Coding Dojo offers scholarships to local teachers

A local coding 'boot camp' is offering full scholarships to teachers facing layoffs, and ready to switch careers.

Coding Dojo saw reports about Washington teachers losing their jobs, and decided to offer a new option.



"We're at a time right now when programming is the wave of the future, and it's a skill that anyone that is passionate can learn," says program manager Shiraz Sultan.

There are 30 Teaching Washington Teachers scholarships available for June, July, August, and September classes.  You can learn in person at Coding Dojo's Bellevue campus, or online from your own home - and without a scholarship, the intensive course would cost close to $15,000.

The classes are designed to help you learn about creating websites from start to finish, including databases, where information is stored.

"We teach you, in 14 weeks, how to become a full stack developer," Sultan says. "The way that things are moving, data is requested at every aspect, essentially, of your interaction with the  website or a product or a service.   So we help you connect all of those together."

The program lasts three and a half months, and participants need to be ready for 70-90 hour weeks.  But when you finish, you'll be ready for a new job - which could even be a return to teaching.

"When learn a skill set like this, they can turn around and do a lot of really cool things...they can continue teaching at higher education facilities - because everyone wants to learn and needs to learn to program," says Sultan. "And boot camps always need instructors; we're always looking to hire really strong instructors that are patient, that are empathetic, that have a teaching background or a passion for that."