devbootcamp.close(); heart.break();

As the co-founder of a developer bootcamp, it can be easy to just get caught up in the day-to-day of running the business - curriculum development, outreach, job placement, student satisfaction, viability, and a thousand other details. There isn't much room for looking backwards.

One exception is when I get to tell my "founder's story." People often ask about how we got started. My story has two key players, and I never get tired of telling it. These two players changed my life.

The first is my youngest son. One spring day in 2013, he came home from a high school programming class and said, "Dad, I want to go to a developer boot camp." I said, "What's that?" I'd never heard of it.

I Googled it, and found the second player - Dev Bootcamp.

I cannot really do that moment justice. It changed my life. The story of three Silicon Valley devs who took a chance on themselves, their time and a handful of their friends who wanted to break into the software industry? Well, I loved it. I saw immediately that this could change the whole landscape of technology education. I was hooked, and all in. Not long after, The Tech Academy was born in Portland, Oregon.

So I hope you can understand the loss I had when one of my registrars told me the news this morning: Dev Bootcamp is no more. This month they are enrolling their final cohort, and after that group of students graduates in December, Dev Bootcamp will shut its doors.

My viewpoint is biased, so take this with a grain of salt: I think what Shereef Bishay, Jesse Farmer and Dave Hoover did in creating Dev Bootcamp will be seen in the years to come as a pivotal achievement. In the few short years since they formed, we've seen the creation of an actual boot camp industry - a vibrant, effective landscape of passionate educators who, as a whole, graduated 18,000 tech professionals last year alone. Boot camps are vital part of an overall shift in the education world, so much so that President Obama included them prominently as part of his TechHire initiative.

I regret that this founding institution of our community wasn't able to find a way to make it work in their home in Silicon Valley. I wish them fair travels as they move on to other ventures. And although it may not make a difference as move through this undoubtedly painful time, I do want to publicly acknowledge them - founders, faculty, students: you were brave, and audacious, and you created a thing that will live beyond you. Be proud, and go on to prosper in new games. #DBCShutdown 

With love,

Erik Gross

Co-founder, The Tech Academy