DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Galvanize, a Denver-based startup campus creating a platform to launch breakout companies through the pillars of venture capital, community and curriculum, in partnership with Jumpstart Lab, a leading web development training firm, today announced the launch of gSchool. First of its kind, gSchool is an intensive, full-time, six-month program in Denver designed to turn novices into professional web developers. The program guarantees job placement with a minimum annual salary of $60,000 within three months of graduation, or will refund students’ tuition amounts paid, provided students fulfill certain criteria.
According to a recent study by CareerCast, the demand for software engineers is rising dramatically, with an estimated growth rate of 30 percent between 2010 and 2020, more than double the 14 percent average growth rate for all occupations. gSchool was developed to address the discrepancy between the overwhelming number of companies looking for software development talent, and the number of individuals with the skills to meet this demand.
“Startups live or die because of their people, and finding great talent is critical to their success. We decided to launch gSchool because there are not enough people with technical ability to maintain the growth of startups, such as individuals trained on Ruby on Rails,” said Jim Deters, founder of Galvanize. “The addition of gSchool into Galvanize’s curriculum creates software development talent, which in turn helps fuel the growth of Denver’s startup ecosystem as a whole.”
The gSchool program is based on a proven model developed by Jumpstart Lab, in partnership with LivingSocial, that saw 100 percent employment for graduating students. Other options range from online learning programs to four-year computer science degrees. However, these programs do not address the industry demand for hiring developers that are qualified to work in a high-performance, large scale, development team. gSchool’s unique model fills this gap in software development education offerings.
“gSchool delivers an education unlike any other in the industry. We empower students to be in control of their careers and set them on a path of success immediately after graduation,” said Jeff Casimir, co-founder of Jumpstart Lab and program director for gSchool. “The in-depth curriculum mirrors real-world scenarios, ensuring graduates have the experience to build advanced applications that go beyond the ability of many developers that are years into their career.”
The inaugural gSchool session will start in Denver in January 2013. The program will develop students’ core competencies necessary to building applications; using technologies such as Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, and HTML5. Projects include a multi-tenant storefront, a data processing/mining system, integrations with Github, Twitter and Facebook, a project to support charity and an independent mastery project. The gSchool program tuition is $20,000 per person, with the price including the six-month, five days/week program, a new Macbook, and a desk membership in the Galvanize facility. In addition, gSchool provides graduates with a platform to connect with startups and entrepreneurs through the larger Galvanize community.
Scholarship opportunities are made available to qualifying students through the gSchool Scholarship Program. Numerous companies searching for a unique recruiting opportunity to find technical talent, specifically Ruby on Rails, have already joined as partners, including Denver-based iTriage, a global health care technology company. and Symplified, a leading provider of seamless single sign-on, identity and access management services to enterprises that securely connect users to cloud, web and mobile apps.
The program is on track to provide scholarships to qualifying students.
Following the Denver curriculum, Galvanize and Jumpstart Lab plan to expand the program to other cities.
For more information and to see what other people are saying about gSchool, visit http://www.gschool.it/. Interested individuals can apply for gSchool at http://apply.gschool.it/, deadline for submission is November 30, 2012. Companies interested in becoming partners of the gSchool Scholarship Program can contact info@galvanize.it for more information.
About Galvanize
Galvanize creates an ecosystem for entrepreneurship through venture capital, community and curriculum. Galvanize launched its first 30,000-square-foot collaborative workplace facility at 1062 Delaware on October 22, 2012, and is home to some of Denver’s hottest digital startups. The Galvanize facility is uniquely designed for collaboration and help companies at every stage of the startup continuum – one individual with an idea working in the shared space, a team of 3 working in dedicated stations, and suites for companies from ranging from 6 – 20+ employees. Galvanize is designed to support the development of fast growth digital companies through mentorship, venture funding and flexible space to innovate. More information is available at http://galvanize.it/.
About Jumpstart Lab
Jumpstart Lab offers the best web development training anywhere. The company is known for its expertise in Ruby on Rails, but also instruct courses in jQuery, JavaScript, ExtJS, and Git. For companies and teams, it offers custom training anywhere from two days to six months. More information is available at http://www.Jumpstart Lab.com/.