Kaplan and App-Maker thoughtbot Giving Scholarships for Web Development Bootcamp
Kaplan Test Prep -- the company best known for getting hundreds of thousands of high school students ready to take their college entrance exams -- is partnering with app-maker "thoughtbot" to give scholarships to minorities interested in becoming professional web developers.
The scholarships, according to the Wall Street Journal, are upwards of $2,000, and go towards paying for Metis, a new "bootcamp" that trains people to become professional web developers using the cutting-edge programming language Ruby on Rails.
The scholarship is specific to the Metis program and open to students with backgrounds that are underrepresented in the technology sector, among whom are women, African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos -- which represent only about six percent of technology and mathematics occupations currently. In software development, application, or systems jobs, only five percent are Hispanic.
Kaplan and thoughtbot hope Metis is a fast track to a technology career, as Ruby on Rails is one of the most agile, scalable, and in-demand web and app development frameworks that many high-profile consumer web firms are adopting. Metis also trains people with related cutting-edge development tools, like HTML5: ERB and CSS: Sass, as well as JavaScript and Git. Giving underrepresented minorities a starting chance to learn with a scholarship may quickly make a difference.
"As the technology sector continues to grow, we need to take steps to create more avenues from underrepresented demographic groups who will bring diverse ideas to continue driving the exponential economic industry growth," said Jason Moss, co-founder of Metis, to The Wall Street Journal. "This scholarship is a step toward supporting a more diverse workforce."
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