Are you an aspiring web developer, fresh out of college and eager to dive into Philly’s exploding tech startup scene? Are you a growing startup or established company in need of talented developers to help take your business to the next level?
 
Zivtech was thrilled last week when Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter announced that we were one of five winners of Startup PHL’s second round of Call for Ideas Grants, for a 6-week Web Development Bootcamp which we have named "PhillyDevCamp". We are hosting and teaching this bootcamp along with another awesome Philly web development firm--Neomind Labs--the goal of which is to allow us to share our expertise with, and help create job opportunities for, the next generation of Philly-based professional web developers. Up to 30 recent graduates from Philly-area universities will be given the opportunity to bridge the gap between what they have learned in school and what will be required of them as they enter the workforce via formal trainings, as well via invaluable hands-on experience. The hands-on experience will be achieved by helping build websites and web applications for Philly-area non-profits, so they'll not only gain skills but will be able to give something back to the Philly area at the same time. We will be training these students in the popular open source technologies that Zivtech and Neomind use to create cutting edge websites and web applications for our clients, including The LAMP Stack, Drupal, Node.js, Ruby on Rails, jQuery, Ember.js, Backbone.js, Sass, Solr, Cucumber, Jenkins, Vagrant, Puppet, and many more. 

Why is This Important?
Keeping talent in Philadelphia is crucial for the continued growth and success of the city’s tech industry. We aim to address the needs of both job-seekers and companies by contributing to the pool of qualified candidates and making it easier for local tech companies to find the talent they need to grow their business. It is risky for businesses to train candidates themselves, as its expensive and qualified candidates can leave after receiving training. We will remove that risk and make it easier for local companies to hire young talent and remove the need for either group to look elsewhere. 
 
What’s Next?
Now that the grant has been announced, we are preparing our call for applicants, sponsors, and nonprofit partners. We will also begin refining and finalizing our curricula and locking in a timeline. We will begin accepting applications in May to join PhillyDevCamp. We will post regular updates to our website, our social media accounts, and will be posting to our email lists as our progress develops, so follow us and/or sign up below to stay informed. Please also feel free to post any questions that you have in the disqus comment section at the end of this post.
 

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• a recent college graduate who is interested in applying to the Web Development Bootcamp
• a nonprofit organization that has a project you would like us to consider working on during our bootcamp
• a local business with a need for tech talent and would like to get more information about sponsoring the Web Development Bootcamp

 
About Startup PHL:
“StartUp PHL is a collaborative effort between the City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation—a forward thinking initiative inspired by the infusion of entrepreneurial talent that has boosted the city’s energy and brought new vitality to its neighborhoods.” - StartupPHL.com
Terms: PhillyDevCampStartup PHLinnovation grantCity of PhiladelphiaEventsWeb DevelopmentBootcampDrupal PlanetNode.jsTrainingsNeomind Labs