Coding Course Closes The Career-College Gap At Queens College, Other CUNYs

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Students pose at a Revature ceremony at Queens College. Photos courtesy of the City University of New York.

Students pose at a Revature ceremony at Queens College. Photos courtesy of the City University of New York.

By Jonathan Sperling

No coding experience? No problem.

The City University of New York is expanding its partnership with tech talent developer Revature to offer a no-cost introductory coding course for graduate students interested in a software development, the University announced on Monday.

The two-year-old partnership, titled “Revature at CUNY,” recently added to its offerings SPARK, a free program centered around a four-week, instructor-led online course. Those who complete the course can be hired by Revature to participate in an “immersive” 12-week onsite training program.

Revature describes itself as a proprietary talent delivery program that provides college students with the tools to pursue a career in the tech field.

“CUNY’s partnership with Revature has paved the way for many of our students to launch a career in technology,” said CUNY Interim Chancellor Vita C. Rabinowitz in a statement. “The new SPARK program will open up Revature’s invaluable training programs to every CUNY graduate, regardless of their academic emphasis or prior tech experience, and should greatly expand the success of this relationship.”

Over 100 CUNY graduates have already been hired and trained by Revature, eventually moving on to careers at Fortune 500 companies and other large system integrators as software engineers, developers and analysts.

Of the CUNY alumni that have utilized the Revature training program, approximately 50 percent have done so at Queens College’s Campus Tech Incubator. More than a third of the alumni were Queens College alumni.

“Because Queens College was the first to host Revature as part of the CUNY partnership — and serves more undergraduate computer science majors than any other college in New York City — the success rate of our alumni is deeply gratifying,” said Queens College President Fėlix V. Matos Rodríguez in a statement. “Nearly all are now employed in both the private and public sectors nationwide.”

The next SPARK online training session starts on Nov. 27 and students must apply by Nov. 17. Go to revature.com/spark for more information and to apply.