The golden gong has been hit a hundred of times when a coder lands a job in this bootcamp
Makers Academy, a coding bootcamp whose objective is to turn people into software developers uses the celebration bell installed in their office in a unique way. They ring the giant gong installed in their office whenever one of its students gets a job.
Developers looking to make a career in software pay £8,000 to take the three-month Makers Academy crash course, in which they are taught computer programming languages like Java and Ruby.
While some students at the end of the programme go on to find a job for themselves, the huge majority are put forward for roles by Makers Academy, which has contacts with a number of employers, including Marks & Spencer, The Financial Times, Sky, and Deloitte Digital.
Other companies like General Assembly and Steer run their own coding bootcamps. For instance, General Assembly provides courses from £30 for a one day taster course to £9,000 for a three month “Android Immersive Development” course. Like Makers Academy, they look to prepare people with the skills they require to get their first job in tech. On the other hand, Makes Academy asserts it is making more junior software developers than any other coding bootcamp in the UK right now.
Since, it has been founded in 2012, nearly 500 to 600 people have graduated from the Makers Academy. A 20% cut of the student’s starting salary is paid by the new employer to Makers Academy, every time a job offer is made to its student.
While giving Business Insider a tour of the company’s office, Ruben Kostucki, COO and founding member of Makers Academy said, “We have a gong. It’s the most important feature because it gets gonged every time a student gets a job. It’s a really key element of the whole process.”
The average starting salary for a Makers Academy graduate is £30,000 to £32,000, according to Kostucki, who claims that university computer science courses aren’t providing students with the vocational software development skills that UK companies need.
According to Kostucki, several Makers Academy students are just looking for a career change, while others join the course to make their foundation in coding so they can start a technology company of their own.
However, the Silicon Valley tech giants aren’t amongst some of the big companies that are employing directly from Makers Academy.
“The engineers they hire in the UK tend to be very skilled, super-senior engineers,” said Kostucki. “Makers Academy is basically replenishing the market with junior developers.”
Source: Business Insider
