Gainesville, Fla. – Access to a high-paying coding job anywhere in the world is just a keystroke away, and the Gainesville Dev Academy is empowering Gainesville’s workforce with skills to compete globally and dominate locally.
“IT jobs will grow by 22% through 2020. Currently there are half a million tech jobs in the U.S. awaiting fulfillment, and as part of President Obama’s TechHire initiative we look to fill those gaps by providing superior training,” said Duncan Kabinu, Co-founder of Gainesville Dev Academy.
The Academy is the brainchild of Kabinu and other Gainesville entrepreneurs, all of whom are leaders in the area’s tech sector. It specializes in helping developers become better at making world-class web, mobile, and desktop applications. In turn, area tech companies that need top-notch programmers will benefit from having a more robust workforce to choose from, instead of having to search for talent outside of Gainesville.
Students at Gainesville Dev Academy learn what it takes to build entire applications on multiple platforms, and are taught real-world dev skills that they can immediately put to use in their careers. However, the education goes beyond teaching students how to program; at the Academy, students are taught to think like experts and to seek answers to tough questions. That, most of all, is what distinguishes Academy students from others in similar programs.
“There’s a difference between knowing how to code and being able to produce the types of applications that are so highly sought in today’s market,” said Kabinu. “Our training is focused on helping you become a great developer, not just someone who understands the basic lingo.”
The Academy has partnerships with Santa Fe College and the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Council for Economic Outreach, both of which are heavily invested in retaining area talent, particularly in the tech and biotech sectors.
“On behalf of the Council for Economic Outreach, we are very pleased to see the formation of the Gainesville Dev Academy. This new training entity will help move our region’s software/IT sector forward by enhancing the talent pipeline of computer programmers for our area,” said Todd Powell, 2015 Chair, Council for Economic Outreach.
The Gainesville Tech Council will be assisting with these efforts on behalf of Council for Economic Outreach and the Chamber.
Additionally, the Academy offers graduating students free job placement services through over 20 local tech companies.
In fact, Academy administration is so confident of the strength of its curriculum and the competence of its graduates that each student is guaranteed at least two interviews with local tech companies upon graduation.
“We match each student with employers based on a variety of factors ranging from skill set to office culture,” said Kabinu.
Anyone who is serious about becoming a Silicon Valley-level developer will want to enroll in the Gainesville Dev Academy. Applications are currently being accepted for both Fall and Summer courses, and a web development class begins in June 2015.
While the cost is competitive for an academy of its kind, financing is available for those who qualify.
For more information or to register for the June 2015 web development class, visit www.gainesvilledevacademy.com.
