There is significant demand among Northeast Ohio technology companies for qualified job candidates. Recent survey results from the Northeast Ohio Software Association suggest employers in the technology industry, the association’s core members, have an ongoing need for talent.
That’s good news for Anthony Hughes, president of the Software Craftsmanship Guild, a newly formed technical school that teaches software development. He says demand for software developers is also coming from native Ohio industries, such as manufacturing businesses, that are readily incorporating technology and software to help make better business decisions and drive greater efficiencies.
“They’re increasingly hiring and growing their IT departments, which includes a large chunk of software developers,” Hughes says.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a 22 percent increase in employment for software developers between 2012 and 2022, double the average for all occupations. The Software Guild is hoping it can be central to churning out candidates to meet that demand faster than traditional universities and with skills that are more immediately applicable.
No-frills approach
Hughes says the school expects to graduate just north of 100 students this year, and he’s boasting a 95 percent placement rate, noting that 85 percent of enrolled students are offered a job before they graduate. That success rate can be attributed to the no-frills approach the Guild takes to education.
Eric Wise, chief academic officer and co-founder, says the boot camp-style curriculum has a much higher intensity level than traditional higher education offers in the discipline of software development. The 12-week program has students putting in 70 to 80 hours a week, a workload that requires their full attention, and students are being taught by industry practitioners.
“We’ve been enterprise consultants, we work in the field, and many of us still work in the field doing side work and projects to kind of stay sharp,” Wise says.
The Software Guild’s approach is in contrast to the typical college method of teaching developers, which Wise says is doing little to show students how disparate technologies weave together in an enterprise environment.
“When you go into a business, they want you to take that job application and hook it up to that database,” Wise says. “They want you to make sure that it’s tested, and QAD, and specked out, and rigorous (tests) are applied to it, and those are things that are not covered in college.
“College is more theoretical. They teach you the basics. They teach you the constructs, but they don’t teach you the weaving.”
Hughes makes another distinction: “We don’t have fraternities and sororities. We don’t have a sports team. We have classrooms, instructors and very hungry learners, and we have a network of 70 employers who are literally ready to hire these people right away (because) they have the skills that the employers want.”
The Software Guild is not full of high school graduates looking for their first jobs. Many of the students have four-year degrees, have had significant working experience and are looking for a career change. He describes the coursework as a “no frills, rapid skill acquisition process,” that comes at a cost of $10,000. Students see the tuition as an investment with a clear return timetable and not debt, Hughes says, largely because of the school’s high job placement rate.
Another component the Software Guild emphasizes in its graduates are soft skills. To that end, the school employs an assessment test, which Wise says about half of all applicants fail.
“We’re looking for soft skills. We’re looking for good communicators. We’re looking for passion for software development, and yeah, we eliminate slightly more than half of the people that apply right out of the gate,” Wise says.
Attraction, retention
What’s more remarkable than the placement rate is that some 50 percent of graduates are from out of state and they’re electing to stay and work here once they’re through with school.
Wise tells the story of a guy from California, a newlywed who planned on graduating, going back to California and starting a career.
“And then he comes out here and he starts seeing, ‘Wow, on a junior developer salary I can have a house with a yard to raise my new family and my financial risk is a lot lower. I can build up a good net worth here much faster than I could out in the Valley.’ And he ends up staying.”
More than just out-of-state students, the Guild is attracting students from outside the country. Hughes says applications have recently come in from Australia, Kenya, Singapore and South Africa.
“We’ve spent a lot time in the region wringing our hands about what’s happening to our youth,” Hughes says. “They’re moving away and we don’t have the opportunities for them. Yet the Software Craftsmanship Guild is changing that paradigm by bringing people in from places who never considered Northeast Ohio as a place to build their career.”
Exceeding expectations
The Software Guild has come a long way, Wise says, from operating on a shoestring budget with seven students to a school that has exceeded his expectations.
“I always had confidence that I was a good trainer and that I could do things the right way, but I mean, it’s very different in that first class when I was filling seats up until the last minute and wondering if I was going to get enough students to even keep myself afloat, to being sold out a quarter in advance,” Wise says. “I’m thrilled. I can’t even describe it. It’s nearly unheard of in the startup world to have this much success this quickly.”
