to code yet”. It is the focused belief that you are capable of growing and evolving, rather than accepting your limits as they already are.

Finally, a successful bootcamper needs to be able to play well with others. Most tech companies expect their employees to work as part of flexible teams. So paired programming and group projects are normal for every Bootcamp.  You will be working alongside a small group of people every day, and if you’re unpleasant to your classmates, you’ll find that your experience will not go well.

If you read this blog and thought “hey, that sounds like me”, then good news: you’d probably be a great candidate for a coding Bootcamp! But if you’re unsure – don’t worry, you’re in great company, as many of the most successful graduates felt the same way as they were filling out their application. The coding Bootcamp experience will be the most difficult experience you’ll ever love, but it’s definitely worth it.

Noa Heinrich authored this guest blog post. Noa is an instructor at Code Platoon and has worked as an instructor at the Flatiron School and Power Up Tech Academy. She is also a host of the weekly gaming podcast, Tabletop Potluck. Follow Noa on LinkedIn.