DETROIT (FOX 2) - Khyati Patel quit her old job and started her new one at a tough time. She will never forget her first day.
"The first day of my job was the day when Gov. Whitmer announced the lockdown in Michigan so I have never met my colleagues personally. The only time was in the office was for one hour when I went to pick up my laptop."
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Coding bootcamp in Detroit being offered at discounted rate for those laid off to COVID-19
Grand Circus is offering a Community Relief Scholarship that covers half of coding bootcamp tuition for students whose livelihood is threatened due to the recent outbreak.
She landed a job at Ford Motor Company after leaving her old job at a tech firm. She scored the job thanks to a coding bootcamp offered by the tech company Grand Circus in Detroit.
"Grand Circus is a very comprehensive training program and so I learned a lot. It’s not only technical training but they work with you and every step of the way ... to help prepare the resume, job skills, methodology and all those things that goes toward getting a job in technology," Patel said.
Damien Rocchi heads up the bootcamp. They’re offering a huge discount in the form of a scholarship.
"If you’ve been affected by the virus, in the sense that you've lost your job or lost hours, we’re going to give you 50% off your tuition. All you have to do is go to our website and apply," Rocchi said.
"They actually work with you to get a job while you’re halfway through the bootcamp and I am lucky enough that I got a job three weeks before I finished my bootcamp," Patel said.
"There’s still a lot of growth in the tech industry, both in Michigan and nationally, and the jobs pay really well. The students make an average of $52,000 a year when they graduate and more importantly a lot of these jobs can be done remotely and so I think that’s a particularly important thing right now," Rocchi said.
You can get more information on Grand Circus' coding bootcamp online at grandcircus.co/communityrelief.