SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Women in Technology (WiT), a Seattle-based organization dedicated to advancing and growing the professional community of women in technology, today announced a scholarship fund for women that want to attend the Ruby on Rails bootcamp from Code Fellows that’s dedicated exclusively for women interested in breaking into the software industry. Code Fellows, the only coding education provider that guarantees a $60,000 tech job after graduation, announced the women-only bootcamp in May in an effort to address the widening gender gap in the coding trade. Seattle-area companies contributing to the WiT scholarship fund include SeedIP, Affinity, Zealyst, Tred, New Car City and Code Fellows.
“The women-only bootcamp represents a real opportunity for Seattle-area women who are interested in starting a technology career, to gain access to the education, resources, and the connections necessary to make it happen,” said Martina Welke, Co-Founder & CEO of Zealyst, and a member of Women in Technology Seattle. “The bootcamp is perfectly aligned with the goals of our organization, and it provides an ideal platform for putting our mission into action.”
The first female-only bootcamp is July 8th - August 23rd and is intended for women with a general knowledge of coding and engineering, but with no prior Ruby on Rails experience. Graduates that want a job in the software industry are guaranteed to be offered a position that pays at least $60,000 within six months of completing the programs.
As part of its project-based curriculum, Code Fellows also provides every student with access to professional mentorship and apprenticeship with leading software development companies, including WhitePages and SEOmoz.
“With this scholarship, we have the opportunity to put economically disadvantaged women on a career path that might not have otherwise been available to them,” said Will Little, Managing Director of Code Fellows. “We’re honored to have the local Women in Technology organization bestow a scholarship fund for our women-only courses – and we look forward to supporting their mission to get more women involved in the technology industry.”
Over the last thirty years, the total number of women working in Computer Science has dropped precipitously. Women today represent 12 percent of all computer science graduates. In 1984, they presented 37 percent. Walk into a room full of 25 software engineers today, and on average, only 3 will be women.
The first scholarship will be awarded on June 26th at a WiT panel discussion, entitled “Hiring Women in Tech,” being held at the Columbia Tower in downtown Seattle. Women interested in applying for the scholarship should visit www.CodeFellows.org/#tuition for more details.
About Code Fellows
Code Fellows is a Seattle-based coding bootcamp that guarantees a $60,000 job after graduation – or your tuition will be refunded. The company offers intense, hands-on training and mentoring from industry practitioners that are experts in a number of programming languages, including Ruby on Rails, Javascript, Python, an iOS. To apply for a Code Fellows bootcamp, or to learn more about the company, visit www.codefellows.org.
