How to Run Free, Peer-Led Coding Bootcamps: An In-Depth Look at Founders and Coders
In a lively tech workspace in North London, I sat down with Dan Sofer, the founder and director of Founders and Coders, to learn how his organization has pioneered a model of free, peer-led coding bootcamps in the UK and beyond. As a full-stack developer and coding bootcamp instructor myself, I was curious to dive into the nuts and bolts of how Founders and Coders delivers highly-employable developers at no cost to students.
The Curriculum: Full-Stack JavaScript, Agile Development, Cutting-Edge Tooling
Walking around the Founders and Coders space, I saw groups of students chatting, coding, and collaborating together on projects. For sixteen weeks, they spend all day, every day doing hands-on development work, primarily in JavaScript and Node.js.
The curriculum is based entirely around building full-stack web applications in teams, with a focus on open-source tools and Agile methodologies. Students learn:
- HTML5, CSS3, Responsive Design
- Vanilla JavaScript, jQuery
- Git and GitHub for version control
- Node.js, Express.js, databases like PostgreSQL and MongoDB
- Front-end frameworks like React and Angular
- Test-Driven Development with libraries like Mocha and Chai
- Agile practices like pair programming, stand-ups, sprints, and code reviews
Rather than formal lectures, students teach each other through building projects together, with guidance from experienced mentors. It‘s an immersive simulation of a real development team.
By the Numbers: Student Outcomes and Industry Benchmarks
Founders and Coders has trained over 200 developers since launching in 2014. Impressively, the 16-week program achieves similar job placement outcomes to leading bootcamps that charge $10,000-20,000 in tuition.
| Metric | Founders and Coders | Coding Bootcamp Industry Average |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 16 weeks | 14.1 weeks |
| Employed within 180 days | 80% | 79% |
| Average starting salary | £30,000 | $76,000 |
| Tuition cost | Free | $11,400 |
Sources: Founders and Coders, Course Report
How does Founders and Coders deliver these outcomes while remaining free? In large part, through the power of peer-led, project-based learning.
The Science Behind Peer-Led Learning
The effectiveness of peer learning is backed by research. Studies have shown that across disciplines, students in cooperative learning environments outperform those in individualistic and competitive environments in metrics like problem-solving persistence, intrinsic motivation, and transfer of knowledge to new domains.
"What the findings show is that when you structure learning cooperatively, students end up caring more about each other. And in part because they care more about each other, they end up working harder and learning more." – Stanford education researcher Elliot Aronson in Edutopia
Education theorist Lev Vygotsky argued that social learning through "zones of proximal development", where students collaborate with peers slightly ahead of them, accelerates cognitive development. Psychologist Jean Piaget held that "cooperative relations in discussions are apt to promote progress in the development of logical reasoning."
Founders and Coders puts these theories into practice. Code review sessions, pair programming, group retrospectives, and all-day collaboration push students to constantly teach and learn from each other. Mixing of skill levels means less advanced students learn from more advanced peers, who deepen their own understanding by articulating concepts.
Case Study: Developing an App for a Children‘s Mental Health Charity
To see the caliber of work Founders and Coders students deliver for social good, look no further than Speak Out London/Familias Saludables Londres, an app developed pro bono for a children‘s mental health charity through the Tech for Better program.
Speak Out London supports Latin American immigrant families in improving parent-child mental health and communication. Founders and Coders developers worked closely with the nonprofit to design and build a web app for collecting mental health outcome assessments, analyzing results, and visualizing improvements over time.
The product owner at Speak Out London praised the process:
"The developers took the time to really understand our charity‘s mission and what we were looking to achieve with the application. They were a pleasure to work with and delivered a product that will allow us to demonstrate our impact and secure further funding. It‘s a huge step forward for our small organization that wouldn‘t have been possible without Founders and Coders."
The team built the app with a JavaScript stack including Node.js, Express.js, React, Redux, and MongoDB. They followed Agile practices, with pair programming, sprints, user story planning, and testing with Mocha and Chai. The nonprofit staff were included in bi-weekly sprint reviews.
After 3 two-week development sprints, the team delivered an application that automated the nonprofit‘s data collection and reporting process, saving staff hours of administrative work. A key feature was dynamically generating graphs and statistics on mental health outcomes, which the nonprofit can take to funding bodies as evidence of their impact.
