Support Ducky's coding bootcamp!
Donation protected
(image description for blind and deafblind: picture is of a male sitting on a couch with a laptop on his lap and holding a mouse in his right hand. A beagle is stretched across his lap).
Hello there! My name is Chris...with a lot of different nicknames- including Ducky- that's me in the picture with my nose in my computer- even Chowder the beagle can't stop me! As much as I hate to ask for help (family and some friends will say this is very true), I've decided to try this route and see where it goes.
What is this campaign for and Where am I going?
I applied to and was accepted to The Iron Yard. I was accepted to the July 17th cohort. Originally it was for Back End Engineering- Java but they recently updated to include more Front End Engineering/HTML, CSS and Javascript. This is a 3 month immersive program- 5 days a week- 8+ hours a day. The good thing is it's in Charlotte- I can take the bus to save a bit on gas and parking! On average bootcamps run between 8-24 weeks but most go for 12 weeks (3 months). The cost is somewhere between 10,000 to 20,000. Luckily this one is "only" 13,900. ;). They also have Career support and give guidance with resumes and networking (my weakest point/achilles heel...).
A little about me
I am a deaf individual who grew up oral and later learned ASL (American Sign Language)- that's a whole other story with many challenges that I faced through the years. I graduated from Gallaudet University (world's only liberal arts university for the Deaf) with a Bachelor's degree in Education. My first job was as a "Communication Specialist"/Social Service Worker- working with Intellectually Disabled deaf or non verbal residents- teach sign language or working on communication, later case managing duties were added. Here I even was the first to create Individual Personal Plans for the clients on the computer- easier than hand written- alas I think they stole my idea!
How I got into computers and programming
My love for computers started long before that job. I used "dumb terminals" for two of my classes at Gallaudet and later the personal computers they added- with Windows! Took to it like a duck (pun intended). I got a computer for a graduation present too! Programming wasn't in my sights yet except for BASIC- and that was totally cool and fun while my classmates hated it.
I then attended Chubb Institute where I dove into a 7 month intense program learning COBOL mostly.. full time every day. It was a tough road- my class started with 28 students... we graduated 14. My first job out of Chubb was for a Y2K project in Colorado as a QA Tester. I moved from job to job as most were contract type positions- all as a QA Tester mostly testing Mainframe. I loved (almost) every minute of it!
Fast forward to the present... I've been unemployed for a while...it's become a challenge to get anywhere with my job search- less Mainframe jobs it seems like- not to mention my unemployed status. Anyway- I started to consider attending a coding bootcamp when I started to research how I could improve on my skill set and be able to compete a little better in the job market. Over the last-- 10-15 years I've taken MANY online courses including courses offered by John Smiley in Visual Basic and other languages; he was a great instructor (looking forward to his Python course!). I've also recently done courses with Code Academy, Udemy, freecodecamp but- I've found that learning on my own has been a huge challenge. I know the material but with a "Brick and mortar" classroom I can have structure, support and a instructor/mentor right there to assist, encourage and kick my butt as needed.
So... what's the money for?
Well...
$1,000= initial fee to reserve my spot
$6,450= first half of tuition before class begins (5 days before start of class)
$6,450= remainder of tuition 6 weeks into the program.
$1,000= Mac laptop....since I'm a Windows boy.
Minimum I'd like to raise is approximately 7,450- maximum if at all.. 15,000.
Anything above that will go towards the laptop and cost for monthly bus passes and/or gas.
Although this is a donation site, I still would like to offer the following:
1. I will repay your donation- same amount
2. I will repay your donation with interest
3. I will match your donation with a donation to any charity/organization of your choice (with the exception of political).
If you do decide to donate and want to do any of the options above(or something else? A gift Rubber Duckie of your choice? :) ) please let me know.
I will uphold this to the best of my ability starting 6 months after the end of my cohort (October 2017) whether or not I receive a job offer. But hopefully I WILL receive a job!
At this time I'm also researching other ways to fund including scholarships and loans (interest rate is a little high for me)- so if anyone has ideas, let me know!
I have the confidence that furthering my education will indeed give me better/more opportunities. It won't be an easy process but- "You get out what you put into it" and I appreciate your time in reading the above and any help. Please feel free to share this campaign far and wide!
