We were humbled to hear that Nashville Software School (NSS) was named a finalist in the Nashville Business Journal’s Best in Business 2020 - Non-profit - Small category and are honored to be a finalist alongside the Adventure Science Center and Musicians On Call.
In less than two months we’ll graduate our 1,000th graduate, something our founder John Wark admits he never imagined back in 2012 when NSS opened its doors as one of the first coding bootcamps in the country. From the beginning, it has been our goal to offer adults a path to tech careers irrespective of their financial circumstances. To date, we have offered about half of our students the NSS Opportunity Tuition, where after a small deposit and the award of a partial scholarship, they do not pay the remainder of their tuition unless they graduate and secure a job in tech. This self-funded initiative has allowed us to not only open doors to tech careers for the economically disadvantaged and financially fragile but also reduce barriers to individuals from under-represented groups in tech, including people of color, women, and veterans.
90% of our graduates have achieved their goal of a well-paying tech job and a high potential new career. With over 250 companies hiring our graduates, NSS has become a major supplier of homegrown talent that is feeding the tech boom in Nashville. (You don’t have to take our word for it. Here’s what Andrew Kerr with FortyAU has to say.) With more jobs available for junior-level tech talent, we have been able to expand the number of web development bootcamps we offer each year and expand into training for Data Analytics and Data Science careers.
Thank you to the Nashville Business Journal for this recognition of our instructors and staff who pour their hearts and minds into our students every day; our students who trust the process as they face the challenge of learning a new skill; our graduates who are our #1 source of referrals; and, finally, those in the Nashville tech community who support our students during their bootcamps and hire them when they graduate.
We are looking forward to March 5th when the Nashville Business Journal will announce the winner.
