There has been never a better time than now to think about your career and economic security. In the Great Recession, programmers fared much better than most other professions. “…Diverse skill sets are so important in the tech sector. A dev who is already comfortable with a variety of platforms and languages has an immediate …
Is now the time to attend an online coding bootcamp? Read More »
Why we teach both Java and Javascript?A question we often receive is why do we teach the languages we do. Our goal is to give students the most job opportunities when they graduate. Our unique curriculum teaches the two most popular programming languages giving our students the most job opportunities upon graduation. More job opportunities mean graduates find jobs faster. This …
How to Prepare for a Coding BootcampEmbarking on a coding bootcamp journey can be a transformative experience for aspiring software developers. With the tech industry evolving rapidly, coding bootcamps offer an intensive, focused pathway to gain the skills needed for a thriving career in technology. This article delves into the essential steps and considerations for …
What Are the Differences Between Java and JavaScript? Which programming language should I learn? Java and JavaScript are considered coding languages. The apps we use every day are often developed using multiple languages. When trying to decide on which coding language to learn, the best way to derive a solution is to work backward from the …
Skill Distillery Q&A with Alumnus Brian Thomas Making the decision to transition into a new career can be difficult. All of the success signs point to the tech field, but where do you start? There are hundreds of “tech jobs” – ranging from “Help Desk Specialist” to “Cloud Architect.” Recent graduate Brian Thomas was working in …
Is it still difficult for women to work in tech? As #WomensHistoryMonth draws to a close, we have learned a lot about women working in tech. Many women have stepped up and are speaking out about their experiences. There are more opportunities, and employers are addressing the need for more inclusive environments. We caught up …
What You Need to Consider Before Taking on a Coding Bootcamp A coding bootcamp is an accelerated way to change careers or boost your marketability. Today it is important to stand-out to employers looking for a particular skill set. Teaching in-demand skills in a short period of time can seem daunting, but it has also proven …
Should I Attend a Coding Bootcamp? Making a change is hard. Doubt quickly begins to rise above the surface in the form of questions like: How do I know if I will be successful? Am I really ready to change careers? Would a coding bootcamp be the right choice for someone like me? Taking the leap into a …
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Bootcamps in Denver Continue to Supply the Demand It is no longer a secret. Colorado is one of the best places to live, which makes Denver one of the most attractive cities in the country. People and businesses are flocking to the various neighborhoods of Denver with little sign of slowing. Some companies, however, have run …
An Interview with Java Developer Steve Nagle Keeping in touch with graduates is important to us. Java developer Steve Nagle shares his thoughts and experiences in the program and how he feels now that he is employed with one of the largest health insurance companies in the nation… Skill Distillery: Describe where you were in …
What do I really need to learn to become a developer? Figuring out the right coding bootcamp for you can be tough! You may have already asked your developer friends or searched for “coding bootcamp” on Google. Finding the right coding bootcamp can seem overwhelming, but after you have determined the amount of time you want to spend …
How do I know if a bootcamp is teaching what I need to know? Read More »
Student Spotlight: Patrick Gaston: At Skill Distillery, we have the privilege of teaching some of the brightest new programming talent in the tech industry. It is consistently fascinating to learn about their paths and what drew them to come to our school. Each month, we spotlight one of our students and share details of his …
This blog about a career in coding originally appeared on cobizmag.com The economy is evolving quite quickly. Five years ago, hardly anyone was talking about wearable technology, and now you can’t walk down the sidewalk without seeing a Fitbit or Apple watch. About a decade ago, social media was in its infancy; now it’s a …
Several times a month, we spotlight one of our coding student from our class and share his or her story. This gives us a chance to talk about our diverse student population, how they discovered Skill Distillery and where they’re taking their newfound skill sets . We want to give prospective students a sense of …
What would compel a Navy veteran, working for a U.S. Senator, to dramatically alter the course of his life, quit his job, and use his GI Bill® to attend a coding boot camp?
“I didn’t want to silo myself. I saw the way the economy was moving and I realized that I wanted become more literate in high-tech,” said Aaron Torres, a recent graduate of Skill Distillery and the co-founder of First Cloud Consulting.
Torres grew up in Denver and joined the Navy at 17 years old, just after 9/11. He served for eight years, and used his GI Bill® to attend Hawaii-Pacific University, and later earned his bachelors in Criminal Justice from the University of Colorado Denver. Torres dreamed of becoming a lawyer, and when the opportunity presented itself to be a veterans’ advocate for U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, he jumped at the chance. Passionate about supporting veterans, he saw this as an opportunity to continue serving, while working on issues that would give him insight into a future legal career.
While he worked for Sen. Bennet, he reconnected with an old friend from childhood. A fellow Navy veteran, Chris Coleman had a knack for programming at an early age and was starting to build his own cloud-consulting firm. He and Torres started to talk about what a future working together might look like. “I had a great network, but Chris had all the technical skills and that was something I lacked,” Torres said. So he began to look into coding schools in the Denver area, and attended an event hosted by Skill Distillery at the Innovation Pavilion, in Greenwood Village, focused on vets transitioning into careers in high-tech. That night, he heard a panel discussion with leaders from Skill Distillery, Comcast and Patriot Bootcamp, a startup accelerator for veteran-owned tech companies. Gaining awareness of the organizations geared toward helping former military members find meaningful work, and learning that Skill Distillery was able to accept the last remaining 6 months of his GI Bill®, Torres made the leap. He gave notice to Sen. Bennet, and launched his new career.
For Torres, the transition made sense: “I was looking around at the legal profession and saw how hard it was to get a job. At the same time, tech is exploding, especially in Denver.”
His story isn’t unique, but his range of experience, from the military, to government work, to discovering a coding school and becoming a tech entrepreneur, is noteworthy enough that the White House featured Torres on their blog as a TechHire success story.
While in the program, he and Coleman worked together to launch First Cloud Consulting. Between his business savvy and newly acquired technical skills, Torres is thrilled that he forwent law school to learn how to program in Java. Now, only a few weeks post-graduation, the duo’s new venture is thriving, with almost a dozen clients and no sign of slowing down.
There is a single, shared reason why individuals attend coding school – They are each attempting to land a new job, and start fresh in a high-tech career. With this in mind, we wanted to build a program that would actually teach our students real-world skills that would help them find and secure competitive roles at …
Colorado TechHire About a year ago, we began working with Speaker Pro Tem Dan Pabon in the Colorado State House of Representatives on a new national initiative called TechHire. TechHire was founded by the White House in partnership with cities and states across the U.S. aimed at supporting coding schools like ours and helping …
Across the U.S., people are learning new skills in computer programming by completing accelerated learning programs. Called coding school – or bootcamps – are a crash course in the requisite technical proficiencies to enter into the IT market. Coding schools have become popular and necessary in recent years, as there are too many job openings …
At the end of my second quad as a coding student, about halfway through our program, our instructors at Skill Distillery tested skills and knowledge with our first full-stack Web application project. Our class split into groups of three people each, and I worked with two other students to begin brainstorming ideas for implementation. We …
