Develhope: Find Top Courses & Training Locations

Based in Palermo, Develhope seeks to train young people from the Mezzogiorno in high-demand programming skills for the job market. Students do not need to pay any tuition until they have obtained in-field employment. Extensive career development and job-search services are included, and the school reports that 95% of graduates have been placed in jobs since it opened in 2021.

Develhope is the brainchild of Massimiliano Costa, who spent four years working with the United Nations World Food Programme as the head of ShareTheMeal, a highly successful app that makes it possible for users to combat world hunger with a few taps of a mobile phone screen. Develhope began in 2019, when Costa teamed up with Saša Sekulić and Alessandro Balsamo to create an online school. Their mission sought to tackle the severe problem of youth unemployment in the South of Italy, which figures place at an astronomically high level of 50%.

The idea behind Develhope is to give Southern Italians access to the kind of tech education that will level the playing field between Southern and Northern Italians when it comes to finding work in 21st-century industries. The school took on its first students in the spring of 2021. Develhope offers its classes free of charge until students find in-field employment. The school can even help arrange loans for students who require additional funds for basic living expenses while studying.

In addition to tech education, Develhope also has a software development wing. This side of the venture has already employed a number of the school’s graduates.

School Locations

Develhope’s headquarters are situated in Palermo, Sicily. Palermo was judged a place in particular need of a school like Develhope. The founders chose Palermo as a suitable location from which to help the youth of the Mezzogiorno region—large cities and small towns alike. However, all Develhope courses run online.

Subjects Taught at Develhope

Develhope teaches five bootcamp-style courses. One teaches full-stack web and app development, while another focuses on Java and back-end development. A further pair of courses prepares students for careers as mobile developers, working on programs for Android or iOS devices. A final class prepares students for careers as Salesforce Administrators. Using Noble Desktop's Classes Near Me tool, you can compare Develhope’s courses with classes at other schools. The database allows prospective students to search for full-stack web development bootcamps and Java classes located around the world.

What Classes Are Available?

Develhope’s full-stack course begins with the basics—Git, HTML, and CSS—before moving on to teaching students JavaScript. From there, students learn front-end development using React and back-end development using Node. The course requires six months to complete.

The Java developer course also takes six months and begins with the fundamentals of object-oriented programming. From there, the course proceeds to teach Java itself as well as SQL and the Spring framework for developing applications using Java.

The mobile development classes both take six months to complete as well. The Android development course focuses on the use of Kotlin as the development language. Students in the iOS development course learn Swift to program applications for Apple mobile devices.

The Salesforce class, unlike Develhope’s other offerings, requires only two months to complete. The goal of the course is to help students access jobs in Salesforce Administration. As such, the class is somewhat less technical than the longer bootcamps while still training students to develop Salesforce applications and administer the CRM.

Class Formats

Develhope’s classes are taught using a hybrid model that combines on-demand and live elements. The actual lessons are all provided on-demand, on the assumption that this will allow students more freedom in managing their study time. Students may review the on-demand lessons as often as they like.

The programs are otherwise fully live online. Students meet with a tutor at least once a week to go over exercises assigned in the on-demand lessons. They also meet frequently with their fellow students to work on projects in small teams, under the supervision of the students’ tutor. Develhope views this live interactive work as the heart of the program. Students can also participate in live coding sessions and regular meetings with coaches, coordinators, and lead teachers.

Each class is capped at 50 students, and all course materials are provided using Develhope’s own learning platform.

Admissions Process

After submitting a brief online application, students are brought in for a 30-minute interview with the Talent Acquisition Team. The interview assesses the candidate’s suitability for the program. Interviews may include questions on technical subjects to gauge whether the candidate should take the free online pre-courses offered by Develhope before enrolling in a bootcamp. Some of the interview will take place in English to allow the Talent Acquisition Team to evaluate the candidate’s ability in the language. (Students at Develhope are expected to have a B1 or B2 level of competency in English, as established by QCER, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.) The admissions process may also include a logic or programming quiz.

Pricing and Payment Options

The price of the six-month classes is set at €4300 (approximately $4600), with nothing to pay in advance. Only once students have succeeded in finding work will they be called upon to pay for the class in six monthly installments. Substantial discounts are available for students who pay in full in advance of the class, reducing the total fee to €3500.

In addition to deferring the cost of the class until the student has obtained employment, Develhope works with Intesa Sanpaolo to arrange cash loans to provide for students’ needs while they are studying.

Career Support Services

Develhope prides itself on its mentoring, coaching, and career development programs. The school aims to teach students essential skills not only in the bootcamp subject but also in career readiness. All programming students learn the Agile method of project management. In fact, the entire program is conducted using Agile methodologies. In addition, the school maintains a network of over 100 major Italian and international companies. Access to this network is a benefit of studying at Develhope.

Extensive coaching is included in the program, including 1-to-1 mentoring. A dedicated staff of HR specialists, success placement consultants, and transformational coaches is available to students as they progress through their course.

Alumni Outcomes

Develhope has succeeded admirably at helping its students access in-field jobs, either with the web development arm of the company or with the school’s partner network of enterprises. The school reports that over 95% of students from its first graduating classes secured employment as developers.

What Do Students Say?

Student reviews of Develhope are consistently enthusiastic. While the substantial workload of the bootcamps is a common theme among student reviews, many students affirm that the intensity of the programs is worth the learning experience. One student wrote that “it was six very intense months in which I learned how to write code, work on a team, and grow professionally and as a person.” The same writer added, “in the last part of the course, we were even taught how to improve our interview skills and how to write a proper resume, ” learning necessary skills for the job market.

Multiple reviews singled out the Develhope instructors for special praise. One student described the Front-end Developer course as “an immersive school in which the tutors and organizers take you by the hand and guide you to reach goals that initially you’d never have been able to imagine.” Another graduate also spoke highly of the instructors, who made the programs’ difficulty pay off. This student wrote, “The course is very demanding and calls for considerable sacrifice, but, thanks to the support of the tutors who were always there to help, I managed to learn the maximum from this experience and to face all the obstacles I encountered on my path.” Develhope graduates appreciate the full program experience.

Key Takeaways

Develhope is a tech school founded to combat youth unemployment in southern Italy.
Classes include full-stack development, Java (back-end) development, mobile app development, and Salesforce administration.
Courses combine hybrid on-demand lessons with live online, 1-to-1 sessions with a tutor as well as collaborative work with classmates.
Students receive extensive job support and coaching.
The school reports that 95% of graduates find jobs in their field.
Tuition payments can be deferred until students find jobs.
Classes are conducted in Italian, although students are expected to be reasonably proficient in English.

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Develhope

School Locations

Subjects Taught at Develhope

What Classes Are Available?

Class Formats

Admissions Process

Pricing and Payment Options

Career Support Services

Alumni Outcomes

What Do Students Say?

Key Takeaways

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Subjects Taught at Develhope

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Web Development