Our newest Detroit and Minneapolis Bright Paths Program cohorts recently concluded, and Perficient is proud to announce the graduation of 50 dedicated students from the program!
The Bright Paths Program is designed to advance STEM education and career opportunities for underrepresented constituencies and communities, while closing the gap in the technology industry. The latest program featured our third cohort in Detroit and our first in Minneapolis. Courses for our graduating class began in summer 2022.
In partnership with Strayer University’s Hackbright Academy and Devmountain, this fully-funded coding bootcamp allowed students to learn the necessary skills to become entry-level software engineers, quality assurance (QA) testers, and other tech positions upon program completion.
A Graduation Full of Innovation, Ingenuity and Creativity
On this day of celebration and graduation, all 50 graduates showcased the skills they developed throughout the 16-week program by presenting their individual, custom-built applications to an audience of their peers, educators, and Perficient mentors. Each graduate chose a specialized track halfway through the program, and their capstone application project was developed around their specialization and knowledge obtained throughout all 16 weeks.
The graduates’ application presentations were split into five breakout groups:
- Web
- QA
- Data
- Java A
- Java B
All students came from different backgrounds, many with personal experiences in careers or life that sparked the inspiration to initially apply to the program. With the ability to create a completely custom application, some students took their inspiration further and developed their application around their background, and others showcased personal interests, or even an idea they’ve always dreamt of, but never imagined successfully executing within just 16 short weeks.
Applications during the ceremony ranged from fashion blogging platforms and in-depth storefronts to deep-dive analyses of the impacts COVID-19 has had on marginalized groups in the United States. Other applications included a recipe-sharing platform, healthcare coverage analysis, how music has changed over time, world populations, and seemingly everything in between. As each student presented their work, the knowledge and skills gained from this full-time bootcamp were on full display. For each presentation, comments from Perficient mentors and fellow cohort graduates endlessly praised the impressive work put into each application.
Once the presentations concluded, all attendees gathered again in the main meeting room where multiple speakers commended each graduate for their hard work and commitment, and where graduates received their certification of program completion. Many who spoke in this final portion of the celebration described our Bright Paths Program as “intense, but life-changing and inspiring.”
Words of Wisdom
As graduates embark on a new life journey and career path, it’s important they recognize the weight this achievement holds. Applying to the program and fully immersing into the experience shows the investment each graduate made in choosing to pursue a lifelong career in an ever-evolving, thriving industry.
One of the most repeated pieces of advice in this celebratory conclusion was for graduates to stay on top of and continue advancing their skillsets. There’s always something new to learn, and in order to take ownership of a career in technology, it’s important to be your own biggest cheerleader and challenge yourself to continue growing.
Perficient’s People Promise outlines our commitment to challenge, champion, and celebrate every colleague. Included in that commitment are company-wide initiatives like Growth for Everyone which enables and encourages colleagues to seek out their professional growth. Within these initiatives and promises to our colleagues, there are seemingly endless resources to continue learning, map out careers, and understand the full potential of a career in technology.
Congratulations to our most recent Perficient Bright Paths Program Graduates! The ingenuity, passion, and dedication each student brought throughout the program prevailed in the applications they developed, and we can’t wait to see their career grows in the technology industry and beyond.
At Perficient, we continually look for ways to champion and challenge our talented workforce with interesting projects for high-profile clients, encourage personal and professional growth through training and mentoring, and celebrate our people-oriented culture and the innovative ways they serve Perficient and the community.
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