Square co-founder Jim McKelvey stops in Columbia to talk LaunchCode

Square co-founder Jim McKelvey went on the road last week with a message to aspiring programmers: You don’t need a college degree to make a six-figure salary. Hackton, Columbia’s new community space for programmers, hosted McKelvey on Oct. 24, where he spoke to Silicon Prairie News and a crowd of more than 50 about his…

Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Square, took time to talk to Columbia programmers about LaunchCode.

Square co-founder Jim McKelvey went on the road last week with a message to aspiring programmers: You don’t need a college degree to make a six-figure salary.

Hackton, Columbia’s new community space for programmers, hosted McKelvey on Oct. 24, where he spoke to Silicon Prairie News and a crowd of more than 50 about his latest endeavor, LaunchCode.

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Four months ago, McKelvey started to discuss with friends the lack of opportunities he saw in his hometown, St. Louis. Once people were out of a job, they had little hope of getting one. At first McKelvey and his friends considered offering a coding class for the community. Coders can be self-taught, and a college degree isn’t required for the work. But there was a problem.

“Graduates of non-traditional programs have trouble getting past the HR departments of these companies,” McKelvey told Silicon Prairie News. “So if we taught people how to program, great; they wouldn’t get jobs.” 

Less than 20 percent of the programming job market is being met, yet human resources departments filter potential job candidates through a narrow screening process. Only candidates with two years field experience, a four-year degree and knowledge of every coding language typically make the initial hiring cut, McKelvey said. 

LaunchCode emerged as a solution to that persisting problem. 

“With LaunchCode as an on-ramp, we can provide the easiest access to the best choice of careers, and I just want more people to walk that path,” McKelvey said.

LaunchCode uses what McKelvey calls a “paired development model” to place aspiring coders with a professional programmer in an established company. McKelvey reached out to 100 companies with offices in St. Louis, as big as MasterCard and Monsanto and as small as two-man companies to see if they would pair employees with potential programmers for an agreed upon time period and pay them $15 an hour. Every company McKelvey approached said yes.

LaunchCode has received more than 700 applications and has placed 35 people so far. Roughly 30 percent of applicants have traditional computer science degrees, while the remaining 60 to 70 percent have non-traditional programming experience. 

LaunchCode looks for skills such as high aptitude, knowledge of programming basics, ability to build something and java basics. If an applicant doesn’t have the necessary skills, LaunchCode’s website provides links to free online coding resources, LaunchCode managing director Brendan Lind said. 

“As long as you can in some way show us you have the potential to fill a job and not destroy a partnership, we can get you in,” Lind said.

McKelevey said he has seen disconnect in the education system. Many candidates with computer science degrees are not ready for placement because they don’t have an aptitude for real-world problems. 

“The educational system is broken, and ironically, in many cases it’s unnecessary,” McKelvey said. “I’m not knocking education. I’m not knocking four-year degrees. I think it’s super valuable to have that training, but in this particular job market, this vertical, it’s not necessary. The message is: Just because you don’t have a four-year degree doesn’t mean you can’t land a six-figure job.”

The program has had a wide variety of applicants. LaunchCode is looking to place a Walmart employee with outdated programming skills and a coder with narcolepsy. One self-taught programmer received a job offer from a company after two days. 

“If he tried to get a job through traditional methods, he would not have been successful,” McKelvey said.

McKelvey’s message resonated in the room full of programmers and interested community members at Hackton. Many audience members said they had experienced the closed-door hiring process McKelvey described. 

LaunchCode is currently unfunded and consists of three employees and 21 volunteers for now. McKelvey’s goal at this time is to share his vision for the organization. This week he’s traveling to schools like Washington University and St. Louis University with the same message.

“You want to be on the top of your game in coding? (It only takes) two years,” McKelvey said. “I know guys who are worth tens of millions of dollars with two years of experience when we first started with them. It is that accessible right now.”

 

Credits: Photo by Kara Tabor.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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