#BITTechTalk ep. #66 "Dev Bootcamps"

On this episode of the Blacks In Technology #BITTechTalk podcast as we discuss Dev bootcamps. What are they? Are they worth the money? These are some of the questions we’ll answer as we speak with our guest, Krista Williams, a dev bootcamp graduate, and Maurice Rabb, a dev bootcamp instructor.Krista is currently a software engineer at Zipcar. She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pittsburgh in Linguistics in 2010. While working at a language services agency during her first two years after graduating, she began intrigued by the idea of learning to program and changing careers. After learning more about web development and starting to study coding in her spare time, she decided to pursue a career in web development and began her journey by attending an immersive bootcamp, MakerSquare, in Austin, TX during the summer of 2013.Over the past 25 years, Maurice has worked in a wide variety of programming languages, favoring pure dynamic languages such as JavaScript, Smalltalk, and Ruby. He has expertise in domain modeling, design patterns and framework development, and has the rare knack for communicating complex concepts to engineers, business people, and customers alike. As a young man, Maurice earned a BS in product design and an MS in engineering.After working corporate engineering positions at GM, Motorola, and Lockheed, Maurice returned to Chicago to start a company, Stono Technologies, LLC with his brother Christopher, developing a couple of software patents along the way. Post internet bubble, after a stint in management consult, he moved into academia. Over the past 9 years, he’s taught software engineering at the University of Illinois, at Columbia College Chicago, and now at Dev Bootcamp.Maurice is passionate about demystifying technology, and making computing more accessible to underrepresented groups. Maurice loves traveling, tinkering, playing boardgames, going on adventures with his 7-year-old daughter, and being the building super (aka Bookman) at his extended family compound.