Code Ramp: Building Pathways to the Tech Industry

Building training opportunities for those interested in pursuing a technical career.

Code Tenderloin’s work revolves around getting people into jobs. So you might see our coding programs and ask yourself “Why coding? That doesn’t seem like the quickest way to a job!” And that is entirely true. It is certainly not the quickest route into the workforce. But getting people their first job after reentering the workforce is just the beginning.

We think of our job placement as a multi-step process. First we get people access to an initial job, something that will help pay the bills, take care of their children, and provide a sense of stability. The next step is getting a better job, either skilling up to attain growth in their existing role or the confidence to look for a new opportunity. Finally comes the dream job. 

Our goal is to help our students ultimately live out their dream through a job they’re excited and passionate about. If students are excited about coding, tech industry jobs are additionally ideal because they pay well and typically provide a lot of stability. 

For these reasons, we’ve continued to build and invest in our coding programs and the learning journey from writing your first lines of code to being an industry-ready software developer. It makes our job just a little bit easier to know that we’re surrounded by arguably the best programming talent in the world, many of whom volunteer with Code Tenderloin’s technical programs to support our learners. We also get to work with a number of amazing partners in the tech sector, such as Twitter, Uber, Salesforce, Airbnb, PagerDuty, and Twilio.

Where We Started

In 2016, when Code Ramp first began, our focus was to create a free, introductory class for people to explore what coding is all about. We still aim to provide that opportunity for those who have no prior technical experience. But now, we’ve expanded our programs to cover much more of the learning journey, from writing a first console.log statement all the way through building a project in React.js and preparing for the technical interviewing process to land a first developer role.

As an organization we’ve been able to do this through the dedication of dozens of volunteers who contribute to developing and teaching various classes or workshops, or in many cases provide one-on-one tutoring or mentorship. We’ve also been able to expand our support through smart partnerships with some amazing organizations like Code the Dream and ShelterTech.

A January 2020 Code Ramp class in action! Since COVID-19, all classes have moved to online.

Where Our Learners Come From

Though originally founded to support the Tenderloin, we now welcome participants from across the Bay Area to take our courses. The only prerequisite is that they join us and complete our Job Readiness Program first before diving into coding. Our Job Readiness Program is the first step in gaining insight on what goes into preparing for the workforce and building confidence around career goals.

The Code Ramp Learning Journey

So what does our learning journey look like for individuals with no prior coding experience? Our learning journey starts at the beginning, getting students comfortable with basic web development skills — including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Once comfortable with the basics, some prepare for Bay Area-based bootcamps through our Code Ramp++ program. We’ve had students pursue their full-stack training at bootcamps such as Hack Reactor, Rithm School, General Assembly, Flatiron, and more.

That being said, we’ve noticed over the years that traditional software engineering bootcamps aren’t for everyone. They can still be prohibitive to join due to cost, lack of income generating activities during that period, and the intensive time commitment that prevents someone from working or caring for a family at the same time. For this reason, we’ve partnered with Code the Dream, a non-profit organization that provides people of color, immigrant and low-income communities with free, part-time, intensive coding classes, from Intro to Programming to Full-Stack web development. We are proud to work alongside Code the Dream to enable students to access a training that would otherwise be inaccessible. 

Once learners complete a bootcamp, or equivalent self-study, if that’s a better option for them, we then support them through technical job prep sessions. These focus on both non-technical topics — like best practices during the job search, resume reviews, and how to organize and plan for the job search — and technical topics — like coding challenges and technical interviewing practice.

Finally, we come to the last and perhaps the most important part of the learning journey: how to get that first job and transition into the workforce. Code Tenderloin is beginning to build out stronger partnerships around this phase, and we’re excited to see more companies stepping up and showing interest in supporting this part of the journey.

Ultimately, partnering with Code Tenderloin on this phase means supporting our job seekers in gaining real work experience, and this looks different for different partners. In the case of ShelterTech, a SF-based non-profit organization addressing homelessness through technology, our graduates were provided part-time, stipend-based work opportunities contributing to ShelterTech’s open-source project, SFServiceGuide. For other partners, this may mean providing candidate recommendations for apprenticeship or internship opportunities.

Our favorite phrase to share with students from the early days of Job Readiness and throughout the learning journey is “Once in the Code Tenderloin family, always in the Code Tenderloin family.” Wherever students are in their training, we try to be there for them and support them like family and help them get to the next step. Then, even after they land their first job in tech, we continue to offer our support and provide a community to lean on, as that transition is not an easy one!

For some of our students, it eventually comes full circle. Nothing makes me happier than getting to onboard an alum as a new Code Ramp volunteer, who’s now giving back to the organization by offering their TA or tutoring support to students who are sitting in the same shoes they were in only a couple years earlier.

Join Us!

Interested in being part of the Code Tenderloin family as a student, volunteer, or partner? We’d be thrilled to have you!

Code Tenderloin is always looking for more volunteers to support our technical programs — from instructors, teaching assistants, tutors, mentors, career coaches, and more. No matter what your expertise, we have a place for you. Visit the volunteer page to get started.

Potential students should visit our Job Readiness page to learn more and signup, as this program is the prerequisite for our technical programs.

Organizations or companies interested in discussing partnership opportunities should reach out to hello@codetenderloin.org.