"Non-techies" become web developers in first Codeup boot camp

Students learn to develop web applications in 12 weeks

The inaugural class of the Codeup boot camp showed off their web creations to a crowd of potential employers Tuesday at the Briscoe Western Art Museum.

The 12-week boot camp turns adults ages 18 to 51 with minimal to no experience into web developers.

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"So over the course of those 12 weeks we taught them the basics of web development and built a foundation PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS and Java Script," said Jason Straughan, co-founder of Codeup.

"On Feb. 3, when I looked at code, it looked like a different language. It looked like an alien language," said Chris Reyna, a graduate of Codeup. "And on Feb. 4, I wrote my first line of code. Never done it before in my life."

Reyna is part of a trio of students that developed www.eatsafe-sa.com, a site that helps people find the health inspection scores of restaurants nearby.

Nine groups of students presented their web developments.

"One of the things I'm always looking for is good interpersonal skills," said Mark Figart, with Digett, one of the employers present. "So to see these guys have to actually get up there and demonstrate what they're doing is the perfect opportunity to see how these people would function in public."

"We have a lost and found application that's really cool … all the way to an application that helps student athletes that are in the military connect with colleges in the United States," said Straughan. "That team already has users signing up from around the world."

All of the code is public, adds Staughan, so employers can read the code students wrote to develop their web application.

The May classes for Codeup begin soon and enrollment is available for August classes.

"If you're willing to learn, they're willing to teach you. It's that simple," Reyna said.


About the Author:

Myra Arthur is passionate about San Antonio and sharing its stories. She graduated high school in the Alamo City and always wanted to anchor and report in her hometown. Myra anchors KSAT News at 6:00 p.m. and hosts and reports for the streaming show, KSAT Explains. She joined KSAT in 2012 after anchoring and reporting in Waco and Corpus Christi.