Dmytro Vezhnin, Co-founder, CodeGym, sincerely believes that anyone can become a Java developer even without a CS degree or years of experience in IT.
He came to this conclusion empirically. With a decade of experience as a Java programmer, Dmytro was asked to help his younger sister to switch her career path to IT. And he accepted the challenge. After 1.5 years of training, she got a job offer that was five times her previous salary. Her success motivated Dmytro to take this forward and start teaching his friends in mini-groups. There were more and more people who wanted to study, and Dmytro could no longer cope on his own. Thus, the idea of creating a course was born.
Soon, he introduced a program for an online course, quit his job, and formed a team to start CodeGym. Dmytro began working on the course and formed a team in 2012, and the company went global in 2018. Currently, CodeGym has more than 10 years of experience in teaching Java.
Dmytro Vezhnin, Co-founder and CEO and Alex Yelenevych, co-founder and CMO
Like a real university
Dmytro, along with Alex Yelenevych, CodeGym’s co-founder and CMO, launched their first product, a self-paced Java course. In 10 years and with over two million students from more than 40 countries, it became a major success. The team made all possible improvements to the course and wondered how to make the product even more useful. After detailed research, the team realised that self-learning is not for everyone – people want to learn from people. Some students experience problems with keeping their motivation high, and they’d prefer a more personalised approach. This idea seemed brilliant, and CodeGym started to develop it.
Also, market research shows that universities alone cannot meet the demand for IT specialists, especially in a country like India, which is a world leader in IT outsourcing. This led to the creation of CodeGym’s Java University, where experienced mentors and practising programmers teach students of various ages and backgrounds.
At CodeGym’s Java University, mentors guide students on the theoretical and practical aspects of Java to help them get placed as Java developers. By signing up for Java University, students get all the benefits of the self-paced course along with mentor support, a friendly community, and a training platform to upskill their presentability and interview skills. And most importantly, CodeGym offers a 100 percent guarantee that all the graduates will get a job.
“In our company, we all agree that programming is a skill, like riding a bicycle. You need to ride it to learn. Likewise, you must practise coding. You can’t learn it just by watching lectures or reading books. Practice is the only way,” added Alex. But why the name ‘CodeGym’? Answering this question, Alex noted, “Students ‘work out’, like in a gym, to build their coding ‘muscles’; hence the name CodeGym.”
Why now is the right time to learn Java
Java is one of the most popular modern programming languages which allows the creation of complex programs and applications, used by almost every IT company. With the increasing demand for Java programmers, Java developers have become one of the most well-paid professions in the IT world. In India, Java developers could earn up to Rs 20 lakh per annum.
Secondly, with Java being widely used for Android development, cloud projects, virtual reality, development tools, game development and robotics, healthcare devices, Java developers are increasingly growing in demand. The startup market in India is growing too, and the economy is actively digitalising. Therefore, companies experience a massive shortage of professionals.
And last but not least – a Java programmer has lots of options. Server-side applications for finance and big data need Java. Android programs, web applications, embedded systems, and scientific applications need Java, too.
Clarifying false notions about learning Java programming, Dmytro said, “Many people think only geniuses can become programmers. It’s a misconception that we want to fix. Programming is a skill. With the right training program and the support of experienced mentors, anyone can become a developer.” He added that many CodeGym students started from scratch and are already working for companies like Google, Microsoft, Tata, to name a few.
Besides offering a 100 percent job guarantee, CodeGym provides students with career consultations and career guidance facilities. To make job-hunting easy for students, CodeGym partners with companies like Ola, TIAA, Durafit, and others.
What CodeGym’s Java University offers
Java University is a year-long program that combines all the benefits of the self-paced course with additional features like live sessions with teachers, mentor support, and a job offer guarantee. Students can also clear their doubts and queries through the platform’s Slack channel. As part of small-group online classes on Zoom, teachers explain new theoretical topics to students, analyse homework assignments, and answer questions.
‘’I was very scared of Java because I couldn’t understand its syntax, concept, or how to code. After this course, I can now say I know Java and can do codes on it. I am now able to understand the complex coding problems,” said Ayroti, a CodeGym University student.
Unlike other educational platforms, CodeGym’s self-paced course is designed with a gamified approach, and has a storyline with jokes and heroes.” The platform offers an interactive online simulator with auto-check facilities and a “virtual mentor” that checks the completed tasks in seconds and assesses the results in a very quick turnaround time – making learning easy, fast, and engaging.
“We are more than just a course: many of our students stay in the community even after graduation. So, current students can turn to more experienced colleagues for advice on almost any topic – from solving coding tasks to preparing for a job interview,” added Alex.
The path to the future of coding
To become a leading player in the IT edtech sector, CodeGym is actively developing its outsourcing business, launching products in new markets, creating a product for schools in the United States, planning to introduce new courses alongside its Java University, and have recently added a course on Android.
Talking about their future plans, Alex said, “I think in five years, our outsourcing company will become quite large (we aim for 10,000 – 15,000 developers), professional educational projects will have trained 300,000+ developers, and our platform for schools in the USA will hold 10-15 percent of the market, i.e., in every sixth US school there will be teachers and students using our platform.”
