If Flatiron School knows how to do something, it's placing their students on a career track they love. That's why Flatiron's labs developer Spencer Rogers volunteered his time to help do just that in Providence, RI.
In collaboration with Venture for America (VFA), a non-profit fellowship program, participants who have recently graduated from college are put on the fast track for success. Aimed at revitalizing local economies through venture startups, VFA fellows hail from 35 different states and countries and hit the ground running at Brown University for five weeks of training.
After the training is complete, they ship off to work at startups in 12 different cities to drive economic revitalization in places like Cleveland and St. Louis. As part of Flatiron School's VFA training, Rogers helps students with zero knowledge of Ruby create web apps in Sinatra and deploy them within a matter of two weeks. Paired with classes on topics ranging from integrated digital marketing to business development, fellows gain an entirely new set of indispensable skills for the business world. “At one point I was a college student going into the startup world, not knowing what was going on,” said Rogers. “It’s cathartic to impart as much wisdom to them as I can.”
Volunteering for the second consecutive year, Rogers even got to grab coffee with one of his former students and see how far they had come since the last time he taught the web development class. As a fellow who entered the program hoping to learn about data science, he is now a data analyst at a startup called Dinner Lab.
“The fellows are very similar to the students we have at Flatiron School,” Rogers said. “It’s fun to work with smart people with that kind of ambition.”
