BostInno
Launch Academy Is Expanding Its Coding Bootcamps to Philadelphia
By: Olivia Vanni
Launch Academy, a Boston-based bootcamp teaching web development, just announced it will expand its campus to a second location. Is it San Francisco? New York? Nope on both accounts; it's Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dan Pickett, co-founder of Launch Academy, told us, “Over the past few years, we’ve tweaked the experience and optimal path to learning web development." He added: “We’re in a place where it’s well systemized and operationalized, so we can have team members peal off, take our vision and bring it new locales.”
But they weren’t going to set up anywhere and everywhere. The startup took a methodical approach, part of which focused on proximity. “We knew very early on that we wanted to take Launch Academy to multiple cities,” Pickett said. “We wanted it close to home, but far enough away to present the challenges of managing a team from a distance.”
Philadelphia not only fits these parameters, but it also seems like familiar territory. Launch Academy sees a bit of Boston in the new location. The co-founder explained, “Philly is reminiscent of what Boston was a few years ago… It has a blossoming startup scene, and there’s an overall attractiveness to bringing tech and growth to the city.”
Pickett also believes there’s a “chicken or the egg” scenario at hand: Philly wants to be an attractive place for tech talent to live, but startups and tech companies need access to talent so they can settle in the community. Launch Academy is hoping to serve as the support for both parties and bring them together.
“We want to empower Philly to become a burgeoning tech city,” he added. “We’re looking to plant the seeds for tomorrow’s tech hubs.”
Launch Academy is currently firming up the logistics, but it plans to kick off its Philadelphia program in early 2017. The applications will go live by the end of this month, so prospective students can apply and commit to attending the web development school.
“We’re going to make it small to start, so we can make sure there are bountiful opportunities for our graduates in the Philly job market,” Pickett said.
The first class will be 12 students and, once Launch Academy ensures every one of its graduates are able to find employment in Philadelphia area, it will progressively ramp up the class sizes. Pickett shared there will probably be a discount for early adopters of the Philadelphia program, through the company’s Ambassador Program. In exchange for a break on tuition, students are asked to give formal feedback, so Launch Academy can learn where there’s room for improvement.
The curriculum will be the same as the one that’s proven successful in Boston, which Launch Academy continues to tweak to accommodate the needs of the job market. And for exact location, Launch Academy is still weighing its options, all of which are co-working spaces. “We’re looking forward to being integrated into a co-working community in Philly, giving our students the opportunity to network and get to know the startup community there,” Pickett said.
He said, “We have to take those team members familiar with our culture and the scene here and have them intermingling with someone established in the Philly community. We have to hit a balance between a culture that’s right for Philly and a culture consistent with what we’ve built here in Boston.”
