Careers in Code Cohort 2 Is In Full Swing!
We’re excited to announce that the second cohort of Careers in Code is in full swing! Students are currently doing a deep dive into the curriculum and are quickly learning the skills required to become software developers.
For more information
Careers in Code is a coding bootcamp that teaches computer programming to women and minorities to help combat poverty in Central NY. We provide students with the technical skills they need to obtain internships and entry level software development jobs with local employers after 24 weeks of instruction. For more more information, visit the Careers in Code website.
What Students Are Learning
Feel free to view our curriculum to see what students are learning.
Keep up with classes via the Livestream
Follow along with our coding bootcamp via the YouTube livestream every Monday–Thursday from 5:30–8:30pm. Archived classes can be found on our YouTube channel, so you can keep up with our second student cohort and learn how to code wherever you are.
Kickoff Ceremony
Cohort 2 was launched through the program’s first virtual kickoff held on Thursday, March 11th, 2021. This was an informal networking opportunity between accepted students, instructors, and partners of the program. Following the kickoff and networking portion, students stayed for a virtual orientation. You can view the live stream of the event here.
A HUGE thank you to CenterState CEO, Le Moyne College & Erie 21 Initiative, and JP Morgan Chase for all of their tremendous support to make the second cohort of Careers in Code possible.
Local employers were also introduced for students to learn about them, their organizations and potential internship and entry-level positions that are available at their companies for students upon graduation. Here are a few local employers that attended the virtual kickoff meeting:
Meet Our Students
Introducing the Second Cohort of Careers in Code Students!
We’re so fortunate to have a group of 16 students from around Central New York joining us for our second cohort. They all have amazing stories and backgrounds — get to know them on our latest blog introducing our second cohort!
What Our Students Are Proud Of
Each week, students submit feedback to us where they are asked to tell us one thing that made them feel proud. We’re thrilled to be able to share some of their responses with you.
- Ariel Murphy
- Module 1, Week 1 — I got through the first week. It sounds so simple but life (and the flu) came up my first week, I still focused on learning the programs, researching for my capstone, and organizing my material at home to stay on top of everything. I also now know what a scrum master is.
- Module 2, Week 2 — I really enjoyed the invision time to work on the wireframes. I needed that practice to feel like my design wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. (I have always done backend better than front end)
- La’Tonia Mertica
- Module 2, Week 3, I felt proud when I saw my news site project done, and each time I went back into the code to tweak things. That’s part of my greatest gratification as a graphic designer — focusing on the finer details. And to be able to do that in code felt awesome. It helped me to better see opportunities for what I can achieve in code as I progress.
- Module 3, Week 4, I feel proud that I’ve kept pace. And, am in a great position to use Friday/the weekend to stay current with my job readiness plan, tinker with my Capstone idea/plan, and comfortably address other stuff I need to — such as a comprehensive consult for a client.
- Brielle Dailey
- Module 3, Week 1, I was happy to think I was already familiar with a lot of the semantic HTML tags.
- Module 2, Week 2, I finished all 24 levels of Flex Box Foggy in less than half an hour 😀
- Carolyn Ann Sprague
- Module 2, Week 3, I created my own version of the news site page and learned a lot walking through the code for myself after reviewing the video from the other night’s class.
- Module 3 Week 4, I came up with my idea for my Capstone. Wahoo!!
- Module 3, Week 5, I didn’t get discouraged; and I enjoyed the homework and practice exercises, even though I sometimes felt like I was trying to row the coding boat using my hands instead of oars. I did know when it was time to pause, though, at least for now, so I could work on the other important tasks at hand. I plan to, and have been, popping into the code a bit here and there as time allows to see if I can figure it out, and I think I’ve made a little progress (albeit in kind of a one step forward, two hops backward sort of way).
- Fobealia Barrett-Wynn
- Module 2, Week 3, Completing the week and looking forward to a new week!
- Module 2, Week 2, Being able to complete the week with perfect attendance’’
Coding From Home
Students and staff got together and decided it would be fun to share their virtual learning/teaching environments. We were excited to take a peek at the different layouts and equipment used.
Capstone Demo Days
Over the duration of the program, students will create an individual capstone project on something they are passionate about. Students talk about problems they are solving, and discuss with instructors and their students about what they are building. A bi-weekly demo day is held to allow students to demonstrate how they are using what they’ve learned in class to start building their capstone ideas. You can view our capstone demo day here. We’re so proud of our students’ progress so far!
Mentorship
We recently launched our mentorship page on our website, allowing students to set up 1–1 time with instructors, teaching assistants, and folks from our community. During these sessions, students get help with homework, projects, and their capstone project.
If you’re interested in volunteering as a mentor to support a student’s journey of becoming a software developer, please take a moment to fill out our mentor sign up form. We’ll follow up to match you with a student based on your experience and our student needs.
Guest Speakers
We’re excited to announce that our first guest speaker was Will Guisbond, former program manager for Hack Upstate. He spoke to the students about the importance of staying organized and advised organization/calendar apps and simple everyday strategies students could use to help them throughout the program. View his presentation here.
Our Career Coach
Our new career coach, Laura Thorne, is helping to ensure our students are prepared to enter their job search with confidence. Learn more about her here and be sure to give her a very warm Hack Upstate welcome!
