Course Hero Case Study | CodePath for Employers

EdTech unicorn Course Hero wanted to build an internship program that would be transformative for students and employees, while building a broader pipeline of diverse tech talent.

They partnered with CodePath, whose Technical Internships for Sophomores program helps prepare students for technical roles and offers companies early access to future candidates.

Thanks to a robust collaboration, Course Hero built out a fully virtual program that gave students the opportunity to gain valuable experience while building personal and professional connections with engineering mentors.

The Results

100%

of participants come from underserved communities in tech

71%

of participants are Black, Latino/a, or Indigenous

70%

of participants from the '21 cohort landed technical roles

100%

of participants come from underserved communities in tech

71%

of participants are Black, Latino/a, or Indigenous

70%

of participants from the '21 cohort landed technical roles

The Challenge

Building a Remote-Friendly Early Talent Experience

When it came to complementing their remote workforce setup without sacrificing quality and experience, Course Hero recognized that leveraging a proven model with a track record of providing intensive and remote technical preparation was the only way.

“One of the goals we were looking to accomplish was to not only support students and make an impact on them but also provide an opportunity for our employees to build personal connections with students as mentors and professional connections,” says Vicki Choi, Vice President of Human Relations at Course Hero.

The Solution

Training and Engaging Emerging Engineers from Home

Course Hero utilized CodePath’s virtual Technical Internship for Sophomores program. This program is designed to amplify the success of traditional internship programs, typically only available for third or fourth-year college students. CodePath helped select the curriculum, hire instructors, and invested its resources to ensure a stellar student educational experience, all while students completed 500+ hours of intensive training on full-stack web development.

Course Hero sponsored the program, offered stipends for students, and provided engineering mentors for students to grow their professional network with the goal of preparing students for technical roles at the partner organization by the end of the program.

The fully virtual program was rigorous — students completed five weeks of instruction and five weeks of a capstone project with a demo day. The capstone projects, based on real engineering projects at Course Hero, allowed students to apply what they learned and gain tangible work for their portfolios and resumes.

Maximizing Impact

Leveraging CodePath-led curriculum, instruction, and program management reduced time commitments from Course Hero's engineering team to focus on high-impact activities like mentoring.

Qualified Candidates

CodePath recruited candidates from our network of 400+ universities based on Course Hero's specific requirements.

Academic Rigor

Participants receive 500+ hours of intensive training on full-stack web development, as well as custom topics selected by Course Hero mapped based on their tech stack.

Career mentorship is critical for success in technical roles. The mentorship from Course Hero engineers is transformative not only for students, but also for the engineers. Choi said, “From our side, we took a lot of feedback from the mentors themselves: being able to have an impact on a student in their field was a rewarding experience.”

The successful partnership between Course Hero and CodePath proves that building a strong talent pipeline can’t be achieved with a quick fix. Choi suggests businesses build buy-in and support for programs like CodePath’s.

“If you want to change the shape and makeup of your workforce, it’s not going to happen overnight. We have to build these pipelines earlier if we want students to land jobs as full-time engineers,” said Dana Ledyard, chief operating officer at CodePath.

The Future is Looking Bright

Karan Sekhri

Course Hero, Staff Frontend Software Engineer and Program Mentor

“Revisiting the fundamentals of software engineering through the lens of up-and-coming developers both honed my mentorship skills as well as invigorated my daily engagements at Course Hero. I’m glad I was able to be a part of this journey.”

Dina Cazun-Moreno

Columbia University, 2023 Program Participant

“[CodePath] has provided a good support system and has exposed me to coding in a team environment. This has helped me work on my communication skills with others.”

Jackson Eckis

Course Hero, Senior Software Engineer and Program Mentor

“In addition to the [technical skills students brought], I found it very easy to get along with my mentee and everyone in their group, allowing me to cultivate a greater empathetic connection to this new generation of programmers.”

Creating Transformative Experiences with Course Hero

EdTech unicorn Course Hero wanted to build an internship program that would be transformative for students and employees, while building a broader pipeline of diverse tech talent.

They partnered with CodePath, whose Technical Internships for Sophomores program helps prepare students for technical roles and offers companies early access to future candidates.

Thanks to a robust collaboration, Course Hero built out a fully virtual program that gave students the opportunity to gain valuable experience while building personal and professional connections with engineering mentors.