A minority student graduates from college in 2017 with a major in business management. His experience with the college placement office leads him to an entry-level position paying $24,000. He decides not to accept the position, opting instead to attend a University of Pennsylvania sponsored coding boot camp at a cost of $15,500. He completes the coding boot camp, participates in a 20 week paid internship, and on November 26, 2018 accepts a full time Product Manager’s position with Xfinity Home, a Division of Comcast, at a salary of $90,000. We could cite other real-life examples, but the point is clear. There is a growing demand for minorities with coding and data management skills.
Technology has permeated every aspect of life, and the workplace is no exception. Irrespective of a student’s academic discipline–business management, finance, music, politics, medicine, computer science, or the arts–they will be required to use computer coding/data modeling skills as the foundation for conceptualizing, visualizing and communicating ideas.
A 2017 study of 26 million job ads nationwide revealed that half of the listings required some level of computer coding skills. Unfortunately, too many minority/low-income students do not have access to coding and data modeling training. Amongst HBCUs, only Spelman College and Howard University offer such training.
To address the lack of minority access to coding training, CSUF has developed the Java Coding and Data Modeling Institute, a 16-week program with intensive hands-on curriculum, career services and job placement components. Institute graduates will possess the coding skills necessary to compete for entry-level jobs in the digital workplace. The rationale for such a program is:
- Computer coding jobs are considered high-wage jobs with career paths paying on average $57,000 a year. There is a demand for minority college graduates with computer coding and data modeling skills to compete for entry-level jobs in the new digital economy.
- Existing Java Coding programs are cost prohibitive. The cost of tuition ranges from $15,000 to $20,000 per 16-week session.
- The CSUF Java Coding and Data Modeling Institute can provide quality computing teaching, intensive coding training and job placement services to minority college graduates at a competitive cost.
The first institute session will be held spring 2019. For additional information, please contact Dr. Veronica Watkins at csufoundation@att.net or 937-640-1214.
Dr. Veronica R. Watkins
Executive Director
Download Flyer Download Application
