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Miscellaneous

Course Types

There are roughly speaking, three types of courses currently offered to students:

  • Inspire Series - These are entry-level courses for Freshman and Sophomore in STEM that provide an introductory foundation to product and coding that should be accessible to anyone but targeted to those who have encountered programming before in one way or another.
    • Audience: Freshman and Sophomore in STEM
    • Goal: Build student context/confidence and get them started on an early success track (resume, technical internships)
  • Software Fundamentals - This is a three-part series focused on providing an in-depth foundation to make sure students are prepared for the rigorous technical interviews associated with top tech companies including data structures, algorithms, problem solving and behavioral interview segments. We provide a three-part series to provide students confidence and readiness for even the toughest interviews.
    • Audience: Three part sequence: Freshman and Sophomore in STEM to Seniors (A to Z)
    • Goal: Develop confidence in the fundamentals including analysis, debugging, verification and technical communication
    • Outcomes: Student is confident and ready to succeed in interviewing and engaging in complex problem solving
  • Special Topics - Empowering students with the skills and confidence to be high-performing software engineers contributing meaningfully to real-world projects after they join a company. This focuses on specific technical areas such as mobile development, cybersecurity, etc.
    • Audience: Sophomores and Juniors
    • Goal: Develop confidence and capability to apply real-world skill-sets and develop on-the-job proficiency
    • Outcomes: Student is confident and prepared to excel in a particular software engineering domain

Student Challenges

Students in college that are on the path to software engineering roles in tech, especially those from underrepresented groups, often:

  • Lack an understanding of the tech industry and why being in the industry is a desirable path
  • Lack a belief that they can get access to the tech industry themselves for a variety of reasons
  • Lack confidence in their own abilities, and this self-doubt causes students to fall off the path into tech (Impostor Syndrome)
  • Lack a strong support system and do not feel supported along the path into tech
  • Lack of access to good role models in tech that look like them and believe they can succeed
  • Lack a feeling of belonging and acceptance at tech events, hackathons or in tech social circles
  • Lack an understanding of the specific actionable steps required to get technical internships and the importance of doing so
  • Lack the confidence, and are underprepared for "talking while they code" and are not taught how to follow the protocols of tough technical interviews
  • Lack access to the kinds of networks that provides access to great opportunities and insight into tech
  • Lack the direction and knowledge to start building out their portfolio
  • Lack an understanding of software engineering and how this differs from Computer Science, and what software roles are actually like, causing them to believe "I need to be good at math", or "tech isn't for me"

These are hard problems, our mission is to build programs that help lift students over these multitudes of barriers.