SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, March 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With Puerto Rico rocked by Hurricane Maria in September 2017 and last year by a devastating magnitude 4.3 earthquake this year, Holberton School, the tuition-deferred college alternative educating the next generation of digital workers, announced today the opening of a campus in San Juan, Puerto Rico, bringing its proven, two-year training to the island.
Holberton provides Silicon-Valley grade peer-learning and project-based software engineering training and charges no upfront tuition. Students acquire practical skills and an understanding of theory through hands-on learning closely advised by mentors from Silicon Valley's leading tech companies. Students have been employed at top-tier employers like Apple, LinkedIn, Google, Amazon, Tesla and more.
The school’s flagship headquarters is in San Francisco, a second campus in New Haven, CT opened in September 2018. The school has since opened campuses on three continents, including schools in Bogotá, Medellín, Barranquilla and Cali, Colombia; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Tunis, Tunisia; Beirut, Lebanon, and now Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico is growing a vibrant startup ecosystem and a growing community of entrepreneurs. This rapid growth is creating a high demand for tech-skilled professionals that the island cannot meet. According to a recent study by Endeavor Puerto Rico, founders of local tech firms reported that access to talent is their biggest obstacle. Fifty-eight percent of all tech entrepreneurs interviewed in the study expressed access to talent was a very serious concern.
Holberton comes with a solution to close the gap that exists between lack of programmers and tech companies trying to grow in Puerto Rico and worldwide. With this premise, Cyril Meduña and Adam Beguelin created Code Puerto Rico LLC, the entity that runs Holberton Puerto Rico. Angel Pérez, president of Rock Solid Technologies spoke about the challenges of finding programmers on the island “Rock Solid Technologies has hired hundreds of software engineers in the last 20 years. Every day it becomes more difficult finding resources to fill those slots. The arrival of Holberton Puerto Rico will cover a crucial need for our company. We trust that we can hire Holberton graduates soon.”
“Human talent is everything. If we cannot retain talent or produce software programmers at the same pace as the industry grows, we cannot put Puerto Rico in a competitive position in the field of innovation and technology, ”said Meduña. “That is why after collaborating with the arrival of Parallel18 in Puerto Rico, a technology business accelerator, we were in need of creating a venture capital fund, and now an educational institution that produces the human talent that you are companies need to hire to be able to grow and compete worldwide.”
“Learning coding made a significant impact on my life, it took me from a small town in Illinois to the heart of Silicon Valley and now Puerto Rico,” said Beguelin, a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur who has launched four technology startups. “My goal for opening Holberton Puerto Rico is to make that option viable for everyone, regardless of their financial situation.”
The new Puerto Rico campus is planning on opening its doors to its first cohort of students in June.
“Holberton has proven across the world that motivated students, regardless of their educational or financial background, can get into high impact tech careers,” said Sylvain Kalache, co-founder and president, Holberton School. “And this education can scale quickly to educating the many -- while maintaining its high quality -- so more students can make not only their lives better, but also serve and attract businesses to Puerto Rico which are desperate for high-quality software engineering talent.”
Holberton boasts a remarkably diverse student body. Its automated admission process reduces human bias, resulting in one of the most diverse learning institutions in the tech industry. The school charges no upfront tuition. Instead, graduates are asked to contribute a percentage of their salaries to the school for the first three years of their post-Holberton employment, giving back to the next generation of software engineers.
Applications to Holberton are open to people with any educational background and of any age or gender. To learn more about Holberton School enrollment and opportunities, visit https://www.holbertonschool.com/campus_life/san_juan.
About Holberton School
A world-class education should be available to everyone–regardless of background, gender, or ethnicity. That’s why Holberton’s college alternative program is free until students find a job. Graduates have gone on to earn six-figure salaries as engineers at leading employers, including Apple, Tesla, NASA, Google and LinkedIn. Holberton trains software engineers in both practical knowledge and theory utilizing project-based and peer learning. Students learn how to become lifelong learners and leaders in their fields. Holberton is supported by professional advisors and investors from the technology and entertainment industries, including: Grammy award-winner NE-YO; actor and social activist Priyanka Chopra; acclaimed author, journalist, and educator Esther Wojcicki; and technology visionaries LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang, Docker founder Solomon Hykes, and Upwork CEO Stephane Kasriel. Holberton has campuses in San Francisco, CA; New Haven, CT; Tulsa, OK; Medellin, Bogota, Barranquilla and Cali, Colombia; Beirut, Lebanon; and Tunis, Tunisia, Go to www.holbertonschool.com to learn more.
Editorial Contact
Joe Eckert for Holberton School
jeckert@eckertcomms.com