Not giving up just yet!
Thank you from the bottom of my lil ducky heart!
Hello there! My name is Chris...with a lot of different nicknames- including Ducky- that's me in the picture with my nose in my computer- even Chowder the beagle can't stop me! As much as I hate to ask for help (family and some friends will say this is very true), I've decided to try this route and see where it goes.
What is this campaign for and Where am I going?
I applied to and was accepted to The Iron Yard. I was accepted to the July 17th cohort. Originally it was for Back End Engineering- Java but they recently updated to include more Front End Engineering/HTML, CSS and Javascript. This is a 3 month immersive program- 5 days a week- 8+ hours a day. The good thing is it's in Charlotte- I can take the bus to save a bit on gas and parking! On average bootcamps run between 8-24 weeks but most go for 12 weeks (3 months). The cost is somewhere between 10,000 to 20,000. Luckily this one is "only" 13,900. ;). They also have Career support and give guidance with resumes and networking (my weakest point/achilles heel...).
A little about me
I am a deaf individual who grew up oral and later learned ASL (American Sign Language)- that's a whole other story with many challenges that I faced through the years. I graduated from Gallaudet University (world's only liberal arts university for the Deaf) with a Bachelor's degree in Education. My first job was as a "Communication Specialist"/Social Service Worker- working with Intellectually Disabled deaf or non verbal residents- teach sign language or working on communication, later case managing duties were added. Here I even was the first to create Individual Personal Plans for the clients on the computer- easier than hand written- alas I think they stole my idea!
How I got into computers and programming
My love for computers started long before that job. I used "dumb terminals" for two of my classes at Gallaudet and later the personal computers they added- with Windows! Took to it like a duck (pun intended). I got a computer for a graduation present too! Programming wasn't in my sights yet except for BASIC- and that was totally cool and fun while my classmates hated it.
I then attended Chubb Institute where I dove into a 7 month intense program learning COBOL mostly.. full time every day. It was a tough road- my class started with 28 students... we graduated 14. My first job out of Chubb was for a Y2K project in Colorado as a QA Tester. I moved from job to job as most were contract type positions- all as a QA Tester mostly testing Mainframe. I loved (almost) every minute of it!
Fast forward to the present... I've been unemployed for a while...it's become a challenge to get anywhere with my job search- less Mainframe jobs it seems like- not to mention my unemployed status. Anyway- I started to consider attending a coding bootcamp when I started to research how I could improve on my skill set and be able to compete a little better in the job market. Over the last-- 10-15 years I've taken MANY online courses including courses offered by John Smiley in Visual Basic and other languages; he was a great instructor (looking forward to his Python course!). I've also recently done courses with Code Academy, Udemy, freecodecamp but- I've found that learning on my own has been a huge challenge. I know the material but with a "Brick and mortar" classroom I can have structure, support and a instructor/mentor right there to assist, encourage and kick my butt as needed.
So... what's the money for?
Well...
$1,000= initial fee to reserve my spot
$6,450= first half of tuition before class begins (5 days before start of class)
$6,450= remainder of tuition 6 weeks into the program.
$1,000= Mac laptop....since I'm a Windows boy.
Minimum I'd like to raise is approximately 7,450- maximum if at all.. 15,000.
Anything above that will go towards the laptop and cost for monthly bus passes and/or gas.
Although this is a donation site, I still would like to offer the following:
1. I will repay your donation- same amount
2. I will repay your donation with interest
3. I will match your donation with a donation to any charity/organization of your choice (with the exception of political).
If you do decide to donate and want to do any of the options above(or something else? A gift Rubber Duckie of your choice? :) ) please let me know.
I will uphold this to the best of my ability starting 6 months after the end of my cohort (October 2017) whether or not I receive a job offer. But hopefully I WILL receive a job!
At this time I'm also researching other ways to fund including scholarships and loans (interest rate is a little high for me)- so if anyone has ideas, let me know!
I have the confidence that furthering my education will indeed give me better/more opportunities. It won't be an easy process but- "You get out what you put into it" and I appreciate your time in reading the above and any help. Please feel free to share this campaign far and wide!
Not giving up just yet!
Thank you from the bottom of my lil ducky heart!
Organizer
Chris W
Organizer
Huntersville, NC