Job Openings
- Tuzag
- UX/UI & Front-end developer
- Upstate Interactive
- Ethereum Smart Contract Developer
- Product Owner
- Sidearm Sports
- Full stack developer
- Mobile app developer
- Senior front end developer
- Cornell
- Web Developer (reference number WDR-00024144)
- Foundry
- NOC Engineer
- Marketing Communications Manager
- Software Engineer
- IMS Direct
- Full Stack Web Developer
- Elation Clinical First Electronic Health Records
- Customer Experience
- Engineers
- You can find in demand jobs on CNY Works here.
You can find additional partner job openings here. If you’re looking for a job or hiring, hit us up!
Upcoming Events
With all local meetups hosted virtually, you can join them even if you are no longer based in Syracuse. Come out and support the Central New York tech community!
- OpenHack: Remote Show-n-Tell (Tuesday, May 11, 2021, 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM EST, Every 2nd Tuesday of the month)
- OpenHack is a casual social coding meetup with a simple purpose: Code together, on anything. Join our Zoom.
- If you have something, bring it to Show-n-Tell. This can be something you’ve created, or something interesting you’ve discovered recently. Feel free to bring a friend!
- Mentor️ Ship: Becoming a Mentor (Thursday, May 13, 2021, 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM EST, Every 2nd Thursday of the month)
- Coalition of Digital Engagements in Syracuse, Inc a 501(c3) non-profit (CODES) is an organization of people who are interested in digital technology for the public good. We are about mentoring, organizing, and investing in people. Whether they are entirely new to the world of digital technology or born-and-raised digital natives, we are here to provide for and support all people. Check out https://www.codesyracuse.org
- Women In Code (WIC) Class (Saturday, May 8, 2021, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM EST, Every 2nd Saturday of the month)
- Women In Coding hosts a monthly meetup on the second Saturday of the month. Each month we’ll be teaching and group programming in a different language/topic. Usually no previous coding experience is necessary, although some familiarity with basic HTML and CSS can be helpful
- Language/Topic: TBA
- Syracuse JavaScript Meetup | Open Office Hours (Tuesday, May 18, 2021, 6:00 PM, 7:00 PM EST, Every 3rd Tuesday of the month)
- We are a group dedicated to discussing and working with the JavaScript programming language. Send a question to peterbutlersmith@gmail.com with the text “SYR(JS)” in the subject and I will answer it on the Zoom, record it, and publish it for everyone.
Please check out the Syracuse Software Development Meetup for the latest events.
If you have an upcoming event that you would like to promote, please email jesse@hackupstate.com.
What We Wrote
Introducing the Second Cohort of Careers in Code Students!
We began our coding bootcamp on March 15, 2021 with a group of 16 students from around Central New York. They all have amazing stories and backgrounds — get to know them on our latest blog introducing our second cohort!
10 min read
Interested in writing for Hack Upstate? Send an email to jesse@hackupstate.com.
COVID-19 Technology Innovation and Trends
- 10 technology trends to watch in the COVID-19 pandemic
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, technologies are playing a crucial role in keeping our society functional in a time of lockdowns and quarantines. And these technologies may have a long-lasting impact beyond COVID-19.Here are 10 technology trends that can help build a resilient society, as well as considerations about their effects on how we do business, how we trade, how we work, how we produce goods, how we learn, how we seek medical services and how we entertain ourselves.
- Five Ways Tech is Being Used to Fight COVID-19
- While the fight against COVID-19 continues, people and businesses are finding ways to help fight the virus. While the White House announced it’s making supercomputing resources available to researchers worldwide, businesses and individuals are also coming up with ways to use technology to fight COVID-19.
- From dining pods to see-through masks: 6 ways innovations are helping in the pandemic
- From virus-slaying air purifiers to delivery robots, how university inventions are fighting COVID-19
- With the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) sweeping across continents and affecting many millions, health authorities, policy-makers and scientists, innovators around the world are racing to invent ways to contain the further spread of the virus. It is our unwavering belief that universities are — and should always be — contributing to this collective fight against this and future severe and potentially long-lasting public health crises
If you have additional events, stories, or resources, please send them to us and we’ll promote them through our channels and our next newsletter.
COVID-19 Resources
- Onondaga County Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information Vaccine Information.
- Universal Eligibility — Beginning Tuesday, April 6, everyone age 16 and over in New York State is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine! The Pfizer vaccine is approved for individuals age 16 and older, while Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are approved for ages 18 and up.
- Learn about the City’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Do you have questions about the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)? Watch this update from Mayor Walsh, County Executive Ryan McMahon, and Commissioner of Health Dr. Indu Gupta to learn about the city and the county’s response and prevention measures. Further questions? Call the New York State Department of Health hotline at 1–888–364–3065 to speak with an expert.
- Onondaga County COVID-19 Testing & Information Center
- Get relevant and up-to-date information regarding testing centers, current case numbers in the county, active restrictions, and more.
- NYS Department of Health
- To protect, improve and promote the health, productivity and well-being of all New Yorkers, especially during this pandemic
- Center for Disease Control COVID-19 Hub
- CDC works 24/7 to protect America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.
- Volunteer CNY
- In this time of need, you can help. Find volunteer opportunities to assist with the COVID-19 situation in Onondaga County by visiting volunteercny.org or calling 315–428–2229 to sign up.
- CNY / Onondaga County COVID-19 Data Dashboard
- A breakdown of Onondaga County, NY COVID-19 Cases (confirmed, active, and recovered) by Municipality.
