By Kennedy Byrne
Ludovic Fourrage is always looking for a better solution. He said it’s the Microsoft engineer in him.
That desire to find a better way is what led Ludovic to founding Nucamp Coding Bootcamp in 2017, which aims to provide computer science education to all in an accessible and affordable way.
After nearly two decades in the tech industry, Ludovic noticed the lack of diversity in computer science roles. He wanted to find a way to teach code to underrepresented groups without “putting their life on hold” or forcing them to take a financial risk.
Ludovic is now the CEO of Nucamp, which is one of the top-rated coding bootcamps in the United States and has served more than 12,000 people with close to 300 active instructors.
But in the beginning — it was just Ludovic, looking for a model that worked.
He would drive to Tacoma, Washington, about 30 miles south of Seattle, to teach coding courses.
At the time, Ludovic said that was the only coding camp in Tacoma. This meant, before Nucamp opened there, residents would need to commute into Seattle if they wanted to learn code.
On top of the daunting commute, he noticed that the pricing and time commitment for most bootcamps cause hesitation for potential students.
So, Ludovic focused on local, affordable classes on Saturday mornings, and interest slowly grew.
More instructors joined and the camp expanded — first to Bellingham, then Marysville and even Spokane before growing outside of Washington.
“We are part of the solution by saying we can bring tech education where nobody else’s will go,” Ludovic said.
It has remained important to Ludovic that Nucamp focuses on cities outside of the major tech hubs, as they found that interest in other regions was there, but the resources were not.
Nucamp also values a small class size. The 15-person classes to one instructor are designed to foster connection and collaboration.
Nucamp’s Fair Student Agreement offers financing options, scholarships, affordable prices, and extra buffer time to find a job before you pay. Whereas many other camps will take a portion of your salary and require hefty deposits.
“We didn’t want to put our students in that situation,” Ludovic said of the financial dilemma. “It’s a risk-free, stress-free commitment.”
Nucamp also has career coaching and resources for students to break into the tech industry. In fact, 78% of graduates are employed and using their coding skills within nine months of graduating.
“The better solution brought a lot more dimension on a social level than I imagined,” Ludovic said of the bootcamp model. “The solution really was meaningful to a lot of people.”
Before the pandemic, Nucamp was in 25 cities in the United States. However, being forced to transition to a virtual model allowed for massive expansion across the entire country.
Nucamp is now in 182 cities across the United States. Only 7% of the students are from Washington, with 14% coming in California and 11% in Texas. The majority of the students are from the rest of the U.S.
To Ludovic, this is exciting that people outside of the country’s biggest tech hubs are pursuing computer science.
“We need to re-energize those states or cities that have dying industries so that we can bring in new industries,” Ludovic said. “We can think of new tech centers elsewhere in the U.S.”
Ludovic is well-versed in the tech world himself. He spent more than 15 years at Microsoft in various roles.
He first joined Microsoft in his native France in 1999. He left for a few years before he boomeranged back to the company and moved to Redmond, where he worked on social learning platforms and managed the certification and curriculum products.
“Nucamp for me was a gestation of my last four years at Microsoft because I was immersed in building online learning experiences and then technical certifications,” Ludovic said. “It helped me… to really think strategically about the space and really have that worldwide view that I never would have had.”
Ludovic has also tapped some fellow Microsoft talent to join the Nucamp mission.
One of the first instructors at Nucamp in Tacoma was Olaf Minkowicz, a fellow Microsoft alum.
“Helping someone learn something, them having that ‘a-ha’ moment and having it click in their head — it’s really nice and satisfying to see, especially with coding,” Olaf said. “It’s definitely something that can change lives.”
Olaf is always looking out for his students, guiding them with mock interviews and doing whatever he can to help them succeed. A self-taught coder himself, it hits home.
“A lot of the stuff that everyone is going through, it resonates with me,” said Olaf, who is the Nucamp’s longest standing instructor and has taught the most classes.
One student who inspires Ludovic is Lori, a Nucamp graduate living out her passion.
After being told she couldn’t enroll for a computer science degree back in the ‘70s, Lori pursued a long career as a nuclear medicine technologist before retiring.
But the pandemic offered a silver lining for Lori, allowing her to pursue coding in her retirement with Nucamp when the world went virtual.
Now Lori is a bootcamp instructor at Nucamp.
“The story is just so inspiring,” Ludovic said.
Lori’s story is one of many that have reminded Ludovic of how lifechanging this work can be.
It can also launch the industry forward, propelling new, diverse talent into the field. A recorded 58% of Nucamp students have no degree, and 76% are non-white.
Ludovic wants to encourage alumni to hire junior talent, especially if you’re in small to medium businesses and trying to compete for talent against the big companies. It’s cheaper and you’re going to get someone who is enthusiastic to learn, he said.
In exchange for a small amount of productivity, you’re investing in a new, fresh talent.
“There should be way more openness in the industry at large to hire junior developers,” said Ludovic.
Ludovic believes that opening a door for someone can change their life.
“The culture that’s been built in the company is very much a culture of caring about others and giving back,” Ludovic said.
Learn more about Nucamp Coding Bootcamp