CodePath and AmazonNext have launched a partnership to provide 100 DMV-area college students with a hands-on learning experience this summer to jumpstart their careers in tech. Through a mix of CodePath’s industry-leading technical interview preparation and software engineering courses, mentorship from Amazon engineers and visits to Amazon’s HQ2, students will receive real-world training to prepare them for competitive software engineering roles, including those at Amazon.
Participating students come from five local colleges and universities: George Mason University, Howard University, Northern Virginia Community College, University of the District of Columbia and University of Maryland College Park. This partnership will expand Amazon's talent pipeline throughout the company's HQ2 footprint, and students who complete one of CodePath's remote summer courses as part of this program will receive a $5,000 scholarship.
“At Amazon, one of our guiding leadership principles is to hire and develop the best. A huge part of that is connecting students with opportunities that allow them to grow the much-needed skills for their future careers,” said Tiffany Blacknall Benjamin, Senior Program Manager at Amazon.
Jobs that require a computing degree are the nation’s top source of new wages and the most effective path to economic mobility — this is especially true for students who identify as Black, Latino/a and Indigenous, and/or who are from low-income or first-generation backgrounds. However, access to technical interview preparation, a critical step in landing a high-paying career in tech, is inequitable, and most college computer science students are not adequately prepared to solve challenging algorithmic problems in whiteboard and coding interviews.
To be selected for this program, students in computer science programs at target institutions were required to complete a highly-competitive application process, and 100% of those selected come from an underserved background.
“As the largest pipeline and training provider for early career software engineers, CodePath is well-positioned to partner with companies such as Amazon to source early talent and provide them with the experiences needed to succeed in tech,” said Dana Ledyard, Chief Operating Officer at CodePath. “We’re excited to work both with these students on their journey to achieve tech excellence and with Amazon to build a local talent pipeline of highly-prepared and diverse students coming from a range of local institutions.”
To learn more about this partnership, visit: https://info.codepath.org/amazon.