When we spoke with Grand Circus' Jennifer Cline last spring she told us a startling fact. By the year 2020 there will be one million unfulfilled tech jobs in the U.S.
Meridian, a health care company based in Detroit, is already feeling that pinch, so they've taken proactive measures to help build up a skilled work force in the city of Detroit.
Last May, the two companies partnered to host a 100 percent free coding bootcamp for Detroit residents. Meridian hired six of the program's graduates as entry level software developers.
The program is returning this year and once again Meridian plans to hire a minimum of five bootcamp graduates who will then go into an on-site training program.
The program will train students in front-end software development, giving them skills to secure employment at any company with tech needs.
Offering the program to Detroit residents only also gives Meridian a chance to bring more diversity into a workforce that has a reputation for being quite homogenous.
"This has been a white male-dominated field for so long," Cline told us last year. "And there is a stigma that it's scary. But, Detroit is the perfect place to make a tech career a reality."
The 10-week, full-time coding bootcamp is being financed by Detroit at Work, a city-run program that helps connect jobseekers with jobs and emphasizes the importance of training programs.
The bootcamp is open to Detroit residents 18 years and older with a valid ID listing a Detroit zip code (Hamtramck and Highland Park are excluded) and applications will be accepted until March 12.
Applicants will go through an over-the-phone pre-screening before an in-person interview is scheduled. A group of participants will be selected to attend an orientation and complete a "technical pre-work" assignment. A final roster of students will be announced on April 16 and the bootcamp will begin on April 23.
For more information and to fill out an application, go here.
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