Giving Compass' Take:

• C4Q is a nonprofit based in New York that recruits underserved, low-income students to participate in computer programming intensive boot camps and hones their skills for future job development. 

• How successful are coding boot camps at developing skills for future employment? 

• Read about how Code.org is partnering with school districts to help implement computer science classes in k-12 curriculum. 

One year ago, Chanice St. Louis was working part-time as a barista, struggling to pay bills, and trying to figure out how to get back into a community college in Brooklyn after her work schedule and a family illness ruined her grades. Now she’s a newly minted software developer–and she’ll be contributing part of her salary back to the free program that taught her to code.

St. Louis was part of the 2017 class of C4Q, a nonprofit that recruits New Yorkers from low-income, underserved communities, teaches them programming over an intensive 10-month course, and then helps them land jobs at companies like Pinterest and Kickstarter.

The organization’s first class graduated in 2013, but last year it tried something new: Students committed to donate a percentage of their salaries after graduation back to the program if they get a job.

This contribution, at 12% of someone’s salary, lasts for two years. “It’s not a loan, and it’s not a debt,” says Hsu. “We purposely didn’t want to do that. There’s so many terrible experiences where people are just saddled with debt and loans.”

The program teaches coding skills, but also basics about the industry, and introduces students to a network in the tech world. The organization offers a night and weekend course along with one that meets on weekdays.

Though learning to code with no prior background was difficult, St. Louis says that one of the biggest challenges was staying focused on the work; she kept thinking about how the program could transform her life with the promise of a future salary.

Read the full article about coding school by Adele Peters at Fast Company