The Employer Perspective: Why Hire Founders and Coders Alumni
Founders and Coders has built a reputation with employers for training developers who are not only technically capable, but exceptional at teamwork and communication.
Tesco Labs, the innovation arm of the major UK grocery chain Tesco, has hired several Founders and Coders graduates. Lead Developer Ben Marvell explained:
"We‘ve been consistently impressed with the caliber of developers coming out of Founders and Coders. They have a solid grounding in full-stack JavaScript as well as frameworks like React that we use every day. But more than that, they know how to work effectively on a development team. They‘re great at collaborating, taking feedback, and pair programming. Those soft skills are harder to teach and so valuable to us as an employer."
Founders and Coders CTO and lead instructor Rebecca Radding elaborated:
"We hear this again and again from employers – that our graduates stand out for their teamwork and communication skills. It starts in the interview; employers are consistently impressed by candidates‘ ability to break down technical concepts and explain their thought process. On the job, our alumni excel at project planning, writing documentation, mentoring, and collaborating cross-functionally with designers and product managers. Those abilities come directly out of the peer-led model; when you spend all day every day collaborating with classmates to learn and build projects, you can‘t help but level up your skills working with others."
Going Global: Adapting the Model to New Contexts
As word of its success spread, international NGOs began reaching out to Founders and Coders about bringing the program to their communities. In 2017, the organization teamed up with Gaza Sky Geeks, an initiative of Mercy Corps, to launch a campus in Gaza City.
Adapting the model to Gaza forced Founders and Coders to confront new challenges. Electricity is unreliable, with most areas of Gaza only receiving power a few hours a day. Internet connectivity is limited. Travel restrictions make it difficult for students to attend.
Yet the potential for impact is immense. Youth unemployment in Gaza stands at a staggering 60%. With extremely scarce employment options, gaining tech skills that can be used for remote work is life-changing.
"People here are so eager to learn and better their situation. The internet provides a portal to opportunities that simply don‘t exist on the ground in Gaza," said Aya, a student at Founders and Coders in Gaza.
Founders and Coders had to get creative to make the model work. They secured a space with a generator to ensure consistent power and internet. They extended daily course hours to accommodate students who had to travel long distances. They also emphasized English language skills alongside coding, since English proficiency is key to securing international remote jobs.
Despite the obstacles, the inaugural cohort is already achieving exciting outcomes. Two teams are contributing to open-source humanitarian projects through Free Code Camp. Three graduates have secured remote internships with international startups. Gaza Sky Geeks has built an in-house agency employing several alumni to build websites for foreign clients.
The Future is Bright for Free, Peer-Led Learning
For Dan Sofer, Gaza is just the beginning:
"My dream is to see free, peer-led coding programs like ours spreading around the world, especially in places where access to education and employment is limited. We‘ve seen how well the model translates to somewhere like Gaza. Now I want to see it reaching other underserved communities in the Middle East, Africa, and beyond."
Momentum is growing. Founders and Coders is opening a second campus with Gaza Sky Geeks in the West Bank in autumn 2018. In 2019 they will launch in South Africa with support from the UK government‘s Department for International Development.
Other organizations are taking note. Nonprofit coding bootcamp Resilient Coders in Boston has adopted a similar tuition-free, project-based curriculum. Chingu is pioneering remote-first, cohort-based learning by matching learners around the world to build projects together.
As a developer and bootcamp instructor, I left Founders and Coders deeply inspired. It‘s a powerful proof of concept that coding education can be free, community-driven, and a force for social change. For aspiring developers around the world who have talent but lack opportunity, this model opens new doors.
Founders and Coders, and peer-led coding programs like it, are poised for serious growth in the coming years. The combination of soaring global demand for developers, new tools for collaboration, and increasing recognition of the effectiveness of peer learning all position these programs for success.
Free, peer-led learning has the potential to upskill a new generation of developers in corners of the globe traditional coding education doesn‘t reach. I can‘t wait to see the technologies they build and the problems they solve. As Founders and Coders expands to places like Gaza, the West Bank, and South Africa, I‘ll be following their journey and cheering them on.