Code Academy, Chicago’s premier 11 week code learning program, announced that it has partnered with 37signals and rebranded itself as The Starter League this week. 37signals has additionally made an investment into the code learning startup — a first for both companies.
“When creating our company, we modeled it off of 37signals,” said The Starter League co-founder Michael McGee. “Fast-forward a year and we are now partnering with them to teach a new class Rails for Designers and empower more people to do what they love. We are both strongly opinionated companies that want to make Chicago the best place in the world to solve meaningful problems.”
Since Code Academy’s launch less than a year ago more nearly 300 students have come through the program to learn the Ruby on Rails, HTML, CSS, and UX design. With the new partnership, the program will be adding two additional Ruby on Rails courses: one targeted at teaching advanced developers and the other made for designers looking to learn the back-end of web development. Partnering with 37signals will also expand the program’s offering of mentors, space for classes, range of topics, and internship offerings following the coding courses.
The rebranding of Code Academy to The Starter League was done with the purpose of properly presenting the ambitions of the Chicago coding school, whose aim is to do more than simply teach its students how to write code. “We wanted to provide a path for people who wanted to start change — in their industries, in their communities, in their lives,” the company said. “To us, being a Starter means so much more than just being able to write code; it’s about being driven to do something meaningful with it.”
This new approach to building a community of coders additionally makes each of the 300 alumni of Code Academy continue to be part of the program into the future, as they create new ventures and collaborate with one another on projects. McGee’s ultimate goal is to raise a community-conscious environment of coders who will continue to maintain their passion and work together long after they’ve become coding masters in their own right.
Check out the fresh new Starter League website to find out more information about its coding classes and community offerings. The Fall application deadline is September 16th, so don’t hesitate if you’ve been looking to launch your new career in web development.
