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Looks interesting, but there are a few lingering questions remain: 1) Where will the academy be located at? Do you already have the logistics covered? If so, c

Looks interesting, but there are a few lingering questions remain: 1) Where will the academy be located at? Do you already have the logistics covered? If so, could you share some of these details? (Location/Photos of area/etc) 2) You mention that the Summer program is free to build up excitement for the fall session, but later you mention you will try to help find the developer a position. Are you acting as a recruiter, taking a % of the first year salary? 3) Could you go over in a little more detail the schedule of the class? You mention starting in ruby and moving over to Objective C and iOS, but don't really delve any deeper. You mention that "No programming experience [is] required", so I'd imagine there would be quite a few weeks of basic stuff.

ruggeri 14y ago
Hey! Great questions all! 1) We haven’t picked a place yet; but we’re talking to places in East Bay. The likeliest location we’ve seen is in downtown Berkeley off BART. 2) We’re trying to do both. If we place the student at a company we’ve partnered with, we’d collect a fee from that company. But the long-term success of the program is going to be measured by the percentage of students who are ready for and get jobs afterward. We’d want our students to talk to all companies, not just ones we’ve partnered with. 3) We do have a curriculum planned and are running a small trial class in advance of the summer session. We’ll have students working on Ruby basics in advance of the course, and we’ll run a web-based kickoff class to help them prep a few weeks before the official start date. In addition to that, we’ve budgeted three weeks of class time with Ruby and Obj-C to get them up-to-speed with programming fundamentals. We’ve based that timing off of other programs. We’ll jump into iOS then.
- mehrshad 14y ago
  Love the idea, and I just applied. But dismayed to read point #2, especially as I ticked 'no' for the last question. Does this mean that I won't be considered as a likely candidate if I'm just an entrepreneur, or someone who really wants to put these newfound skills to use but doesn't yet know how? If that's the case, some additional details as to admission criteria would be welcome in the FAQ.
  - ruggeri 14y ago
    We definitely want a mix of people to get the class balance right. Without entrepreneurial folks the group would lack spark.
    - gordonbowman 14y ago
      Hi Ned - would you all consider offering a free scholarship for the Fall course as well? I think for those who are already employed, the July 23rd start date is a very quick turnaround to quit or take a leave of absence. It would be much better to have more time to prepare.
rflrob 14y ago
I teach an intensive "Programming for Bioinformatics" course that, in just about a week, goes from "here's the terminal" to having people comfortable (if not completely proficient) with programming. From there, it's possible to dive into deeper stuff.
- elviejo 14y ago
  Do you have link? is it in college or open to the public?
  - rflrob 14y ago
    All our materials are online at: http://intro-prog-bioinfo-2011.wikispaces.com/ http://intro-prog-bioinfo-2011.wikispaces.com/ (for different years of the course, just change the 2011 to whatever. The current year has not yet been written. The enrollment is typically about 60% grad students and 40% post-docs in the various Biology departments at UC Berkeley. We'd like to increase the number of people we can support, but at the moment are limited by the instructors time (we are grad students ourselves, and supposedly primarily research focused).

ruggeri 14y ago

Hey! Great questions all! 1) We haven’t picked a place yet; but we’re talking to places in East Bay. The likeliest location we’ve seen is in downtown Berkeley off BART. 2) We’re trying to do both. If we place the student at a company we’ve partnered with, we’d collect a fee from that company. But the long-term success of the program is going to be measured by the percentage of students who are ready for and get jobs afterward. We’d want our students to talk to all companies, not just ones we’ve partnered with. 3) We do have a curriculum planned and are running a small trial class in advance of the summer session. We’ll have students working on Ruby basics in advance of the course, and we’ll run a web-based kickoff class to help them prep a few weeks before the official start date. In addition to that, we’ve budgeted three weeks of class time with Ruby and Obj-C to get them up-to-speed with programming fundamentals. We’ve based that timing off of other programs. We’ll jump into iOS then.

mehrshad 14y ago
Love the idea, and I just applied. But dismayed to read point #2, especially as I ticked 'no' for the last question. Does this mean that I won't be considered as a likely candidate if I'm just an entrepreneur, or someone who really wants to put these newfound skills to use but doesn't yet know how? If that's the case, some additional details as to admission criteria would be welcome in the FAQ.
- ruggeri 14y ago
  We definitely want a mix of people to get the class balance right. Without entrepreneurial folks the group would lack spark.
  - gordonbowman 14y ago
    Hi Ned - would you all consider offering a free scholarship for the Fall course as well? I think for those who are already employed, the July 23rd start date is a very quick turnaround to quit or take a leave of absence. It would be much better to have more time to prepare.

rflrob 14y ago

I teach an intensive "Programming for Bioinformatics" course that, in just about a week, goes from "here's the terminal" to having people comfortable (if not completely proficient) with programming. From there, it's possible to dive into deeper stuff.

elviejo 14y ago
Do you have link? is it in college or open to the public?
- rflrob 14y ago
  All our materials are online at: http://intro-prog-bioinfo-2011.wikispaces.com/ http://intro-prog-bioinfo-2011.wikispaces.com/ (for different years of the course, just change the 2011 to whatever. The current year has not yet been written. The enrollment is typically about 60% grad students and 40% post-docs in the various Biology departments at UC Berkeley. We'd like to increase the number of people we can support, but at the moment are limited by the instructors time (we are grad students ourselves, and supposedly primarily research focused).