Treehouse and Worksystems Will Train 10,000 Oregonians to Land High-Paying Coding and Technology Jobs

PORTLAND, Ore., June 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- By 2020, there will be one million more computer programming jobs in the U.S. than workers to fill them, and 10,000 of those jobs will be in the Portland metro region. To close the skills gap and prepare area residents with the skills needed to land these jobs, Treehouse has teamed up with Worksystems, the workforce investment board for the City of Portland, Multnomah and Washington Counties, to build the region's future technology workforce through Code Oregon.

Today's Code Oregon launch marks the area's most aggressive workforce development program. It provides free coding education to 10,000 Portland metro area residents through Treehouse's online learning platform. Worksystems will then place graduating Treehouse students in jobs with leading technology companies with the help of The Technology Association of Oregon.

Code Oregon serves to not only bolster the technology talent pipeline to help the state's growing software sector, but also supports Treehouse's national Code-to-Work initiative, which is designed to teach anyone how to code and then secure jobs in the industry.

"Initiatives like Code Oregon help people find high-paying, rewarding jobs more quickly," said Ryan Carson, co-founder and CEO of Treehouse. "We want to start the Code-to-Work movement, which will take someone from no experience, to job-ready, to a rewarding career - all without a degree. The rules are all changing. You just don't need a Computer Science degree any more to get an amazing job in the tech industry."

Code Oregon will use Treehouse to teach residents in-demand skills in Web design, app design and programming. Worksystems will sponsor and distribute 10,000 Treehouse online learning accounts to teach area residents coding languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and Ruby, and development for iOS, Android and WordPress. Top students will be identified and receive additional career services, mentoring and training from Worksystems to be vetted as job-ready. With the goal of connecting job-ready students with leading tech companies, Code Oregon will host a fall 2014 job fair.                                                                           

"Code Oregon will establish Oregon as a software talent capital and create a more vibrant and diverse technology workforce by helping anyone become a successful computer programmer," said Andrew McGough, executive director of Worksystems. "We are excited to create a prototype that can be scaled across the state and country to reboot depressed economies and provide a career path to high-wage jobs."

For more information about Code Oregon visit www.codeoregon.org. For more information about Treehouse's Code-to-Work initiative, visit www.teamtreehouse.com.

About Treehouse

The Treehouse mission is to bring affordable technology education to people everywhere, in order to help them achieve their dreams and change the world. As members of the Treehouse community, students can learn to build websites, create iPhone and Android apps, build Web apps with Ruby on Rails and PHP, learn about user experience and how to start a business, and much more. Through 1000+ video tutorials, quizzes and code challenges created by expert teachers, students can learn to code in languages like Objective-C, HTML, CSS, PHP, Ruby, JavaScript and SQL. For more information, visit www.teamtreehouse.com.

About Worksystems                                                                         

Worksystems, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that pursues and invests resources to improve the quality of the workforce in the City of Portland, Multnomah and Washington Counties. We design and coordinate workforce development programs and services delivered through a network of local partners to help people get the skills, training and education they need to go to work or to advance in their careers. Our partners include employers, labor groups, government, community colleges, high schools, community-based and economic development organizations. For more information, visit www.worksystems.org.

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SOURCE Treehouse