Pursuit is a nonprofit organization based in Queens, New York that aims to provide accessible coding education for NewYork Metro residents from low-income backgrounds. Pursuit offers hybrid web development bootcamps with an Income Share Agreement that allows people to pay post-graduation in monthly installments.
Pursuit emphasizes community in its programs. The organization advertises community mentorship and professional development programs that extend beyond the initial bootcamp.
Pursuit positions itself as an alternative to traditional bootcamps designed not for independently wealthy college grads but for low-income learners with a range of backgrounds. The nonprofit began life as Coalition for Queens, a tech venture founded in 2011 by Queens natives Jukay Hsu and David Yang. The two started the organization’s “Access Code” program to teach participants how to code iOS apps, in 2013, rapidly expanding into a ten-month computer programming course serving not only Queens but also the larger New York City area. In 2018 the organization rebranded as Pursuit. As co-founder, Hsu is tapped into the pulse of the politics of the New York tech scene. He was inspired by Mayor Bloomberg’s emphasis on tech education for New York, was selected to serve on Mayor de Blasio’s transition team, and was an early and excited advocate for Amazon to build its new headquarters in Queens. Through Pursuit, Hsu and Yang want to make the future of technology a diverse one.
Pursuit is located in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City. The campus is just a few blocks from the Hunters Point Avenue Metro station and the Hunters Point Avenue Long Island Rail Road station. The campus is accessible 24/7 for students to study and collaborate.
The Pursuit curriculum teaches participants full-stack web development along with an introduction to computer science. For students who want to compare their options before committing to a tech education program, the Classes Near Me tool from Noble Desktop can help future coders locate and evaluate a range of web development classes and bootcamps.
Pursuit offers one web development program, the Pursuit Fellowship. In the program, fellows learn full-stack web development, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, along with Express, React, and Node, in addition to Redux and SQL. At the same time as fellows develop their technical skills, they also spend time learning about the tech profession and how to succeed on the job market and on the job. The program has a strong emphasis on cultivating teamwork and leadership skills in its participants for the benefit of their future careers.
The Pursuit Fellowship program runs on a hybrid model, blending in-person and live online instruction. Fellows can choose between two full-time schedules: the Daytime program, which meets during business hours on weekdays, and the Nights and Weekends program, which meets weekday evenings and all day on weekends. On both schedules, fellows take 12 months to complete the intensive training portion of the program, which includes group activities like hackathons and a capstone project.
After landing a job, fellows then transition into the three-year Pursuit Advance mentorship program. All fellows receive a free Mac laptop workstation setup, complete with a monitor, to keep. At 30–40 fellows, cohort sizes can be quite large, but fellows have the opportunity to interface with instructors, instructional assistants, and volunteer mentors.
Because Pursuit is a nonprofit serving low-income learners, applicants must meet a few eligibility requirements. Prospective fellows must live in the New York Metro Area, be authorized to work in the US, and expect an annual income below $45,000. Applicants do not need to hold any academic degrees or have any experience with coding. Admission is competitive and the application process itself is intensive.
Prospective fellows first submit an online application and skills test. Those who pass the first step move on to visit a Pursuit workshop and complete several more assessments. Successful workshop and coding challenge participants then participate in a final admissions activity, a personal and technical interview. The organization advertises that half of their fellows are women and other gender minorities, and nearly three-quarters are Black or Latinx.
Tuition at Pursuit works on a modified Income Share Agreement model called the Pursuit Bond. The organization’s investment partners sponsor the up-front costs of fellows’ tuition. After a fellow lands a job earning $50,000 or more in any industry, the fellow repays their sponsorship by contributing 48 monthly payments of 5–15% of their income (based on the organization’s progressive rates).
Career support is integrated into the Pursuit Fellowship curriculum. In addition to attending career development sessions throughout the Fellowship, Pursuit Fellows showcase their capstone project to employers at the end of the intensive course. Pursuit works with several corporate partners to secure priority employment opportunities for graduates of the Fellowship.
Pursuit advertises that their graduates earn a starting salary of $85,000 on average. Pursuit Fellowship alumni have graduated into careers at major businesses like Apple, Citi, Microsoft, and X (formerly known as Twitter). The school does not report graduation rates or how long alumni go between graduation and job acquisition.
When coming to a decision about where and how to study coding, researching graduates’ reviews of bootcamp programs can play a major role in making that choice. Pursuit alumni value the Fellowship program’s emphasis not only on teaching fellows the theory and practice necessary for achievement on the technical side of a coding career, but also guiding fellows through acquiring the professional and leadership proficiencies that recruiters look for. “Pursuit’s curriculum enabled me to focus on developing the key hard and soft skills to succeed as a Software Engineer, ” notes one graduate.
The organization’s exclusive focus on low-income participants is a key feature for many fellows. One graduate found that Pursuit “provided me with the resources and care I needed to get ahead and make things work for myself.” Some fellows express concerns about the steep cost of the ISA repayments and the school’s ability to interface with low-income and diverse fellows, and the program itself can be intense. Still, fellows appreciate the low up-front cost of the program and the free laptop, as well as the community that participants and engaged instructors develop together. As one graduate phrased it, the Fellowship program is “a roller coaster ride, but if you’re dedicated to completing your transition this is a great option.”
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