It didn’t take long for OfferUp to step up in its new community.
OfferUp, the Seattle-based company that opened an engineering office in Miami last fall, has teamed up with Miami-based coding school Ironhack to provide diversity scholarships in an effort to expand access to coding education and careers in technology.
The OfferUp Tech Career Empowerment Scholarship will be providing $250,000 toward enrollments in Ironhack’s Web Development and UX/UI bootcamps, with a priority given to underrepresented candidates and women looking to enter the tech world. Applications for the scholarship open today and close on Nov. 20, 2020. Classes for the first cohort of students will begin in January and will be virtual, taught by the Miami Ironhack team.
OfferUp is the largest mobile marketplace in the U.S. for local buyers and sellers. “We’ve made strides by building an incredible community of buyers and sellers, but we recognize that we also need to take a holistic approach to the concept of community, and that includes diversifying the workforce and opportunities for those in our company and industry. Our partnership with Ironhack gives us the ability to take an active role in reducing digital skills and access gaps in America’s tech industry,” said Natalie Angelillo, vice president of community at OfferUp.
Last fall, OfferUp opened a tech office in Miami, its first office outside Seattle. In December at a Refresh Miami event, CTO Ameesh Paleja said the expansion was going better than expected and the company had quickly filled 15 developer and designer positions from the Miami talent pool.
On Monday, OfferUp spokesman Brandon Vaughan said the company now has nearly 50 employees in the Miami area, but due to COVID-19, they are working from home as in Seattle, and they represent 12 different roles across our engineering, design and product teams. The company has 14 open Florida positions and is hiring, he said.
Ironhack, the venture-funded startup with campuses throughout Europe and Latin America, is a globally ranked coding school that has graduated more than 7,000 students. Since 2017, the company has partnered with top-tier tech companies to award more than $1.5 million in scholarships to those in need or underrepresented groups, including one with Facebook last year.
“Our premise has always been that employability is not determined exclusively by your level of hard skills or background. Building your professional network and gaining access to opportunities to show your experience plays a huge role in achieving a successful outcome. Through this scholarship, Ironhack is committed to increasing diverse representation within the tech industry,” said Lisa Nuessle, Ironhack general manager.
Those interested can apply for the OfferUp Tech Career Empowerment Scholarship here and learn more on OfferUp’s blog.
Ironhack will be hosting a virtual open house for potential applicants on Nov. 16 at 12:00 pm ET and Nov. 19 at 6 pm ET.