A group of men with deep ties to Galesburg are starting a non-profit school to teach coding in downtown Galesburg. Main Street Codes will have three types of programs; back-end web development, front-end web development and mobile app development.
The project is being developed by Jamie Gladfelter, a Galesburg native that currently lives in Chicago where he’s been for the last 15 years.
He’s also developed the school with tech executives Nathan Rockhold, another Galesburg native and Dan Spaulding, a Knox College trustee and alumnus.
They say their “bootcamps” can give students a strong foundation in coding in as little as 8 to 12 weeks.
Gladfelter himself is a product of a coding bootcamp and part of the reason he wanted to bring this school to Galesburg is because he’s seen the impact the program can have.
“I started thinking about ways I could give back to my home town and ended up getting a building in downtown Galesburg and started working on curriculum about a year ago,” Gladfelter says.
He says typically there are three types of people that might be interested in their 10 to 12 weeks programs; a younger person considering going to a 4-year college, someone looking to change careers but also people who enjoy their current job but are looking to advance or gain a new skill set.
They’ll start with a 12-week back-end web development course with ten seats available and a cost of $2,000, taught by another Galesburg native, Mitch Fischer.
Applications are being accepted for the class starting in September at a discounted rate of $2,000 before Main Street Codes fully launches in Spring 2019.
Main Street Codes will be located 341 E. Main St at the former site of The Ole Rust Bucket.
