2019: A Year Of Incredible Growth
Happy New Year!
I can't wait for all of the innovation and success to come in 2020, but for a moment, I'd like to look back on 2019 and how much progress we made together at Bloom Institute of Technology (formerly known as Lambda School).
During 2019:
- We hired 125 new employees
- Our instructors taught 6,875 lessons – which translates to 20,625 hours of live instruction
- Our team has scheduled 1,000+ job interviews for BloomTech grads
- Our students completed 750+ Build Week projects and 223 Labs projects
- We launched new courses for iOS Development, UX Design, and Data Science
BloomTech Team Retreat December 2018
When this photo was taken, BloomTech had about 40 employees. We had just announced that we’d raised $30 million, and had recently launched a cohort with 100 students, which felt crazy-high. We had only a few developers on our team, no data team, and a marketing team of one, but we knew we were on the cusp of something special.
BloomTech Retreat: December 2019
Most importantly, 2019 was a hugely successful year for our students. We processed 60,000 applications this year – 50 percent more than Harvard – and admitted many new students to our full-time and part-time courses. We’ll be sharing more about student outcomes in Q1 of 2020, but I wanted to end with a few of my favorite student success stories from this year that make all of the hard work worth it:
Yasirah Krueng
Arundo Analytics
“My time at BloomTech has been one of the most challenging period of my life, taking a FT course with 3 young kids ages 5-11 is a lot, but I made it!
So, for those of you, BloomTech moms and dads out there, I know you're doing the almost impossible thing, but this is all worth it. When I told my three daughters that mommy now has a job, I know that they are very proud of me (the youngest one keep saying 'mommy you are a real Hacker now').”
Joshua Vandergriff
Dealer Inspire
“I got the (offer) call when I was crying at my grandmother’s table. "Josh, we were beyond impressed with your dedication to the auto industry and the tech you have learned in so short of a time, we would love to have you join us!". I froze, dropped my phone and almost passed out. I could not believe it.”
Alexis Carr
Eventbrite
“I JUST GOT AN OFFER AT EVENTBRITE AS A SOFTWARE ENGINEER!!!! And have an offer pending as a data scientist at another company in the Bay Area. I’m in my Uber coming back home from another interview ugly crying. Thank you so much BloomTech for taking a chance on me with the living stipend and to all of the staff who didn’t let me quit when my imposter syndrome got really bad!”
These student stories are what drives the BloomTech team. Our one and only mission at BloomTech unlocking the potential of everyone, regardless of circumstance, and that work is paying off for our students.
And we’re just getting started.
Cheers to 2020 – and thank you for being on this journey with us.
Sincerely,
Austen Allred, CEO and Co-founder of BloomTech
