BerkshiresCanCode Announces Launch of Initial Program: Front-End Web Development Course to Begin May 10
NORTH ADAMS, MASS. – CanCode Communities, a nonprofit organization training non-traditional talent for software career opportunities, today announced the launch of its initial BerkshiresCanCode program: Front-End Web Development. Registration is now open for the 12-week course, which starts on May 10 and runs through July 26.
This is the first course to be offered by BerkshiresCanCode, which represents a close collaboration between CanCode Communities, educational partner Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and community partners Berkshire Innovation Center and 1Berkshire. BerkshiresCanCode delivers programs that upskill residents for tech career opportunities, and assist employers by developing a pool of highly skilled software coders, developers and engineers.
The Front-End Web Development course will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:45 to 8:45 p.m., and offered in a hybrid format: in person at MCLA-Pittsfield, 66 Allen Street, and online in a virtual environment. More information and registration are available at https://cancode.org/course/berkshirescancode-front-end-web-development/.
“We’re thrilled to offer our first-ever adult workforce course through BerkshiresCanCode, and to begin to serve this rapidly expanding community of software and technology companies,” said Annmarie Lanesey, Founder and CEO of CanCode Communities. “It’s exciting to work with untapped talent and equip people with the skills to pursue lucrative tech careers, while also ensuring the presence of a diverse and vibrant talent pipeline that supports the region’s high-tech aspirations.”
The Front-End Web Development course includes tutorials, assignments, and individual and group projects that give students hands-on practice in building the pieces of code that determine how an online experience feels, and connects the user experience with the data-crunching processes of the back end. Through lecture and individual assignments, students will establish solid foundations in the key tools used by front-end developers: HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, Git and GitHub. The latter part of the course features team-based portfolio-building projects for community organizations, giving students real-world experience in web design and development.
The course may be of particular interest to graphic designers, as it teaches the technical skills necessary for UI (user interface) development and wire-framing. The course may also be attractive to beginning programmers with aspirations to create mobile applications, as it establishes foundations in JavaScript that support eventual progression into Full-Stack Web Development.
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Vice President of Academic Affairs Richard Glejzer, Ph.D. said, “CanCode Communities offers wonderful programs for people seeking new and better opportunities. We are so excited to be able to welcome CanCode to Berkshire County and are looking forward to the development of a great partnership with BerkshiresCanCode.”
Berkshire County Superintendents’ Roundtable Executive Secretary Bill Ballen said, “We are looking forward to continuing our constructive relationship with BerkshiresCanCode, which has already spurred several professional development opportunities for Berkshire County educators. In addition, we are excited to be partnering with BerkshiresCanCode in planning new programs for the next school year, including a coding initiative for high school students that will launch this fall.”
Berkshire Innovation Center Executive Director Ben Sosne said, “The Berkshire Innovation Center is committed to making sure that Berkshire County is a statewide leader in terms of preparing our students and workers for the high-tech jobs of today and of the future. We were eager to help bring the CanCode team to the County in pursuit of this objective and are absolutely thrilled to see their continued growth and collaboration with our academic partners. Programs like this are essential to making sure that our local businesses have the talent they need to meet their growth potential.”
1Berkshire Director of Economic Development Ben Lamb said, “Through our work with the Berkshire Blueprint 2.0, and our more recent efforts through the Berkshire Tech Impact Collaborative, we know we absolutely need to grow specific supports that will allow for a robust digital and tech-enabled economy to expand and thrive here in order to keep up with the future of work and industry. We are extremely excited to have CanCode as a major new asset to meet that challenge, and additionally helping us achieving our future goals of the Berkshires becoming a true rural innovation hub. The quality of program, and the immense amount of work that Annmarie and her team are bringing to the table have the potential to spur a huge tech-enabled workforce capacity boost, which is exactly what we need right now.”
Launched in 2016 as AlbanyCanCode and rebranded last year, CanCode Communities now includes 7 entities: AlbanyCanCode, KingstonCanCode, NewAmericansCanCode, SaratogaCanCode, HerkimerCanCode, NewYorkCanCode, and BerkshiresCanCode. More than 300 students have graduated from its courses, securing tech jobs with leading employers – including Accenture, Goldman Sachs, New York State Office of Information Technology Services, MVP Healthcare, and Zones, among others – and receiving average annual salary increases exceeding $18,000.
For more information, visit www.cancode.org.
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About CanCode Communities
A 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2016, CanCode Communities develops non-traditional talent and advocates for a vibrant, inclusive tech talent pipeline. The organization designs and delivers workforce training courses, hands-on K-12 coding programs, and community code literacy workshops in alignment with the needs of employers, educators, talent and the community in general. Its mission is to shift mindset about who can work in technology, remove cultural and economic barriers to joining the tech workforce, and establish and promote pathways to tech careers throughout the region. For more, visit www.cancode.org.
Contact:
Steve Janack
Principal, The Janack Group
(518) 810-8050 | steve@thejanackgroup.com
About MCLA:
At MCLA, we’re here for all — and focused on each — of our students. Classes are taught by educators who care deeply about teaching, and about seeing their students thrive on every level of their lives. In nearly every way possible, the experience at MCLA is designed to elevate our students as individuals, as leaders, communicators, fully empowered to make their impressions on the world. In addition to our 127-year commitment to public education, we have fortified our commitment to equitable academic excellence. For nine of the last 11 years, MCLA has been named a Top Ten College by U.S. News and World Report. MCLA also appears on the organization’s list of top National Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Since the list was created, MCLA has risen to #21 as a Top Performer on Social Mobility and ranks first among all Massachusetts schools, which measures how well schools graduate students who receive Federal Pell Grants.