Wild Code School, one of Europe’s biggest coding institutions, will host up to 300 students once its Dublin, Cork and Galway centres are up and running.
Dublin will be home to the first Irish branch of Wild Code School at The Digital Hub in the Liberties starting this week. The organisation plans to expand to Cork and Galway by 2025, bringing its total number of students from 45 to 300.
Its founder, Anna Stépanoff, said at the launch today (7 January) that Dublin was chosen because of the ongoing demand for skilled tech employees across the country. Founded in 2014, Wild Code School operates in 24 sites across Europe offering five-month coding bootcamps aimed at rapidly meeting skills gaps in the tech sector.
“Ireland has been established for a number of years now as a hub for international tech companies, and that brings with it huge demand for workers with up-to-date tech skills,” Stépanoff said.
“In the wake of Brexit, I believe even more opportunities will open up in Ireland for those with the skills that leading employers need.”
The new Dublin campus’ manager, Marek Wystepek, said that its major focus for this year is to train 45 students in web development and data analysis.
“As part of our expansion, we also plan to create 14 full-time jobs with Wild Code School in Ireland,” he said.
“Obviously, by turning out job-ready graduates with highly sought-after skills, we’ll also be contributing significantly to meeting current skills needs.”
Wild Code School also announced that it has teamed up with the charity Dress for Success Dublin to offer five full scholarships, worth €7,800 each, to women interested in taking up coding. The successful candidates will be starting their courses this week.
Speaking on the issue of diversity, Stépanoff said: “Every time a new app or product is created, it’s usually going to be used by both women and men, so it’s imperative that women are involved in all aspects of the development to improve the user experience.
“Currently, 30pc of students on Wild Code School programmes across Europe are women. In Ireland, I’d love to see us reaching a 50/50 gender balance, as well as expanding our campuses to Cork and Galway.”
