#founder interview

The hack_app team had the pleasure of interviewing Cahlan Sharp, the founder of DevMountain, a coding bootcamp in Provo, Utah. Cahlan and our team covered a variety of subjects via the interview including his journey with creating a coding school, what differentiates DevMountain from other coding schools, as well as the ideal student that coding schools are looking for.

We are grateful that Cahlan was able to take the time to share about DevMountian and hope you guys enjoy it as well.

DevMountain Story

Cahlan had his interest piqued in starting a coding bootcamp in Utah while he was living in the Bay area. He began as a spectator, simply watching coding bootcamps pop up all around the country; but he noticed, that no coding school had been started in Utah.

So Cahlan, decided to go and meet that need. As he began to reach out to his contacts and explore this opportunity he found that the idea of a coding bootcamp in Provo elicited very strong, positive response.

DevMountain started their first class last fall and now are in their second class of coders for the spring. DevMountain has taken off so quickly that Cahlan has had to quit his full-time job in order to handle all the work that DevMountian is throwing at him, and the school is continuing to attract great students.

DevMountain Experience

Many coding bootcamps around the world are full-time, expensive, total immersion experiences; while Cahlan does see value in this, he decided to meet a different need via DevMountain. DevMountain is a “part-time” bootcamp which means that students are able to have a life outside of their coding education. Students are still able to hold down jobs and maintain their family relationships while attending this bootcamp and gaining the skills and tools necessary for the development industry.

The DevMountain program is 12 weeks long. This program requires around twenty hours of effort per week from it’s students in order to maximize the student’s return on their investment.

The acceptance rates for DevMountain are fairly low which speaks positively to both the quality of the education, the number of applicants, and the desire to attend this specific bootcamp. The acceptance rate for the first class of coders was one out of every three and one out of every four for the second class of coders.

DevMountain also has a very entrepreneurial spirit and focus. DevMountain is not 100% focused on getting it’s students job placement at tech firms or companies. The goal of DevMountian is to empower its students to create their dreams via coding; they applaud entrepreneurship and the startup mindset.

DevMountain Price

The price for the 12 week program will hover around $3500 and $4000 in order to provide maximum availability to potential students. This is a very low rate for the courses that this bootcamp is offering; this low price point is a huge upside for this bootcamp.

DevMountain Ideal Student

Cahlan and the DevMountain team look for three specific indicators in a potential student:

1. They want students with passion for what they are doing. Their students must have a passion to code.

2. They want students to have basic aptitude with technology.

3. They want students to have availability to learn to code. While DevMountain is an “after-hours” bootcamp, they still require that students have the necessary time available to invest in their coding education.

DevMountain Location

DevMountain is based in Provo, Utah where there is a very strong technological presence and startup community. DevMountain is currently operating out of a startup space which has a fantastic entrepreneurial spirit.

DevMountain Post-Graduate Aid

“Although we encourage entrepreneurship, we love it, we can’t deny the fact that placement and recruiting is absolutely critical”

- Cahlan Sharp, DevMountain Founder

My latest via Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-b-fishbein/how-wiley-cerilli-used-cu_b_3631671.html

I knew SinglePlatform was an awesome company, but I didn't realize quite how awesome until having this conversation with the Founder and CEO, Wiley Cerilli. 

My latest via Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-b-fishbein/startup-advice-from-david_b_3456675.html

Here's a link to my latest blog post via HuffPost: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-b-fishbein/markerly_b_2469116.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

It's an interview with Sarah Ware, Founder and CEO of Markerly. I was a power-user of her product before the pivot and was very sad to see it go, thought I know she made the right decision. In fact, we met via her platform and first communicated via twitter. Haha kind of crazy to think about. 

I'm going to start doing more interviews with founders. The interviews will mostly be about the startup lifestyle and mind-set, advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, and practical topics (in this case: pivoting). I'm going to target first or second time founders, because I don't think most of them get enough attention despite being able to provide some really valuable perspective.