Jun 9, 2020
Mike Roberts is the founder of San Diego Code School, which focuses on helping individuals prepare for careers as software developers through apprenticeships.
Mike began coding when he was 12 or 13, purely as a hobby at first. After his attempt at going to college to be an accountant was unsuccessful, Mike chose to get a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s degree in engineering, ultimately becoming a software engineer. Then, he did everything he could to get involved in San Diego’s tech scene in order to help make the market available for amateur coders.
When Mike initially created San Diego Code School, it was a fast moving bootcamp that was meant to help prepare people for careers as software engineers in the local tech scene. He chose to pivot his company model about 6 months ago, when he realized that the college-to-company pipeline was failing both companies and their employees: new hires fresh off college graduation lacked the experience of hands-on coding projects that actually added business value to companies.
His San Diego Code School is working to fix that. Mike’s apprenticeship approach is incredibly unique; as a program that pays you to learn, it allows interested individuals to work in the field under managerial supervision until they gain enough skills to be fully independent. Additionally, the locations of Mike’s School are intentionally in underrepresented communities in order to lift them up and upskill them for 21st century jobs. Apply here: https://sdcs.io/apply/
Tune in as Mike joins host Neal Bloom and guest co-host Amy Chang, entrepreneur and angel investor, to discuss his journey as an entrepreneur in the San Diego tech scene.
Thanks to our partners at Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.
Mike’s favorite local tacos:
Connect with Mike:
Keep up with San Diego Code School:
Facebook: @sandiegocodeschool