Computer Science

Major Coding Bootcamps Going Out of Business

• By Sri Ravipati
• 07/24/17

In a surprising turn of events, two major coding bootcamps, within the span of about a week, have announced they are shutting down all operations.

Most recently, after a four-year run, South Carolina-based The Iron Yard (TIY) revealed last Friday it would close its 15 campuses, including locations like Atlanta, Austin, Houston and Charleston where other coding bootcamps are flourishing. In a company post, TIY wrote, “The industry as a whole is still young and its leaders face the challenge of a nascent market, as well as the demands facing all institutions in the higher education marketplace. In considering the current environment, the board of The Iron Yard has made the difficult decision to cease operations at all campuses after teaching out remaining summer cohorts.”

Similarly, Dev Bootcamp (DBC) on July 12 announced via Facebook that it would shutdown operations at all six locations — Austin, Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and New York — by the end of the summer. The San Diego-based school was bought by Kaplan three ago, back when it was one of the first of its kind to teach immersive coding skills needed to secure a job in software development. The company has trained more than 3,000 individuals, according to the Facebook post.

Dev Bootcamp wrote, “Winding down DBC campus operations has been a heartbreaking decision. Since launching in 2012, we’ve been striving to find a viable business model that would enable us to further our vision of high-quality, immersive coding training that is broadly accessible to a diverse population, while also covering the critical day-to-day costs of running our campuses. Ultimately, we have been unable to find a sustainable model that doesn’t compromise on one of those fronts.”