Code Camp — Case Study
Program management — Technical education

Running a coding
bootcamp for non-engineers

Code Camp is an internal bootcamp taught by engineers and open to non-technical employees — a 4-week course covering Python, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, followed by a full Hack Week where participants build and demo real software. Over three years, the role expanded from running individual cohorts to restructuring the entire program and building the Teaching Assistant framework from scratch.

3
Years involved
3
Annual cohorts run
16
Classes per cohort
40hr
Hack Week per cohort
Skills

What I brought to this

Program operations Cross-functional stakeholder management Scheduling and workforce coordination Data-driven restructuring Documentation and process design ERG and community outreach Participant communications Curriculum support and TA framework
Reflection

What I learned

A program's biggest problems are invisible until you look at the data

We ran three location-based cohorts every year because that's how it had always been done. It took a pulse survey and an honest look at application numbers to see what was actually happening: one cohort was consistently oversubscribed, another couldn't fill seats, and the schedule was creating friction that kept eligible people from applying. The data made the case for a structural change that instinct alone wouldn't have surfaced.

Standardization is a form of fairness

When each cohort was managed by a different person in a different location, participants had meaningfully different experiences — different selection criteria, different feedback processes, different Hack Week support. Moving to role-based admin (one person owns selection, one owns pre-camp, one owns post-camp) wasn't just more efficient; it made the program more equitable.

Alumni are an underused resource

The Teaching Assistant role came from recognizing that past participants had exactly the knowledge new participants needed — not just technical knowledge, but the experience of being a non-engineer in a coding class, knowing which parts are confusing, knowing how to encourage someone who's stuck. Formalizing that as a structured role changed what the program could offer.

Timeline

Three years, three phases

Each year brought a different challenge and a different scope of work — from running cohorts to rebuilding the infrastructure to creating a new role that didn't exist before.

2023
Team Lead
Running the program across multiple cohorts

Managed the end-to-end operations for multiple cohorts — application process, selection committee, ERG outreach, participant communications, Hack Week coordination, and the all-hands presentation where alumni shared their projects.

Managed application review and selection committee for two cohorts
Led ERG outreach campaign to drive applications from underrepresented communities — coordinating across six employee resource groups
Coordinated all logistics: GitHub access requests, computer setup time, workforce scheduling, Slack channel management
Created Hack Week guide and presentation template; coordinated alumni demos at the all-hands
Co-presented Code Camp to the full organization to drive awareness and applications
3 cohorts run across 3 time zones
2024
Team Lead
Restructuring the program from the ground up

A 2023 retrospective surfaced three structural problems: documentation gaps, inconsistent cross-cohort experience, and a scheduling model that didn't reflect actual demand. The 2024 work was about fixing all three.

Designed and sent a pulse survey to the full organization to gather scheduling preferences and eligibility data before making any structural recommendations — survey informed the proposal to WFS and instructors
Proposed and implemented a shift from three location-based cohorts to two time-zone-agnostic cohorts with rolling applications, based on pulse survey results and application data
Rebuilt the admin tracker: moved from location-based ownership to role-based ownership (pre-camp, during, post-camp) to create a consistent experience regardless of who was running each phase
Worked with engineering partners to integrate JIRA for cross-team project tracking, aligning on a shared system both Customer Operations and Engineering could use
Supported the creation of Code Camp 0 — a curated ~30 hour pre-curriculum learning path to level-set incoming participants and improve class quality
Updated wiki, eligibility documentation, and all participant-facing communications to reflect the new structure
Reduced from 3 cohorts to 2 — better filled, more consistent
2025
Senior Team Lead
Building the Teaching Assistant program from scratch

No formal TA role had existed before. Identified the opportunity to leverage alumni knowledge as a structured support layer — between participants who needed help and instructors who couldn't always be available in real time.

Wrote the full TA job description — defining responsibilities across before, during, and after camp, including Hack Week facilitation and post-camp curriculum feedback
Built the TA application form and selection criteria, including a skills framework spanning technical, mentorship, and project management competencies
Designed the TA role to develop the assistant as much as the participants — explicitly framing it as a leadership and career development opportunity
Established feedback loop: TAs submit structured recommendations on curriculum, teaching methods, and student experience after each cohort
First-ever formal TA role — one per cohort
Outcome

What changed

Before
Three location-based cohorts — inconsistent fill rates, unequal experiences
Admin ownership tied to location, not role — no standardized process
No pre-curriculum — wide skill gaps made classes harder for everyone
No formal TA role — participants had to wait for instructor availability
After
Two time-zone-agnostic cohorts, filled by demand not geography
Role-based admin with standardized checklists for every phase
Code Camp 0 pre-curriculum to level-set participants before classes begin
Formal TA program — one per cohort, structured feedback loop built in
Next

Quality Program