Statements
Mission
We prepare adults with motivation and aptitude for careers in tech. We are committed to creating opportunities for individuals who are financially disadvantaged or are from under-represented groups in tech to access high-paying careers.
Background
Founded 2012, Nashville Software School is a community-focused non-profit. NSS was the first non-profit bootcamp and remains one of the small handful of non-profit vocational onramps to tech careers. We offer programs in multiple high-demand tech careers, including, software engineering, web development, data analytics, data science, and IT infrastructure management.
We started with a clearly identified community need for more trained tech talent accompanied by a strong belief that there were more than enough Nashvillians with the latent potential to meet that need. We've worked closely with employers since before the launch of our first bootcamp to identify the skills they need in junior tech talent. Our programs were built to teach those skills in a fast-paced, hands-on learning environment to train Middle Tennesseeans to fill these jobs quickly. We continue this close partnership with employers today. At this point, over 400 local employers have hired our graduates.
We saw the need for more local tech talent as a way to create opportunities for individuals who are financially disadvantaged or are from under-represented groups in tech to access high-paying careers. NSS shares the risk and lowers the financial barrier to launching a career in tech through our Opportunity Tuition. This plan includes a scholarship and defers most of a student's remaining tuition until after they are working in tech. If they do not graduate and get a job in tech, their deferred tuition is erased. Half of our students are on Opportunity Tuition or receive scholarships. We also lower time barriers to a new career when compared to a two- or four-year degree program.
Our students are adults of all ages with academic backgrounds from high school-only to PhDs. Most career changers come from almost every industry, including hospitality, music, healthcare, education, shipping and fulfillment, commercial food services, and so on. Over 50% of our students are members of underrepresented groups in tech. We increase the diversity of the Nashville tech community every time we graduate a class.
In our first ten years, we helped nearly 2000 people start their careers in tech with a median starting salary of $60k. With a graduation rate of 96% and a placement rate of 88% (graduates July 2020 - June 2021), we have proven NSS works. Help us grow into the future so we can serve even more Nashvillians.
Impact
COMMUNITY-FOCUSED:
- 500+ local employers
- NSS Curriculum designed in collaboration with local needs.
- 83% of graduates were hired by employers in the Middle Tennessee Area*
*As reflected from 2012 - 2023 data.
Our focus is on training job-ready tech talent & helping local employers to them launch their careers in Middle Tennessee & its meet local needs thriving tech community.
OPPORTUNITY:
- 61% of students received some sort of financial support from NSS or our partners.
- 46.8% of students received Opportunity Tuition, where they only pay a small deposit & the remainder of their tuition is deferred until they graduate & get their first job in tech.*
*Time period reflects students starting in 2023. Up from 44.8% in 2022
NSS is committed to providing opportunities irrespective of a student's economic circumstances.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION:
- 31.8% People of color
- 37.2% Female / non-gender identified
- 4.7% Veterans
NSS increases the diversity of Middle Tennessee's tech community with every graduated cohort.
NSS was honored to receive one of the inaugural Leaders in Diversity Awards from the Nashville Business Journal this year as a reflection of our commitment to opening doors to tech careers.
GRADUATE GROWTH:
- 2,517 graduates by year end 2023
We graduated 441 students across four programs this year - our most ever! While we celebrate the number of individuals looking to start a career in tech, we recognize that 2023 has perhaps been the hardest year in NSS's history to make the leap due to the dramatic national slowdown in hiring of junior tech talent mentioned above.
PLACEMENT RATE & SEEKER SUPPORT:
- $65K Median starting salary*
- 40 Seeker support sessions in 2023
- NSS' 2023 graduate placement rate was 68%
Hiring for junior talent, particularly software developers, dramatically slowed in 2023 & has not yet recovered. We are continuing to work with graduates still seeking their first job in tech & will do so until they're placed.
Needs
With over ten years of proven success and impact on the Nashville community, we seek to provide more opportunities beyond our immediate resources. We're ready to do more but need to scale faster than our resources permit.
Since 2012, 46% of our students have benefited from our innovative shared risk Opportunity Tuition plan that reduces the financial barriers to pursuing a new career in tech. We can help even more deserving adults secure tech careers, but with Nashville's tech job market explosively accelerating, we can no longer fund sufficient growth through our own bootstrapping efforts. This means there will be many local, diverse, and financially fragile individuals who will not get the chance to share in Nashville's growth.
Our goal for the 2023 Big Payback is to raise $10,000 to provide 10 $1000 scholarships to the students who need it most.
We've also launched a multi-year campaign to create an evergreen fund to support and expand our Opportunity Tuition program, which includes scholarships and deferred tuition. Our long-term goal is to raise $12m. Every penny of donations this year that is earmarked for scholarships will go towards this fund.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Education - Adult Education |
| Secondary Category: | - |
| Tertiary Category: | - |
Areas Served
| TN - Davidson |
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - Rutherford |
| TN - Wilson |
| TN - Sumner |
| TN - Robertson |
| TN - Montgomery |
| TN - Dickson |
| TN - Cheatham |
