As Coding Boot Camps Close, the Field Faces a Reality Check<br />But the coding boot-camp field now faces a sobering moment, as two large schools have announced plans to shut down this year — despite backing by major for-profit education companies, Kaplan<br />and the Apollo Education Group, the parent of the University of Phoenix.<br />Since 2013, the number of boot camp schools in the United States has tripled to more than 90,<br />and the number of graduates will reach nearly 23,000 in 2017, a tenfold jump from 2013, according to Course Report, which tracks the industry.<br />But rapid expansion into new cities can leave little time to forge ties with nearby companies,<br />the hiring market for boot camp graduates, said Liz Eggleston, co-founder of Course Report.<br />In an email, Lelia King, a spokeswoman, said that while students benefited, the company was “ultimately unable to sustain our current business model.”<br />Boot camp courses, aimed at adults, vary in length and cost.<br />Also closing is The Iron Yard, a boot camp that was founded in Greenville, S. C., in 2013<br />and swiftly spread to 15 campuses, from Las Vegas to Washington, D. C. Its main financial backer is the Apollo Education Group.<br />Successful schools, analysts say, will increasingly be the ones that expand their programs to suit the changing needs of employers.
