Code Convoy: Seriously Considering A Career In Web Coding Or Development?

If you’re an age 18+ NE Wisconsin civic hacker who is seriously considering web design or development as a full-time career, Code Convoy is a great opportunity for you!

Code Convoy is a free event on September 19, 2015, from 7:30 AM to 5 PM in Green Bay, Wisconsin at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College’s Corporate Conference Center.

NE Wisconsin residents are encouraged to register for Code Convoy,

“to try out Web design or development as a potential career path. We don't assume any previous knowledge, but we strongly encourage a deep interest in technology, problem solving and learning new things. The only other requirement [other than age] is that you are seriously considering Web design or development as a full-time career. Code Convoy is a day-long event where you'll work through a self-paced curriculum with instruction and support from experienced

developers and your peers.”

If you want motivation to become a coder, read the July 2015 NYT article “As Tech Booms, Workers Turn to Coding for Career Change.”

“After Paul Minton graduated from college, he worked as a waiter, but always felt he should do more. So Mr. Minton, a 26-year-old math major, took a three-month course in computer programming and data analysis. As a waiter, he made $20,000 a year. His starting salary last year as a data scientist at a web start-up here was more than $100,000. 

“Six figures, right off the bat,” Mr. Minton said. “To me, it was astonishing.” 

Stories like his are increasingly familiar these days as people across a spectrum of jobs — poker players, bookkeepers, baristas — are shedding their past for a future in the booming tech industry. The money sloshing around in technology is cascading beyond investors and entrepreneurs into the broader digital work force, especially to those who can write modern code, the language of the digital world...”

Here are five things to keep in mind when reading the NYT article and thinking about Code Convoy:

1. Paul Minton was a math major, so his high-paying coder job working in data analysis was a natural career path.
2. On the other hand, many people who are coders now majored in psychology, art, music or other non-STEM fields.
3. Paul Minton did his coder training at Galvanize, which is a whole different animal than taking a three month coder-training program somewhere in NE Wisconsin. Galvanize does a lot more than just teach you to be able to code. We need the NE Wisconsin equivalent of Galvanize, but it’s unlikely we’ll get it because of the region’s conservative culture, relatively stable economy, lack of a significant tech industry, and lack of influential people willing to make something like that happen.
4. Most coder jobs that pay $100,000 for someone with relatively little experience are going to be located somewhere other than NE Wisconsin. It appears Mr. Minton’s job was probably in the San Francisco area.
5. Many developers in NE Wisconsin will get jobs that pay well for the area, but not every developer will. Some developers living in the area work remotely for companies in Chicago or other areas, and those jobs can pay much better than average coder jobs at companies based in NE Wisconsin. Also, I was told that in the Sheboygan, Wisconsin, area there are many developer jobs that are open just because they can’t find enough people to fill them.

The Code Convoy event is organized and sponsored by Headway and Digital Fertilizer. If you know of companies in NE Wisconsin who want to help support this effort to have more high-paying tech jobs and more developers in our region, please connect them with the Code Convoy organizers at info@headway.io!

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