10 REASONS FOR STARTING YOUR IT SCHOOL

1. THE CODING BOOTCAMP MARKET IS A PERFECT PLACE TO DO BUSINESS...

Most labor markets currently suffer from the same disease – the mismatch between labor supply and the actual needs of employers. Enormous rise of the software industry for the last two decades results in an ever growing demand for IT skills. As much as 70% of global industry faces a shortage of necessary IT skills.

We believe that Coders Lab’s services are a solution to the labor market shortages. Our full-time on-campus courses offer our students a chance to become junior software developers within two months. During the courses, students have a constant contact with the mentor, who promotes effective knowledge acquisition. Right from the very beginning they use GitHub repository, which finally constitutes a programming portfolio showcasing their knowledge and skills. After the course we help our graduates find their first job in IT. We make sure that links to GitHub, LinkedIn profile and CV go straight to our partner companies. These companies later contact selected candidates and arrange individual interviews. This is a verified method which allows to learn the skills and become self-sufficient. The ratio of 82% students getting a job within three months from graduating proves its effectiveness.

2. ... AND THIS IS A VERY YOUNG INDUSTRY

The coding bootcamp market was born at the beginning of the present decade. The idea of intensive programming courses originates from the United States and originates from the concept of military bootcamps. This type of training was developed at the beginning of the 20th century by the American army. Bootcamps are characterized by huge intensity of exercises and a leading role of the coach, who motivates to achieve goals and supervises the progress of the trainees. Similar to military ones, coding bootcamps adhere to the idea of intensive knowledge transfer (although using a bit more subtle methods than the ones applied by military sergeants).

The boom for coding bootcamps started only a few years ago and is still on the rise.

Authors of the Coding Bootcamp Market Report 2017 forecast global coding bootcamp market to grow at a CAGR of 10.96% during the period 2017-2021. 

3. CODERS LAB FRANCHISE IS AN ASSET-LIGHT MODEL

Coders Lab franchise is dedicated to companies with existing operations in such fields as education, IT, or any other that can generate synergies with IT courses. In order to join our network, you don’t really have to invest big bucks in starting a coding school. Of course, the size of your capital expenditure depends on the assets you already have and which you could delegate to this new project.

In general, however, Coders Lab franchise model is asset-light. The investment in brick & mortar is limited to buying basic technical equipment for the lecture rooms (TV or an overhead projector). You do not need to establish computer labs in the classrooms, since the students bring their own gear to the classes. There are no particular requirements towards the interior of the classrooms, either. The initial investment is mostly about the initial fee (calculated individually for each country market) and the translation of learning materials (which need to be translated from English to the language of your country). The rest is about securing financing to cover operating expenses before reaching the break-even point (mainly payroll costs). 

 

4. THE MARGINS ARE PROMISING

Starting your IT school means adding high-margin products to your current portfolio. In this business, the most significant operating cost is related to remunerating experienced senior developers, who dispose of necessary soft skills and passion to become good teachers. The value of the bootcamp programming courses, however, allows the prices to make up for the expenses and to generate satisfying financial surplus. The reason for this is that students treat participation in the courses as a long term investment. They realize that salaries they will get as junior developers will refund the cost incurred during bootcamp training within several months. What they get during a bootcamp, is not just the ability of basic coding but a ticket to a new career. Knowing how promising the salaries in IT can be, trainees are ready to sacrifice significant amount of time, work and money.

5. IT TAKES TIME AND RISK TO DO IT ON YOUR OWN

Every startup navigates on the sea of risk. This risk is especially high when you want to deal with new technologies. IT world is a rapidly and constantly changing field.

When running a programming school, one of the main challenges is choosing the right scope of program and supporting it with learning materials tailored to the needs of students striving to become coding juniors.

And after finally coming up with those, keeping them up to date.

The concept of franchising is designed to minimize the initial risk for the entrepreneurs willing to make a quick jump into the desired industry. With over five years of experience, Coders Lab is ready to provide its own know-how, support, and tools needed to instantly enter the perspective market of programming schools.

6. SERVICES OF AN IT SCHOOL ARE NOT JUST ABOUT TEACHING PROGRAMMING

Coders Lab services are way beyond what they seem. We help our students achieve their ultimate goal, which, in most cases, is changing their careers and becoming junior software developers. The learning process at Coders Lab is organized in such a way that it allows graduates to fulfill their plans. During the course, students not only become familiar with necessary technologies but they also prepare programming projects, at the same time laying foundations for their coding portfolio. After having finished the course, they are coached on how to effectively look for a job, while their CVs reach a wide selection of our partner companies planning to increase the headcount of their software departments.

7. LEARNING MATERIALS ARE NOT ENOUGH

Many misunderstandings around franchising in the education industry result from the misinterpretation of the role of the franchisor. There is this stereotype that franchisors simply sell education materials – handbooks, workbooks, syllabi, or scripts. The truth is that even the best materials (though themselves still may constitute a great value) on their own will never be sufficient to allow the franchisees for establishing successful businesses. This goes especially for such complex businesses as teaching programming.

You may have the impression that good learning materials are enough to run a successful coding school. Nothing could be further from the truth. Something which finally results in a situation where a lecturer is presenting in front of the group of students is backed by long hours of preparation. It’s not only about the long process of developing learning materials. Making the classes happen requires marketing and selling skills in the first row. However, once the leads are captured and the deals are done, it is the organizational capacities that get in the game. Of course, one may successfully manage the teaching process with a spreadsheet, provided he or she performs up to around 10 or so bootcamp courses a year. Yet supervising this type of business when you are operating on a country scale, means that you need to take care of huge paperwork, hundreds of teachers, and thousands of students and graduates. This we have experienced for ourselves and used this experience to develop a dedicated learning management system. It allows putting and managing all the processes and people’s accounts in one place and it is ready to support operations of our franchise partners since their day one in business.

8. YOU CAN ADJUST YOUR PORTFOLIO OF COURSES TO THE NEEDS OF YOUR MARKET

Talking about shortages in the number of IT specialists, we no longer think only about software developers but about a whole range of technology specialists in fields like: digital visual design, digital user experience experts, big data, blockchain... Observing this trend, Coders Lab has come up with a broad and constantly updated portfolio of 12 courses, covering front- and backend programming languages, but also classes in testing and User Experience. We are analyzing constantly the market trends and reacting to them by adjusting our proposal towards the students. For you, as our franchisee, it means that you can choose from a wide range of products (courses) and create your own portfolio so that it can match the demand in your country market.

9. YOU WILL DEVELOP A COUNTRY-WIDE ORGANIZATION

What we are offering you, is an exclusive franchise license to create and operate a country-wide chain of IT schools.

During five years of operation, we delivered our services to 9 biggest cities in Poland, becoming the leader in the domestic market with a nearly 40-million population.

With our support, you will be able to replicate this success in your country. Firstly, we will jointly prepare an area development plan, based on a deepened analysis of your market’s economic and demographic potential. This schedule shall become your roadmap for establishing the presence of Coders Lab branches in the chosen cities.

10. THIS IS A CHANCE TO CO-CREATE A GLOBAL BRAND

This is just the beginning. Joining forces with us means getting on a train to creating an international brand. Just think of synergies arising from being a part of an international chain of IT schools. The cross-border connection between employers and our graduates, huge potential for B2B sales… the catalog of opportunities is an open book.

If you are ready to become part of the Coders Lab IT School international network, this is the right time. We are just starting but remember – there is only a place available for just one franchisee in every country. Don't wait, expand your business.