Code School Opening in American Tobacco

Kicking down doors and busting through glass ceilings is just another day in the life for aspiring coders in Durham. Now there will be a new code school in Durham to help men and women learn skills in Java, CSS, HTML, Ruby on Rails, and other software languages that are needed for successful careers in technology.

A new code academy, The Iron Yard, is coming to Durham in June at the American Tobacco Campus.The school will partner with Smashing Boxes, a Durham-based technology shop to bring the intensive classes to life. This partnership is just another example of the growing technology sector in Durham, and the integral nature of thriving partnerships in the community.

The code school will hold 12-week courses that will combine practical application, mentorship, collaboration, and teaching, all within close proximity to successful Durham tech entrepreneurs at places like the American Underground and the Startup Factory, just two of many such entities here in town. Students will graduate from the school with the necessary skills to be hired as junior-level coders. There are an abundance of these kinds of jobs in Durham, and this school hopes to close the gap between skilled workers and the need for them.

The Iron Yard will join the ranks of Durham's educational institutions like North Carolina Central University, Duke University, and Durham Tech which prepare talented students to enter the workforce. The new school will also contribute to the growing technology buzz in Durham, already identified and affirmed by Google with its Tech Hub partnership with American Underground. That partnership allows technology developers to interact and have access to Google developers and products.

The Iron Yard and Smashing Boxes aim to teach students who have little or no prior development knowledge. This speaks to the inclusive nature of the technology community in Durham, where diversity is valued and encouraged. Recently Google helped fund Soar, a Durham-based program that connects women entrepreneurs with capital needed to help close the gender gap in entrepreneurship. These programs are just a couple of examples of how the Durham community seeks to support all of its members.

Look online to discover more reasons why Durham is a great place to visit, work, and do business.