The Flatiron School, a New York-based coding bootcamp, is opening its eighth location in WeWork’s newest Chicago office.
Flatiron, which was acquired last year by WeWork, was founded in 2012 and now has campuses nationwide in New York, Houston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Seattle and Denver. It also has a school in London.
The new Chicago Flatiron campus is expected to start offering classes in April and will be located at WeWork’s new River North office at 515 N. State St., the company announced Wednesday. Students can begin applying for Flatiron’s programs now, but to raise awareness for the opening, Flatiron is hosting public coding meet-ups on Nov. 15 and Dec. 5.
"We're excited to announce our first campus in the Midwest and join Chicago's ever-growing tech community," said Flatiron’s Co-Founder and CEO Adam Enbar in a statement. “Home to so many established and growing companies, Chicago is an epicenter for top tech talent. Bringing our campus to Chicago means that employers won’t have to look too far to find the best and brightest talent.”
Flatiron, which has graduated more than 1,500 students, provides software engineering, data science and design courses. Classes cost up to $15,000 for a 15-week immersive software engineering bootcamp, according to Flatiron’s website.
The school also provides career coaching to help students find jobs that fit their new skills learned in the bootcamp. Its alums have gone on to work at companies, such as Siemens, Crate & Barrel and ESPN.
The school also already has Chicago ties since it acquired Chicago coding program Designation in August. Designation, founded in 2014, trains UI and UX designers. Before being acquired itself, Flatiron had raised $14.5 million from investors like Thrive Capital and Matrix Partners, according to Crunchbase.
“Chicago is a tech powerhouse, but more Chicagoans and local companies need skilled designers, software engineers and data scientists to ensure we continue to grow,” said Aaron Fazulak, Designation’s CEO and the director of design education at Flatiron, in a statement. “Having taught design in Chicago since 2013, we know Flatiron School's Chicago campus will help people succeed in careers they love and bolster the future of our city.”
