The ABCs of CSS: The InBusiness guide to coding programs in Boston

Although a U.S. Department of Labor report announced Friday the lowest unemployment rate since July 2008, issues such as minimum wage, which the report also indicated has only increased 2 percent since 2013, continue to threaten the security of the job market. In Boston, which has become a hub for both successful and budding tech companies, knowing one’s way around a keyboard could be a make-or-break skill in the job market. For those who feel as though their coding skills might not be up to snuff, here is a list of places to learn the ABCs of CSS in the local Boston area.

General Assembly

Location: 51 Melcher St., Boston

Cost: $11,500

With 13 locations worldwide, including one in Boston, General Assembly aims to decode the complexities of mobile and website development through classes and workshops, said Anna Lindow, general manager of campus education and operations at General Assembly.

“We saw a need in the marketplace,” she said. “We saw that companies wanted to work with people who had the skills for internships.”

In order to prepare students for the competitive job market, General Assembly teaches students a wide range of programming languages.

“We teach HTML, CSS, JavaScript, [Apple programming language] Swift, [web application framework] Ruby on Rails,” Lindow said. “And then we also teach the JavaScript framework, so [that includes things like] Angular — those are a little bit more technical.”

In addition to teaching programming languages, General Assembly also teaches data science, Lindow said. Founded in 2011, General Assembly originally focused on website development, but quickly added more diverse program offerings as well.

Although General Assembly offers full-time immersive programs at a significant cost, they also have “drop-in” classes that students can attend free of charge.

“It comes down to the fact that there is a need for the marketplace,” Lindow said. “People can get jobs that are interesting and pay well, so that’s one part. Also it’s inspiring and empowering to make your ideas into reality so we are always excited to help them do that.”

Launch Academy

Location: 33 Harrison Ave. #501, Boston

Cost: $12,500

Launch Academy, a software development boot camp, stemmed from a void at a software development consultancy, said Evan Charles, co-founder of Launch Academy.

“My co-founder, Dan [Pickett], owned a software development consultancy and oftentimes at his consultancy, clients would ask him for recommendations for software engineers to work on his project,” he said. “The talent pool is so low that oftentimes an individual wasn’t able to work for the firm he was consulting for. So he took on people who didn’t have experience and had them work at his consultancy and taught them on the job at the consultancy how to code.”

Out of this on-the-job training, Launch Academy was born.

“What we do is we replicate the work environment of being a software developer,” Charles said. “So that when you graduate, they have applicable skills they can put to use [on] day one on the job.”

The immersive experience and long hours of the Launch Academy boot camp allows staffers to build relationships with the student, Charles said. As the program progresses, the relationships get stronger.

Launch Academy serves as a pipeline for students to obtain entry-level developer jobs, Charles said. On “Career Day,” students have the opportunity to network with Launch Academy’s hiring partners and showcase their projects.

“People will build individual projects and people will build projects within a group and the resulting apps they build will be showcased,” Charles said. “So rather than showing companies a resume, they are showing them real products they built during the program.”

And the support does not end with the boot camp. With its postgraduate support program, which consists of six months of technical and career support for students, Launch Academy ensure that students’ needs are met, Charles said.

Though Launch Academy is more career-oriented than some other programs, Charles said, college students who are not necessarily seeking to be hired immediately will still find the program useful.

“Learning software development prepares you with skills that are going to be applicable in the workforce today,” he said. “It also teaches you a new way of thinking. I think the combination of those two skills is extremely beneficial to anyone seeking a job or interested in building technology when they graduate college.”

Girl Develop It

Location: Various locales throughout the Boston area

Cost: $10 to 12 per hour, $90 average per course

Unlike General Assembly and Launch Academy, Girl Develop It is catered to empowering women who want to learn how to program.

“Girl Develop It is a nonprofit organization that teaches women…to learn programming,” said Elizabeth Long, a leader of the Boston chapter of Girl Develop It. “And the goal is to eliminate barriers that women have encountered when trying to learn programming.”

The program is especially popular among college students. Approximately 20 percent of the attendants in each class are college students, Long said.

“There are a variety of students who are doing graphic design or web design as a major and realize they need the technical component. Or there are women who are just getting started in [computer science] who want to get experience with more programming languages,” she said. “It’s really small, really intimate and we have a whole community around those people.”

Although the group’s lack of a permanent meeting space has made it difficult for interested women to find them, Long said, Girl Develop It manages to schedule classes in donated business spaces and offers scholarships in order to accommodate as many future female coders as possible.

“I hear all the time that they want more women to apply [in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields],” she said. “How can we help that? It’s [by] giving women the skills they need. So that’s what we are doing.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated that General Assembly started to expand its program offerings in 2011 and that they offer degree programs. The article has been updated to reflect these changes.