The Starter League, launched in 2011 by Chicago entrepreneurs Neal Sales-Griffin and Mike McGee, helped pioneer an entirely new way of training technologists. Instead of making programming courses part of a larger college curriculum, the school zeroed in on hands-on coding education for students at every skill level, with the end goal of making tech careers attainable for a broader swath of the population.
The coding bootcamp model, as it has later come to be known, has spawned hundreds of similar programs all over the world. But to Sales-Griffin (pictured right), turning everyone into a coder was never really the point.
“The emphasis on coding and computer science, almost like it has its own exclusive importance, I think is missing the larger opportunity here,” said Sales-Griffin. “The important opportunity that we have is to redefine what it means to empower students with the skills to employ and leverage technology. And that involves more than just coding.”
In his view, this line of thinking has led to programs aimed at getting young people in front of computer screens without explaining to them why understanding technology is so important.
With out-of-school programming for high schoolers from disadvantaged backgrounds, Sales-Griffin and McGee’ next venture, CodeNow, aims to address that very shortcoming.
Tech education nonprofit CodeNow was founded in 2011, just one month before The Starter League got off the ground, with the goal of diversifying the industry's talent pipeline. Centered primarily around programming courses, the organization was one of the first to go through the YCombinator nonprofit accelerator.
Early this year, Sales-Griffin was traveling back and forth between Chicago and New York to finalize the sale of The Starter League to Fullstack Academy. During one of these trips, the entrepreneur was approached by CodeNow founder Ryan Seashore with an offer to take over as the nonprofit's CEO.
Although Sales-Griffin has been involved with CodeNow from the very beginning, first as a volunteer at one of its first workshops and then as a member of the its board of directors, he was initially reluctant to take on the role.
“It didn’t seem right, but Ryan was very persistent,” he said. “Ultimately, I couldn’t sleep at night because I realized that the kids that CodeNow helps, when I look at that room, I’m like ‘That’s me.’”
Sales-Griffin ultimately decided to step in as the nonprofit’s CEO on the condition that he could continue working out of Chicago. Soon after, McGee (pictured right) also agreed to come on board. As director of programs, he will handle the organization's day-to-day operations — a similar dynamic to the one the pair had while running The Starter League.
In addition to broadening the CodeNow curriculum to include related concepts like design thinking, product management and entrepreneurial problem solving, the pair is also aiming to expand CodeNow's reach. The program currently serves Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C. and Miami, but a large Chicago initiative is underway.
Sales-Griffin said he and McGee are excited to bring the lessons they learned from their first venture into the nonprofit sector.
“Now we’re in a position where Mike and I can partner up with CodeNow and help the people who need our help the most,” he said. “The people we are talking about helping are people we can both relate to, because both Mike and I come from low-income backgrounds and environments where we really had to be pulled up and be in a position where other people could help us out. There’s no way we’d be here, either one of us, today unless we had that support.”
To Sales-Griffin, this opportunity to shape how young people think about technology is the most exciting part of his new undertaking.
“What I want people to realize is that there’s so much more you can get out of the experience than the skills you need so you can earn a paycheck, and we’re going to teach kids that from the beginning,” said Sales-Griffin. “Adults are coming in with debts and limitations and concerns and doubts. Kids are curious and joyful and ready to experiment.”
Images via CodeNow, Neal Sales-Griffin and Mike McGee.
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