In October, co-working startup WeWork acquired NYC-based coding academy Flatiron School for an undisclosed price. It wasn't long after that when WeWork announced they would be opening Flatiron's second location in D.C. — one of their largest markets.
Today, we have more details on when, where and how this campus is coming together.
Per a WeWork spokesperson on Friday, Flatiron's D.C. campus will be opening in March, and it will be based out of WeWork White House on G Street NW. The new D.C. location will offer Flatiron's 15-week software engineering immersive course, alongside night and weekend courses. The immersive course costs $15,000, with financing and scholarships available. Classes officially start on March 12.
"Washington, D.C. has become one of the fastest growing hubs for tech innovation in recent years, making it the perfect fit as we continue to expand our on-campus offerings," Adam Enbar, Flatiron School co-founder and CEO, said in a statement sent to DC Inno. "Flatiron School is excited to see where our growth takes us as we continue to empower students with the skills they need to build fulfilling careers."
A launch party for the new campus will be hosted on Feb. 1.
Since its founding five years ago, Flatiron has had 1,000 students graduate between its in-person full stack web development course and its online offerings, a spokesperson said. Between its now two campuses, Flatiron offers a full-time web development course; a handful of certificate programs in HTML & CSS, Ruby and Javascript; and a handful of free online courses.
As noted when the campus was first announced in November, the addition of Flatiron in D.C. allows WeWork to capitalize on one of its largest markets, which now has 10 locations in the D.C. metro area after the opening of its Atlas and Navy Yard locations in the summer. Through the acqusition, WeWork members have access to Flatiron's courses both in-person and virtually.
WeWork's acquisition of Flatiron came right after the coding school reached a $375,000 settlement with New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for operating without a license and inappropriately advertised its job placement and graduate rates about the success of its graduates, as MarketWatch reports. According to the state, Flatiron operated without a required license since 2013 and a distilled version of the school's outcomes report did not clearly disclose that its employment rate statistics also include apprentices, contract employees and self-employed freelance workers.
The opening of the D.C. campus comes at an interesting time for coding schools and education programs in the D.C. metro area. In October, The Iron Yard closed its doors after all of its campuses announced they would be shutting down in July. Launch Academy started its women-only coding bootcamp in October in Dupont Circle and started in-person instruction in December. 1776 merged with Philadelphia-based Benjamin’s Desk in October, which has raised questions about what education programming and resources will be staying put. Silver Spring, Md.-based co-working group I/O Spaces also recently launched a series of education programs to rival local coding schools.
"At WeWork, we believe we are all students for life — learning and education are lifelong processes critical to doing what you love. That’s why we are so proud to support Flatiron School’s leading community-first approach to programming education as Flatiron opens its first location in D.C. this spring," said Nicole Mozeliak, WeWork general manager for the Mid-Atlantic, said in a statement to DC Inno.
"Flatiron’s expansion into D.C. will give more people the opportunity to access the skills they need to transform their careers and achieve their dreams."
