Hiring Hoosiers is a new initiative from RTV6 that works to connect Hoosiers to employment opportunities, career development resources, training programs and educational paths. In our Hiring Hoosiers reports we are taking a closer look at barriers to employment and things that get in the way of people getting the jobs they need to support themselves and their families. For more information, visit HiringHoosiers.com.
FISHERS — Tens of thousands of jobs available in Indiana right now are tech jobs, but many people who could fill those positions just don’t have the right skills like knowing how to code.
Eleven Fifty Academy in Fishers is looking to change that as they’ve already launched, changed, and enhanced the careers of hundreds of Hoosiers, including Autumn Henderson.
As a young mother, Henderson wanted to find a career that she was passionate about, and that would pay the bills.
“I was really worried for a long time,” Henderson said. “My parents were gracious enough to let me stay with them while I kind of figured some things out, and that was when my sister told me about Eleven Fifty Academy.”
Eleven Fifty is a 12-week immersion program where students learn how to program computers in JavaScript, Dot Net, and Python.
“In 12 weeks, they are able to graduate and get a job usually within the first two months that pays $50,000 to $70,000," Scott Jones, founder of Eleven Fifty Academy, said. "Many of them are starting at $70,000,”
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Jones says within three to five years, those coders can be making six-figure salaries.
“There’s a screaming need for coders nationwide, and in particular in Indiana," Jones said. "With all these new tech companies, our tallest building in the state is Salesforce, you have Infosys taking over the terminal of the airport, you have all these start up companies. We have a robust and rich environment of technology here and we need talent.”
So what does it take to be a coder? Good problem-solving and logic skills.
Henderson is proof of that. Coding led her to a paid internship, and then back to Eleven Fifty to teach.
All of this happening in the last 9 months.
“It’s liberating. It feels like there was a door that was closed to a lot of people who didn’t have a college degree or who didn’t have the right background and now a lot of them have that opportunity," Henderson said. "We have that foot in the door that we didn’t have before, we have those skills, the confidence not just that we can code [but] that we believe we can code and code well.”
Tuition for Eleven Fifty Academy is $13,500, but a number of scholarships are available. The Academy is also G.I. Bill Fund approved, so Veterans can attend for free.
The U.S. Department of Labor also just designated Eleven Fifty Academy as Indiana’s first registered apprenticeship program. This guarantees apprenticeships for all graduates coming through Eleven Fifty Academy employer partners and translates to guaranteed jobs.
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