MakerSquare to open L.A. campus to train software engineers

MakerSquare, a privately-run bootcamp for software engineers, is opening a campus in Santa Monica.

The 12-week, 11-hour-a-day program tailors programs to meet industry needs. It claims a 96% hiring rate within three months of completion and its graduates have gone on to work for companies including Apple, IBM and Hewlett-Packard. Tuition is about $17,000.

Applications are open for classes that begin June 29.

“There is a need for coding schools to expand beyond traditional tech centers and into big population centers,” MakerSquare co-founder Harsh Patel said. “Los Angeles is one of the regions hit by the shortage of highly trained software engineers. Currently, Southern California still lacks in number of advanced coding schools to sustain the workforce demand of the region. We are aiming to help fix that problem.”

The company said it polled students and companies, including Google, to decide where to open its next center.

MakerSquare was purchased in January by Hack Reactor, another software engineering training outfit.

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