Interested in launching a career in tech in Denver? The Flatiron School is here to help, with our Denver campus in Rhino providing courses in software engineering and UX/UI design. At the center of it all is Josh Couper, our Campus Director at Flatiron School. One year since our opening, we sat down with Josh to talk about life on campus, the Denver tech community, and why he’s passionate about building relationships on campus and beyond.
Q: What is your background in technology?
Josh: I come from a startup based in Boulder, Colorado, where I oversaw customer success and product marketing. My interest in coding and the doors this skillset can open for any individual have grown through my past career experiences.
Q: What is your role at Flatiron School?
Josh: As Flatiron School’s Denver Campus Director, I’m working to create an exceptional community and educational experience for the city’s career changers. I launched Flatiron School’s Denver campus less than 12 months ago, bringing premium tech education to Denverites. I’ve hired an incredible educational team and generated enough student interest to run four successful cohorts in Denver this year alone.
Q: Tell us a bit about the Denver campus community—what makes it special.
Josh: Contributing to, and being a part of the community here in Denver is without a question one of the most rewarding aspects of my job.
At Flatiron School, this isn’t education at arms reach. We look at ourselves as partners to our students through the educational journey. That means enabling them to pursue a better life through education through the whole process—on the good days and the bad ones. Through imposter syndrome all the way to landing that job in tech.
We understand that taking the leap and enrolling in our immersive programs is no small feat and comes along with natural fears, strong emotions, and hesitations. It is incredible to see how our community of instructors, students, and staff comes together to work through this transitional journey together, meeting each and every student where they are to enable them to make the best career and life for themselves as possible.
From game nights to lunch-and-learns to ladies who lunch groups, our community and events offer something for everyone. We’ve made so much progress in just over a year. I can’t wait to see how this community evolves over the next year!
Q: Why does Denver need Flatiron School?
Josh: As the Denver economy experiences unprecedented growth, the demand for jobs—especially technology jobs—has never been higher. In the Denver, ‘State of Tech’ Report we outlined offers incredible data that illustrates this new chapter in The Mile High City.
In my opinion, one of the most exciting statistics in this report is that Denver ranks 4th nationally in tech jobs per capita. That is, for every 1,000 jobs in the mile-high city, 11.8 of those jobs are for application developers. That’s more than cities like Boston, New York City, and Chicago.
As companies like Slack, Facebook, Amazon, and Salesforce grow their roots in Denver, their demand for developers will only continue to grow. To that end, I’m thrilled to enable so many individuals to transition their careers to become software engineers, data scientists, UX/UI designers, and cybersecurity professionals to satisfy the ever-growing demand for this future-proof skillset.
Q: Beyond Flatiron School, how else are you involved with the Denver community?
Josh: I’ve been a mentor in the organization Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado. I’ve been assigned a ‘Little Brother’ in Denver who I spend time with and mentor in a 1:1 basis. I meet with my ‘Little’ 2-4 times per month for 2-4 hours per hangout. My motivation to join Big Brothers Big Sisters as a mentor stems from my core belief that time is the most valuable resource we have at our disposal. When we can invest that resource in others in our community, we’re able to observe a level of transformation in others— and ourselves—that’s not possible by any other means.
Q: What achievement at Flatiron School makes you most proud and why?
Josh: The launching of Flatiron School Denver! Less than a year ago, I was the only Flatiron School employee in Denver. Now, we’re over 30 employees strong, teaching multiple cohorts of students at a time. Most importantly, our graduates are landing incredible jobs at tech companies including Ibotta, Pivotal Labs, and Vertafore that are blowing us away!
Q: What’s been the most rewarding part of your job?
Josh: It is beyond rewarding to lead a team of passionate educators that bring 100 percent of themselves to work every day with one goal in mind: to enable the pursuit of a better life through education for every single one of our students.
What inspires you about Flatiron School?
Josh: “I’m inspired daily by the passion, grit, and transformation I get to see not only demonstrated by our staff, but by our students as well. At Flatiron School Denver, we have the opportunity to help our students realize their potential, so that they can change their career, their lives, and the world with their newly acquired skills.”
To learn more about our Denver campus or book a tour, check out our events.
