Mayor Emanuel and City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor Juan Salgado today announced the expansion of technology programming with seven bootcamps in cybersecurity and coding across six campuses by the end of 2018.

“Expanding these technology bootcamps gives students the opportunity to learn the language of the future, sharpen their minds and develop the skillsets needed to compete and win in the 21st century,” said Mayor Emanuel. “City Colleges is preparing students to enter the workforce as in-demand, highly-skilled professionals, and I look forward to watching as they continue to thrive and succeed in Chicago’s blossoming tech community.”

Each technology bootcamp is approximately six months long, with evening classes twice a week and on Saturdays. Wright, Kennedy-King, Daley and Malcolm X Colleges will host cybersecurity bootcamps and Harold Washington, Kennedy-King and Truman Colleges will host coding bootcamps in iOS. The bootcamps will accept approximately 145 students by the end of 2018.

“The growth of our iOS and cyber security boot camps will offer more Chicagoans the opportunity to prepare for family-sustaining careers in the high-demand IT field, and will further position City Colleges as a go-to talent source for Chicago’s dynamic tech industry,” said City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor Juan Salgado.

The City Colleges bootcamp with Apple, in its pilot stage, will prepare students with the coding skills necessary to create and publish apps for iPhone and iPad and sell them on the App Store, where US app developers have earned over $16 billion in sales. It is free to selected participants, chosen based on demonstrated interest in coding, previous technical training or experience, familiarity with iOS, ability to commit to 12 hours per week and a desire to start a career in this field. The first bootcamps will start in April at Kennedy-King and Truman Colleges, and expand to Harold Washington in September.

Once students have completed the program, they will have access to internships and work-based learning opportunities with City Colleges partners including 1871, GE Transportation, IBM Watson Education, Jellyvision, Accenture, McDonalds, Rush University Medical Center, Razorfish, Ulta and United, among many others.

The first technology bootcamp in cybersecurity was launched in 2017 at Wright College, the center of excellence in Information Technology at City Colleges. The state-of-the-art cyber security boot camp training initiative was launched in partnership with the US Department of Defense to prepare students for highly skilled jobs in the industry. The immersive training program prepared graduates to sit for the Offensive Security Certified Professional Certification Test – a high valued certification exam recognized by the National Security Agency and the Department of Defense.

The inaugural cohort included students from CCC, civilian backgrounds and military service. This year it will expand to both Wright and Kennedy-King Colleges.

Several of the city’s corporate leaders in the IT industry work with City Colleges to develop highly-skilled cyber security apprentices. Accenture, Allstate, Aon, ComEd, Microsoft and Trustwave and others are committed to providing cyber security students with a range of supports, including: internship opportunities, ongoing mentoring, recruitment and job placement, and to advise CCC on curriculum development.

Industry specific bootcamps will also run at Daley and Malcolm X Colleges. The program at Daley College will be focused on DMDII, while the program at Malcolm X will be partner specific to the Illinois Medical District.

For more information about the cybersecurity and coding bootcamps, visit www.ccc.edu/techbootcamps.

CCC prepares more than 80,000 students annually for further college and careers. CCC encompasses seven colleges and five satellite sites city-wide. The City Colleges of Chicago includes seven colleges: Richard J. Daley College, Kennedy-King College, Malcolm X College, Olive-Harvey College, Harry S Truman College, Wilbur Wright College and Harold Washington College. For more information on City Colleges, or for registration information, call (773) COLLEGE or visit www.ccc.edu.

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