FARGO — Emerging Prairie has announced plans to launch what officials are calling North Dakota's first coding school.
According to a press release issued Wednesday, Dec. 4, "North Dakota’s first (and only) immersive Full Stack Engineering Academy will address the growing need for software development talent in North Dakota and will empower workers within the region to learn industry-relevant skills. In just five months, the academy will provide students with the Full Stack Development skills necessary to immediately succeed at new tech careers."
Emerging Digital Academy will begin offering classes in April of 2020 at the Black Building, 118 Broadway, provided construction is complete. If the space is unavailable, classes will be held next door at the Prairie Den or another location on a temporary basis.
Blaine Booher has been tapped to lead Emerging Digital Academy. While in graduate school at the University of Cincinnati, he started a consulting company focused on a variety of web-connected technology projects. Since moving to Fargo in 2013, he has taught workshops at Girl Develop It, uCodeGirl and Arise Communities. He is also the organizer of the annual Fargo Hackathon Programming competition.
Recent data shows North Dakota college graduates only meet 20% of the statewide need for software engineers. Emerging Digital Academy hopes to help bridge this gap by graduating up to 60 software engineers in 2020.
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Class sizes are limited to 20 students for this 20-week program dedicated to both online learning and real-life classroom projects. No prior programming experience is necessary.
Course tuition is $15,500. A $1,500 downpayment is required upon acceptance to secure a spot. For more information about the program and financing, visit www.emergingacademy.org .