John Wark

John started programming professionally at age 19. After a long and multifarious career in technology, he founded NSS in 2012. He believed that Nashville's technology talent shortage would never be solved by trying to import experienced developers from other cities or by waiting for colleges and universities to start graduating enough students and/or appropriately trained students. He also had faith that Nashville had an ample supply of motivated adults with latent aptitude who, if offered a chance, would eagerly pursue a career in technology.
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Recent Posts

March Again? | COVID-19 UPDATE
Mar 22, 2021
March again? Already? Feels like we never left! In our latest COVID-19 update look back on what we have learned after a year online, and more importantly, look ahead to a more hopeful year. Read More

Topics: News

Has Nashville’s Tech Job Market Recovered From COVID-19?
Jan 28, 2021
Probably the most common question we get from adults considering a career upgrade or change is some variation of: “How many of your graduates get jobs?” COVID-19 and the resultant blow to the economy has only heightened interest in the answer to that question. We thought it would be useful to give an update on what our graduates are actually experiencing in the current local economy. Read More

Topics: News, Community

GI BillⓇ - New Admissions Restrictions Delayed
Dec 17, 2020
Great news! The changes to the VA's 85/15 rule were just delayed and are now scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2021. That means we're opening our bootcamps starting January through June 2021 back up to GI BillⓇ applicants. We are still pursuing a waiver to the new 85/15 rule with the VA, but this delay gives us more time to not only pursue that waiver but explore other ways to help veterans in Middle Tennessee. Read More

Topics: News

Year-end Update on COVID-19 and NSS's Plans To Return To In-person Classes
Dec 17, 2020
NSS will continue to be completely online and remote through at least the end of June 2021. We still believe July is an optimistic date for bringing classes back into the classroom full-time but it doesn’t feel completely unrealistic. Read More

Topics: News

Will We Continue Accepting So Many Students?
Nov 5, 2020
As we kicked off our Mind The Gap fundraising campaign and ramped up resources for our seekers, we’ve been asked why we didn’t reduce student numbers once we realized what the effects of the coronavirus would be. We’ve said in prior years that we never wanted to expand or grow faster than the growth in the local tech job market. So why didn’t we respond to the pandemic by cutting back on the number of NSS students, either by reducing class sizes or eliminating entire cohorts? Read More

Topics: Mind The Gap

COVID-19 Update: Remaining Remote Until at Least April 2021
Oct 15, 2020
NSS has decided to continue to deliver our classes online/remote until at least April 4, 2021. Based on what has transpired with the coronavirus in the last three months, we cannot see that it has become any safer for us to put 25 to 30 students and instructors in a single classroom. We hope that we’ll be able to get back together in-person sooner rather than later. But as we keep saying, it’s not going to happen until we believe we can keep everyone as safe and healthy as possible. Read More

Topics: News

NSS Announces Fellowship Program To Connect Employers With Graduates
Oct 15, 2020
We’re excited to announce our Fellowship Program that will connect employers with graduates for short-term projects. The Fellowship Program is designed to provide Seekers with a paid “apprenticeship” (small “a” - it’s not a Registered Apprenticeship program, but it serves the same end - real on-the-job experience). Read about how this program is designed to help our Seekers gain the experience as they seek their first jobs after graduation. Read More

Topics: Hiring?, News, Community

So Many Seekers | Mind The Gap
Oct 6, 2020
How in the world did NSS find itself with so many Seekers? And how did we get in the position where we had to ask you to help us “Mind the Gap”? Well, we all know what happened - COVID-19 happened. Overnight we went from what had been the best job market for NSS graduates that we had ever seen (as measured in terms of average job search times for graduates) to … what? All of the landmarks by which we navigated were gone, obscured in a fog. Read our latest blog for insight into how we navigated decision making under conditions of "uncertainty." Read More

Topics: Mind The Gap

We Have A Problem - You Can Help Us Solve It
Sep 28, 2020
2020 has been quite the year. For NSS, it began with the celebration of our 1000th graduate in February. But one month later, the pandemic hit and we all faced new challenges. There were all kinds of gaps between how we did things and how COVID-19 required us to act. But, there’s one big gap we haven’t been able to close - the slowdown in hiring of junior software developers, data analysts, and data scientists that started in mid-March. Here's how you can help. Read More

Topics: News, Mind The Gap

Supporting Our Job Seekers During The Economic Slowdown
Aug 26, 2020
In 2019 our graduates experienced the shortest job search times in our eight-year history. However, since the COVID-19-induced recession, job search times have lengthened in response to the tightening job market. Nonetheless, our promise to our graduates remains the same...our job is not done until they find their first job in tech. But what strategies could we roll out quickly to help? Read More

Topics: Web Development

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