(Jackson, Miss.) The Mississippi Coding Academies are proud to announce the graduation of its first cohort of computer programmer developers. The Jackson cohort graduated 11 junior developers, and the Golden Triangle cohort graduated nine new junior developers after they successfully completed an 11-month, full stack curriculum which started in October 2017.
After completing the program, the students transitioned smoothly into either jobs or college. Fourteen students received job offers from Mississippi companies like HX5 (a contractor to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-The Engineer Research and Development Center), Southern Farm Bureau, Seventh Knight, Liberty National Insurance, C Spire, BankTel, and the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office. Four of the programmers were inspired to pursue higher education, one joined the Army Reserve, and four others are interning or currently in the interview process for software development jobs.
“Our graduates are now prepared for careers in tech; a year ago most were working in minimum wage jobs,” said Rich Sun, co-founder and director of the Jackson cohort. “As we increase the number of graduates, we will make a major contribution to the growth of the tech industry in Mississippi.”
The Jackson students also participated in the Mayor’s Summer Jobs Program where four of MSCA coders learned and taught Swift and the Xcode development platform to 30 Jackson Public School students for four weeks and coached them during the subsequent four weeks while they built apps for Atmos, Baptist and Nissan.
Mississippi Coding Academies is currently teaching a second cohort of students in both the Jackson and Golden Triangle location who are scheduled to graduate from the academy in May 2019.
The academy is currently taking applications for the third cohort starting in June 2019. If you or someone you know is a recent high school (or college) graduate who loves to solve problems and has the grit and determination to see this program through, you can apply through our website by going to www.mscoding.org.
MSCA is also taking applications from veterans for an evening/weekend program (COMCAST Veterans Code) to produce front-end web developers starting this spring and lasting about five months.
Tuition is free and no coding experience is necessary.
Mississippi Coding Academies is a project of Innovate Mississippi with locations in Jackson and Starkville, Mississippi. Supported by local leaders, employers, and educators, Mississippi Coding Academies is a non-profit Mississippi corporation made possible through grants and support by The Mississippi Development Authority, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Mississippi State University, and private donations from employers and individuals. Visit www.mscoding.org for more information.
