We are a not-for-profit organization founded in June 2016, dedicated to the vision of a talent-fueled pipeline for our region’s software sector. To build this pipeline, we work with employers, educators, and community organizations to identify, train, and advocate employment of people with the skills to work in software and IT jobs.

The goal is to remove the economic and cultural barriers to working in technology. We want our region to have an inclusive, vibrant, and expert pipeline of technologists. Part of that mission involves changing mindset in our region about who can be a technologist, and how to evaluate candidates for technology jobs.

We work locally with talent, educators, and employers to invent new solutions to an entrenched, namely the disconnect between three points:

• employers who need particular skills;
• non traditional talent who can build those skills; and
• local educators who could be teaching those skills.

With employers, we listen. We appreciate informal meetings with developers, CTO’s, HR and strategy management. When we know you better, we can recommend candidates, gather input on curriculum, support your meetups, and connect your staff to volunteer and mentorship opportunities.

In workforce,  we build coding and computer science curriculum for adults; we recruit and screen applicants to find hidden gems in the talent market; we deliver curriculum and workshops that prepare those adult students for technical jobs; we guide our students to them to find the right technical and cultural fit.  About a third of our graduates have broken through salary barriers; some have been hired as apprentice developers, others have increased their pay grade significantly by bringing their new technical skills into their existing careers.

In K12, we work with districts to overcome obstacles to educating a 21st century workforce.  We design and deliver employer panels, teacher training, instructional tools, and in-class support. It’s all to break down the barriers to an early embrace of computer science.  Students, teachers, and administrators we work with say they have new understanding of how to make computer science accessible.

For the workforce classes, they are locals aged 18 to 60.  We screen for demonstrated aptitude and motivation; we

look for work ethic, problem solving and communication skills.

They are passionate, self-taught coders from numerous walks of life.  Almost-graduates of 4-year computer science programs; 2-year computer science degree holders; young and mid-career economists, geologists, mathematicians, IT staff, graphic designers, and marketing professionals.  Among our most gifted students… a videographer, a trumpet player, an ex-marine, and a dental hygienist.

So many options!

Sponsor a few pizzas for our student workshops. Introduce staff who might want to lead a lab or code challenge in a mentor a workforce class meeting, or drop into a K12 activity. Invite us in to give a brown bag talk about non-traditional talent. Interview one of our graduates. Introduce us to your HR team. Write us a check. Talk to us about an internship program.

The Talent section on this website is a sneak peek at some representative graduates. If you have a job to post or a project to staff, email info@albanycancode.org.

More than 180 people have applied to be students at AlbanyCanCode; we see a lot of talent from varied backgrounds, in different stages.  Among our applicants, we see technical writers, project managers, recruiters, designers, teachers, artists, IT professionals and database administrators.

Beyond the prospective students, dozens of software professionals –  developers in-between jobs, new to the area, or on sabbatical – have contacted us to ask about teaching and mentoring.  If you’re open to thinking out of the box, we might have a candidate for you.

Stakeholder engagement. If you share the vision of a talent-fueled tech sector in our region, you’re a stakeholder.  What are the opportunities? Challenges? Our very minimal staff coordinate and organize brainstorms, launch pilots where different stakeholders bring energy and resource to the table, measure and adjust. We’re not here to sell product or services; we’re here to be nimble, resourceful, and practical in solving problems as part of an ecosystem.

That said, we do cover some costs with income from tuition and from K12 projects. The rest of our costs are covered by sponsorships and grants.