UNC Charlotte and Trilogy Education Launch FinTech Boot Camp to Expand Digital Skills of Charlotte's Banking Sector

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As demand for technically skilled financial talent surges, UNC Charlotte Continuing Education is launching the city of Charlotte's first intensive fintech training program in partnership with Trilogy Education, a 2U, Inc. brand. Aimed at adult learners, the FinTech Boot Camp at UNC Charlotte prepares professionals to meet the financial industry's rising demand for technology talent.

"We're fostering the digital skills Charlotte needs to maintain its position as one of the top banking and financial services centers in the nation," said Asher Haines, Director of Continuing Education at UNC Charlotte. "This new boot camp gives students a deep technical foundation and exposure to all of the cutting-edge fintech applications. Graduates will have the skills to become leaders of Charlotte's financial services sector by joining the city's top companies or by creating their own fintech startups."

The Charlotte area has quickly become an attractive location for fintech companies, like AvidXchange and Lending Tree, both of which recently announced major workforce expansions in the region. As finance transforms into a technology-driven industry, the city's established banks are also competing for a limited pool of tech talent. According to Burning Glass, Bank of America and Wells Fargo were the top companies hiring for coding skills in the Charlotte area over the last five years.

"Advanced data analysis skills and coding basics are becoming prerequisites for many of the most exciting positions in the banking industry. Finance professionals need to update their skills in order to remain relevant," said Dominique Edwards, a Data Quality Business Analyst at Wells Fargo and UNC Charlotte boot camp instructor. "The FinTech Boot Camp at UNC Charlotte will make its graduates hugely competitive in the local job market."

The FinTech Boot Camp at UNC Charlotte is the latest in a series of professional tech boot camps for adult learners that the university offers in partnership with Trilogy Education at its Center City campus. UNC Charlotte's current boot camps in coding, data analytics, and cybersecurity have graduated 670 people. Many have gone on to find success in Charlotte's financial services sector including more than 30 graduates who have been hired by Bank of America alone.

"I worked as a manager for a pest control company before signing up for the coding boot camp," said David Kanwisher, a graduate of the Coding Boot Camp at UNC Charlotte who is now a Senior Front End Developer at Ally Financial. "It was a huge leap of faith that changed my life. The skills I learned helped me to land a job in a completely different field, and now I love what I do."

Students in the FinTech Boot Camp at UNC Charlotte will develop a portfolio through applied experience with a wide range of technology tools relevant to financial services, including:

• Analyzing stock movement using financial APIs in Jupyter notebooks.
• Creating predictive models for stock prices with time series analysis using Python.
• Building a decentralized identity system using blockchain technologies.
• Applying machine learning algorithms to analyze sentiment scores for cryptocurrency news.
• Using TensorFlow to build deep learning neural networks to predict financial outcomes.
• Developing an AI-driven robo-advisor capable of providing financial services with minimal human intervention.

Boot Camp students will gain skills that prepare them for a wide range of fintech-related roles, as well as receive a Certificate in Financial Technology from UNC Charlotte Continuing Education. In addition to classroom instruction from industry professionals, students will have access to highly targeted career planning services including trained career coaches, recruiting assistance, portfolio reviews, webinars, and employer events.

UNC Charlotte is among the first universities in the country to launch boot camps aimed directly at preparing local professionals for the rise of fintech. Other Trilogy Education partners to recently launch fintech boot camps are Columbia Engineering, Rice University, and Vanderbilt University.

Apply Now

To learn more about the FinTech Boot Camp at UNC Charlotte, visit bootcamp.uncc.edu/fintech. You can apply online or by calling (704) 601-6030.

About UNC Charlotte Continuing Education

With almost 80,000 alumni in the Charlotte area alone, #NinerNation ties are strong throughout the Queen City. UNC Charlotte is North Carolina's urban research university, leveraging its location in the state's largest city to offer internationally competitive undergraduate, graduate, and noncredit/professional development programs. UNC Charlotte Continuing Education is committed to making education and professional development possible for all types of learners who do not necessarily fit the mold of a traditional full-time student.

About Trilogy Education

Trilogy Education, a 2U, Inc. brand (NASDAQ: TWOU), is a workforce accelerator that empowers the world's leading universities to prepare professionals for high-growth careers in the digital economy. Trilogy's intensive, skills-based training programs bridge regional talent gaps in coding, data analytics, UX/UI, cybersecurity, and fintech in more than 50 markets around the globe.

About 2U, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWOU)

Eliminating the back row in higher education is not just a metaphor–it's our mission. For more than a decade, 2U, Inc., a global leader in education technology, has been a trusted partner and brand steward of great universities. We build, deliver, and support more than 250 digital and in-person educational offerings, including graduate degrees, professional certificates, Trilogy-powered boot camps, and GetSmarter short courses. Together with our partners, 2U has positively transformed the lives of more than 150,000 students and lifelong learners. To learn more, visit 2U.com. #NoBackRow

Media contact: 
Charlotte Ward 
[email protected] 
(628) 400-7553

SOURCE Trilogy Education Services