LaunchCode is a non-profit that helps people from non-traditional coding education backgrounds get jobs in tech and helps employers tap diverse sources of tech talent. We were founded in St. Louis eighteen months ago by Jim McKelvey, one of the co-founders of Square, expanded to South Florida eight months ago. To date, we've placed over 240 people into tech jobs between St. Louis and South Florida.
Don’t have a CS degree? No problem.
If you’ve ever tinkered with C/C++, Java, Javascript, C#, Python, Ruby or functional language but don’t consider yourself an expert, LaunchCode can help you turn that tinkering into a career!
LaunchCode offers you an on-ramp to a paid programming apprenticeship at one of hundreds of companies. LaunchCode has connected past candidates with apprenticeships at host companies like MasterCard, CenturyLink, Scottrade, and even Riot Games.
During the apprenticeship period, pay is at least $15/hour. The host company is committed to keeping the candidate until it makes a decision on the candidate’s future at the company. Essentially, the company is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself. With good performance you will be well-positioned to be hired into a full-time salaried position at market rates. The average apprenticeship lasts 84 days, and we have a 90% success rate placing candidates in full-time salaried positions.
Our stats:
-90% of LaunchCode apprentices get offered full-time employment.
-On average last 84 days (longer or shorter depending on how hard you work).
- Average starting salary after apprenticeship period $50,000
At a minimum, LaunchCode candidates should:
-Have development experience, however, work experience is not required.
-Be familiar with an at least one imperative (C/C++, Java, Javascript, C#, Python, Ruby, etc.) or functional language (Haskell, Scala, F#, Clojure, etc). HTML, Markup Languages, etc do not meet the language requirement.
-Have good problem solving skills. We are looking for logical minds that can understand cause and effect and how to break down difficult problems. This is critical for programmers. The ability to solve difficult algorithms is not required.
-Understand basic control structures and elements of programs like loops, variables, functions, and potentially objects and classes.
-Be eager to learn. This is a mentorship with a company, and an incredible opportunity to get a job.
-Expectation will be for the candidate to work full time, plus potential weekend and nighttime hours to get up to speed and learn as much as possible.
-Take criticism well and be assertive enough to ask for help.
If you want to be a LaunchCode candidate but do not feel you have the necessary skills, apply anyway. If you do not have the necessary skills, we will assist and work with you until you do.
Please apply through our website at www.LaunchCode.org/apply
