Jessica Floum, Updated 4:21 pm, Wednesday, September 25, 2013 SFGate
Kara Louie (left) and Jennie Ohyoung begin their 10-week engineering fellowship program at Hackbright Academy, a San Francisco programming crash course for women only. Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle
After meeting through a mutual friend, Fernandez started teaching Philips how to program. He later taught him formally in a class of 21 students, just two of whom were women.
"Going through that experience, (I learned) there's this new type of education you can do," Philips said. "You can learn really quickly and change your career. I also noticed the gender gap in the class."
So Philips, 26, and Fernandez, 30, founded Hackbright Academy in June to teach women how to program in a supportive, all-female environment. In its first year, the San Francisco course graduated 78 female software engineers, more than either UC Berkeley's or Stanford's undergraduate programs did in 2012.
"With Hackbright, we thought we could solve two problems," Philips said. "We thought we could help increase the number of women in engineering and also increase the number of talented engineers so companies can hire them."
For a fee of $12,000 per student, Hackbright Academy ( www.hackbrightacademy.com) teaches 20 to 30 women to program in a 10-week crash course on software engineering. Students have access to five full-time instructors and three mentors in the industry. After working on projects in pairs for the first five weeks, students complete a final project, which they present to about 25 prospective employers during a career day.
"It was shockingly easy to find a job," Hackbright alumna Nicole Zuckerman, 31, said.
Zuckerman attended Hackbright after leaving her job in publishing, where she didn't see any potential for personal growth outside of management. She now works on Web projects and troubleshoots existing Web features as a software developer at Eventbrite. After career day, Zuckerman had seven interviews and three job offers.
"It came down to which was a better lifestyle fit," Zuckerman said. "Having that choice was kind of unreal for me. It was the first time I had that happen."
"I don't want to make it a gender thing, but I do think it's kind of a gender thing," said 28-year-old alumna Jacmine Tsai, now a software developer at Change.org. "There's an unexamined stereotype in your head: It's too hard for girls."
Hackbright pushes its students to promote themselves as software developers by giving them business cards during their second week of class and instructing them to refer to themselves not as students, but as programmers.
"Because of the really stellar instruction and because of the community we have, I was able to say I'm a software engineer at a party while I was a software engineering student," alumna Kathryn King, 29, said. "That was how I got my first freelance gig."
"There's this group of people who understand what you've been through more than anyone else in your life," King said. "You build professional connections and friendships, but there's also a special bond there."
"Going through that experience, (I learned) there's this new type of education you can do," Philips said. "You can learn really quickly and change your career. I also noticed the gender gap in the class."
So Philips, 26, and Fernandez, 30, founded Hackbright Academy in June to teach women how to program in a supportive, all-female environment. In its first year, the San Francisco course graduated 78 female software engineers, more than either UC Berkeley's or Stanford's undergraduate programs did in 2012.
Grad stats
According to the American Society for Engineering Education, 55 women graduated with computer science or related bachelor's degrees from UC Berkeley, and 27 women graduated with computer science degrees from Stanford in 2012."With Hackbright, we thought we could solve two problems," Philips said. "We thought we could help increase the number of women in engineering and also increase the number of talented engineers so companies can hire them."
For a fee of $12,000 per student, Hackbright Academy ( www.hackbrightacademy.com) teaches 20 to 30 women to program in a 10-week crash course on software engineering. Students have access to five full-time instructors and three mentors in the industry. After working on projects in pairs for the first five weeks, students complete a final project, which they present to about 25 prospective employers during a career day.
"It was shockingly easy to find a job," Hackbright alumna Nicole Zuckerman, 31, said.
Zuckerman attended Hackbright after leaving her job in publishing, where she didn't see any potential for personal growth outside of management. She now works on Web projects and troubleshoots existing Web features as a software developer at Eventbrite. After career day, Zuckerman had seven interviews and three job offers.
"It came down to which was a better lifestyle fit," Zuckerman said. "Having that choice was kind of unreal for me. It was the first time I had that happen."
'Impostor syndrome'
Hackbright also encourages its students in their career pursuits by teaching them to overcome "impostor syndrome," a doubt in one's own achievements frequently experienced by women in tech jobs."I don't want to make it a gender thing, but I do think it's kind of a gender thing," said 28-year-old alumna Jacmine Tsai, now a software developer at Change.org. "There's an unexamined stereotype in your head: It's too hard for girls."
Hackbright pushes its students to promote themselves as software developers by giving them business cards during their second week of class and instructing them to refer to themselves not as students, but as programmers.
"Because of the really stellar instruction and because of the community we have, I was able to say I'm a software engineer at a party while I was a software engineering student," alumna Kathryn King, 29, said. "That was how I got my first freelance gig."
'A special bond'
King quit her nanny job in Chicago before attending Hackbright and becoming a software developer at Eventbrite. Although she's an alumna, King remains a part of the Hackbright community."There's this group of people who understand what you've been through more than anyone else in your life," King said. "You build professional connections and friendships, but there's also a special bond there."
Jessica Floum is a San Francisco Chronicle reporter. E-mail: business@sfchronicle.com
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