Lightning Talk: Building Colorado Developers

by Jeff Casimir

In his lightning talk titled 'Building Colorado Developers' at the Rocky Mountain Ruby 2013 event, Jeff Casimir shares the progress and initiatives of G-School, a new program focused on developing software talent in Colorado. Casimir reflects on his relocation to Colorado and the establishment of G-School in Denver, where they aim to train aspiring developers. The talk emphasizes the success of their first cohort, highlighting that 23 developers found employment in local companies, spurred on by positive feedback from industry partners.

Key Points:
- The emergence of G-School, which aims to create a skilled workforce in Colorado by training individuals in software development.
- An anecdote about a G-School alumna, a former sales manager, who secured a programming role after training, illustrating the program's impact.
- Invitation for organizations and professionals to get involved through mentoring, guest speaking, or hiring graduates.
- The transition from G-School to a more advanced initiative, the Turing School of Software and Design, aimed at achieving accreditation as a vocational school.
- Plans for expansion include graduating 112 developers in the first year and scaling up to 168 in the second year, which would significantly outnumber current graduates from traditional programs such as Colorado School of Mines.
- The need for community engagement, mentioning their requirement for financial support, instructors, and student recruitment.
- Casimir encourages the audience to connect with him on Twitter for involvement opportunities.

The overarching takeaway from Casimir's talk is the commitment to cultivating a robust programming talent pipeline in Colorado and the call to action for community support to sustain and grow these educational initiatives.

00:00:08.800 Two years ago, I was here giving a full-length talk, and now I'll try to cut out all the jokes and swearing to fit together a three-minute talk. It's called 'Building Colorado Developers.' I want to tell you a little bit about what we've been up to, especially if this piece of technology would work.

00:00:20.560 About nine months ago, I told Franklin and Katrina, 'Hey, instead of D.C., we're going to move to Colorado, and everything's going to be cool. Don't worry.' Like many people I talked to, they said, 'Alright, let's see what happens.' So, we came to Colorado and started a program called G-School, which we're running out of Denver.

00:00:37.760 We started with this group. Can I get a 'Hell yeah' from the alumni? Alright, we've got a few alumni in the house today. We graduated our first group in July, and this was the feedback that we received from one of the companies that interviewed a young lady who had been a sales manager and had never touched programming before. When I saw this, I sat at my desk and shed a little tear—thinking, 'Alright, we're actually doing something good here.'

00:01:06.479 We got 23 professional developers out of the program, and specifically in Colorado, they are working at these fine companies, including myself; I had to hire one. G-School just kicked off two weeks ago, and they are now in their third week. We have a lot of alumni here today who graduated in February. If this is something that you would like to get involved in, you are welcome to join us for one-on-one mentoring, to be guest speakers, and, of course, to hire them. We would love to see more Colorado companies engaging in this initiative.

00:01:44.400 We were able to keep about 12 of the developers from the first class here in Colorado. However, after February, that will be our last G-School class. Now, let me tell you a little bit about what's coming next. We are creating a new program that we will call the Turing School of Software and Design. The plan for this is to take what we've learned from running Hungry Academy and G-School and elevate it to the next level.

00:02:13.200 At Hungry Academy back in D.C., we graduated 24 people, and now in G-School, we will have finished almost 50 graduates. Our direct purpose is to seek accreditation as a vocational school, and we are forming a non-profit to manage that. This means that people can access federal student loans, VA funding, private college loans, and other financial options. In the first year, we plan to graduate 112 developers, and in the second year, it will expand to 168.

00:02:47.519 To give you an idea, Colorado School of Mines graduates about 80 computer science majors per year, so this program will create the most significant engineering pipeline in the state. If you'd like to get involved, we would love your help. I don't know much about real estate, so I’m basically asking for your financial support if you are willing to contribute. We also need instructors, and finally, we must recruit about four student applicants a day, and that's where I need your help.

00:03:06.400 If you're interested in any of these opportunities, the easiest way to reach me is on Twitter at j3. Thank you.