Why These Founders Want To Bring You To Bali For 10 Days To Learn To Code
When you hear the words “mindfulness,” “wellbeing,” and “tropical relaxation,” does coding bootcamp come to mind? It did for Tina May and her cofounder Emilio Kuzma-Floyd. In July 2015, they launched The Institute of Code(IOC) – a program offering 10-day immersive coding bootcamps held in tropical destinations around the world. Here, Tina shares her new approach to teaching professionals to code.
Lauren DeLisa Coleman: What was the impetus to start Institute of Code?
Tina May: A few years ago, I was sitting in a café in Cuba, working remotely. It was a gorgeous day, filled with great food and good company, and by the end of it, I couldn't believe how much I had accomplished. I’ve always known that productivity is more than just how hard you hustle – it’s a complex mix of factors that include your environment, food, exercise, and mindset. In that moment, I could really feel the power of that idea.
I was also disillusioned with the general higher education experience: exhausted students living off of instant noodles and too much caffeine, getting pumped through the system like tallies on the board. When a friend asked me about the best place to learn to code, there wasn't anywhere I was confident in recommending. That day, my cofounder Emilio and I decided to create one – and Institute of Code was born.
LDC: Tell us about your path to founding IOC. What experiences were most important?
TM: I studied marketing at a top university in Melbourne, Australia. I was passionate about my studies and I started a small creative marketing agency in my second year of school. All of my clients seemed to need a website, so I taught myself to code over the span of a couple of months. I continued building websites for small business clients throughout my university career.
Still, something felt amiss. While I did learn a lot during my time at school, I also felt largely disillusioned with higher education. Traditional education systems, which favor outdated methods for teaching and learning, often fail to create an environment that sets people up for success.
LDC: How does IOC differ from other coding classes out there?
TM: We genuinely care about the unique needs of every one of our students and we do all we can to help them achieve their specific goals. We take our students away from the stress of their everyday lives and welcome them into our beautiful, immersive, all-inclusive campus environment. During each of these sessions, we keep students’ bodies and minds nourished with great food prepared by our in-house chef and daily yoga and meditation. We believe that, in order to develop a skill like coding, people need a lot of one-on-one attention – so we have a personalized curriculum and one mentor for every four students.
Since launching, we’ve held sessions in both Bali, Indonesia and Sayulita, Mexico. For the next 12 months, we'll be based exclusively in Bali. In just our first year, we’ve served 100 students and held 10 sessions, and we are aiming to run 15+ sessions in our second year.
LDC: Give us an idea of how IOC works. What’s the program model?
TM: Our program is all-inclusive so our students can focus all of their attention on learning. We pick everyone up from the airport and include all accommodations. In addition to meals, yoga, and other activities in our private pool villa, we also provide course materials and software. We know how much of a pain it is to invest in a course only to have to spend hundreds of dollars more on expensive textbooks. We've worked hard to keep our pricing affordable, and despite all of the inclusions, we offer our program for $3,450. We also have a scholarship program to help with costs.
Courses run from 8am to 4pm every day, with mentors available after hours to help with students’ individual projects. We also have “mastermind” visits on certain evenings, where students get to sit down informally with the mentors and pick their brains on interesting topics like freelancing, SEO, and website strategy. Over the course of ten days, students learn HTML, CSS, and the foundations of jQuery to build responsive websites from scratch. They also learn how to build a simple blog or ecommerce store. By the end, they have a few websites ready to go live.
LDC: Wellness is a significant part of your program philosophy. What does that look like in practice?
TM: First, we believe that the environment you learn in is critical to your mindset, so our classroom is full of natural light and surrounded by beautiful views of lush greenery. We do vinyasa flow yoga every morning to get the blood pumping. Yoga is fantastic for lowering stress and improving productivity. We often start class with a mindfulness meditation, as this has been proven to help boost focus. We train our staff not only in strong technical abilities and communication skills, but also, in emotional intelligence with an emphasis on helping all students achieve their goals.
LDC: What challenges have you faced in getting IOC off of the ground?
TM: One of the biggest challenges is combating the perception that working hard and having a good time can't go hand in hand. We've had our fair share of criticism from people arguing that it's all unnecessary fluff and that the best way to learn is sitting in a traditional classroom. At the same time, we’ve had a great response from people who share our vision – those who believe that living a good life and being successful aren't mutually exclusive,people who understand that they are their own best asset and they need to nurture that.
LDC: How do you think about diversity as you grow IOC? Why is that important to you?
TM: So many people grow up without visible role models in tech who look like them. Aside from any overt prejudices, this is one of the big reasons why so many women and minorities don't pursue tech-based careers. I want to show everyone that coding is accessible to them. We're always looking for ways to bring coding to communities that might not have as much exposure to this field.
LDC: What advice would you give those looking to build and expand their skills in the tech space?
TM: Ignore the people who tell you that, if you aren’t going to become a full-fledged computer programmer, you shouldn’t bother learning to code. We don’t teach people math so they can become mathematicians, we teach it because it’s a life skill that touches a variety of different industries. Understanding coding fundamentals can be an extra tool for anyone interacting with the digital world. Eighty percent of the students who attend our 10-day coding bootcamp aren’t aiming to become full-time developers – they simply understand that digital skills are in high demand and can help boost job prospects and productivity in lots of different roles.
Images courtesy of Tina May
