Code the Dream’s NC Rural Tech Initiative offers training in software development specifically to residents of rural North Carolina.
In the Fall of 2020, we are offering a pilot program for rural residents interested in software development to participate in 3 months of free, high-quality online classes. Depending on your current level of experience, you will have the opportunity to participate in entry-level classes or advanced training.
Accelerated Track for Current Community College Students
Code the Dream offers a paid apprenticeship program, CTD Labs, for new software developers to gain hands on web and mobile development skills by developing real world applications for a wide range of business, nonprofit and government partners. With that real world experience, over 80% of CTD Labs apprentices go on to launch careers in software development.
Most students who come to Code the Dream require six months of free (online) supplemental training before they are ready to join CTD Labs. However, this fall CTD is offering an accelerated path to advanced community college programming / software development students who can demonstrate basic proficiency. After an accelerated 3-month supplemental course, selected students will have the option to begin their paid internship with CTD Labs in early 2021.
Class Details
- Application Deadline: October 9
- Class starts October 19
- Access to a computer and reliable internet are required, but we may help you identify resources depending on where you live.
- Expect to spend 15-20 hours per week on class work.
How to Apply
Visit the application webpage and apply directly from there. Choose the “NC Rural Tech Initiative” when it asks which class.
www.codethedream.org/apply-now
Why Focus on Rural?
The wealth gap between rural and urban communities has grown dramatically over the last three decades. The rapid growth of the tech industry has played a large part in this rural-urban divide, as most high-paying tech jobs were only available to people with advanced degrees willing to work in densely populated urban and suburban areas. That meant that residents of rural North Carolina counties like Burke, Halifax and Warren, were excluded based on both geography and educational attainment — with only 17%, 14% and 16% of residents over 25 having bachelor’s degrees, respectively.
However, as the employer demand for these skills has sky- rocketed, traditional education has not kept up, and employers have largely abandoned previous requirements that all computer programmers have computer science degrees. Instead of looking for a costly degree, most employers are now willing to consider equivalent hands-on experience.
Simultaneously, many tech employers are looking to move some or all of their workforce out of high-cost areas, either by opening new offices outside established urban centers, or by opening up remote work options to their workforce; remote positions have increased 91% over the last 10 years. Together, these trends remove important barriers to a growing rural tech economy.