SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., May 13, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Hack Reactor group of in-person and online programming schools focused on student career outcomes – which graduates over 1,000 Software Engineers annually – has partnered with Optimizely, the leading experience optimization platform for A/B testing and personalization, to offer I/Own It, a full-tuition scholarship for women. Hack Reactor is also offering a full-tuition diversity scholarship for women interested in attending the software engineering program at partner school MakerSquare's Los Angeles campus.
"There is a lack of diversity in the technology field and currently women only earn 18% of computer science degrees," said Hack Reactor Cofounder Shawn Drost. "Hack Reactor is currently finding those numbers surpassed by the women in our remote program. The existing senior class in Hack Reactor's remote program is currently 33 percent female, nearly double the national average. To help keep the industry average moving up, Hack Reactor has partnered to create several scholarship and mentorship-based on-ramp programs."
Hack Reactor and Optimizely's I/Own It scholarship allows aspiring women technologists to "own it," by providing those who have not had the chance to develop programming and computer science skills an opportunity to code full-time and get paid for it. The scholarship recipient will attend Hack Reactor on a full-tuition scholarship in August, work closely with a mentor from Optimizely, and start a paid internship with Optimizely after graduation. The deadline to apply for the I/Own It scholarship is June 1.
"Hack Reactor alumni already work at Optimizely as software engineers, product designers, security engineers and backend engineers," said Optimizely Engineering Manager Jennifer Lin. "The talent and quality of engineers coming from the school is high-caliber. After experiencing Hack Reactor graduates' work first-hand, it was a natural fit for us to partner with one of the best coding schools to provide an onramp for future female engineers together."
Hack Reactor's recently opened MakerSquare Los Angeles campus is offering scholarship opportunities available to women interested in attending the first cohort at their new location. To be eligible for the scholarship, candidates must be accepted into the program. Interested applicants should apply at http://admissions.makersquare.com. MakerSquare LA classes start June 29.
"We are driving change by making programming education more accessible," said MakerSquare Cofounder Shehzan Devani. "This scholarship is a step toward our vision of bridging the gap and empowering women that may not have had the chance to receive a top-tier coding education and join the field."
About Hack Reactor
Hack Reactor's mission is two-fold: to empower people and to transform education through rapid-iteration teaching. Hack Reactor designs and conducts advanced immersion education programs that train students 11 hours per day, 6 days a week, over 12 weeks. Our curriculum cultivates mastery of computer science fundamentals and the JavaScript programming language. The Hack Reactor network of technology schools educates more software engineers every year than Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology, combined. Hack Reactor maintains a 99% employment rate and a median graduate salary of $110,000. Alumni work in a variety of mid- to senior-level engineering roles at industry leaders like Google, Adobe, LinkedIn, Uber and Amazon, as well as at several growing technology companies. For more information, visit: www.hackreactor.com.