SAN ANTONIO – Codeup, a San Antonio coding boot camp, suddenly ceased operations in late December, leaving students and staff members confused and scrambling for answers.
The abrupt closure on Dec. 28 was announced in an email (read in entirety below) sent to staff stating in part, “As you know, due to many factors ranging from economic conditions to funding availability, in early December Codeup made the decision to ultimately cease operations.”
India Byrd, Codeup’s former director of career services, received the email terminating her employment immediately. Byrd believes Codeup expanded too fast to be sustainable.
“They had the same amount of staff to place 300 students or so that they had working to place less than 100 and it just wasn’t sustainable,” Byrd said.
Next to a “Classes Cancelled” sign on Codeup’s door is a delinquency notice showing they had stopped paying rent. The belief is that Codeup left around 70-100 students and 20-40 staff members in the lurch right before the holidays.
Codeup was a coding boot camp intended to help people transition into software development careers. Now, local organizations like Geekdom are stepping in to offer support.
“One of the things that we here at Geekdom are trying to do because of our close partnership with Codeup is offer any staff or instructors or students access to our community for the next three months for free,” said Charles Woodin of Geekdom.
Former Codeup staffer Laura Ruiz-Roehrs is now hosting an event to help inform people considering coding boot camps.
“The technology scene is changing a lot. We hear about a lot of layoffs, and with AI coming into place, and it’s just a good opportunity to relay identify. If you’re wanting to code whether coding boot camp is a right choice for you,” Ruiz-Roehrs said.
KSAT reached out to Codeup leadership for comment, but they have not yet responded. Byrd said she still has many unanswered questions.
“I hope they take accountability for the things that they’ve done. I know that the leadership has not spoken, and that breaks my heart,” Byrd said.
Laura Ruiz-Roehrs, founder of Code Flight, is hosting a special event at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Geekdom called The State of Coding Bootcamps in 2024: How to Become a Software Developer in the New Year. It is open to the public and you can register here for the event.
KSAT 12 News reached out to the city in response to Codeup’s closure. Here is the response we received:
San Antonio Ready to Work is offering alternative training programs to the 18 Ready to Work students impacted by the Codeup closure. They include boot camps at Alamo Colleges, Coding Dojo, NPower and UTSA, to name a few. Those enrollees will be notified by the end of the week. There are a wide variety of programs for these students, as well as for other qualified applicants interested in Ready to Work. If you’re looking for your next opportunity in a better-quality, higher-paying job, give Ready to Work a try. Call 311 or visit ReadytoWorkSA.com.
Following is the email sent to Codeup staff:
Dear Codeup Team,
As you know, due to many factors ranging from economic conditions to funding availability, in early December Codeup made the decision to ultimately cease operations. Much of the staff was laid off and other significant cost cutting measures were put in place with the intent of doing best by our students and graduating the cohorts in progress.
This plan to teach out our remaining cohorts came with a lot of risk including facilities, incoming dollars required to sustain the operation, pushback and fear from community partners, remaining staff, and students. As we continued to operate, these influencing factors caused significant instability, and each new factor (a vendor requiring payment, a staff member leaving, a partner delaying tuition payments, etc.) changed the math on how long cohorts could continue.
After hours of ongoing discussion over the past several weeks, we have come to the difficult conclusion that we cannot continue through the graduation of all of our current cohorts. Therefore, effective today (12/28/2023), Codeup will cease all operations and classes. As a result, your employment is terminated effective immediately. Your final paycheck will be issued on 12/29/2023. You will receive a separate email with more information about the offboarding process and benefit options.
All current students have been notified that their class is canceled, with the exception of Fenrir who have completed the required hours and will receive Certificates of Completion. In the coming months, we will work diligently with the Texas Workforce Commission to issue any available refunds to them.
When you look back at your time at Codeup, we hope that you feel pride in the positive impact this company has had on many, many lives. Thank you each for your hard work and commitment to our students and company. We wish you the best, and if there is any way we can be helpful in your transition, please let us know.
Please direct any questions to staff.inquiries@codeup.edu.
Thank you,
Codeup Leadership