About Jad Academy

Our Commitment to New Generation

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion don’t just make Jad Academy a great place to work, it’s at the center of our work. Jad Academy was founded in 2011 with the purpose of making tech more accessible through affordable and engaging online tech education. In 2016, we signed the TechTown PDX diversity pledge and decided to change the way we look at diversity, equity, and inclusion. Many qualified people have been boxed out of tech due to historical inequality in the United States. When we signed the diversity pledge, we realized that as a company that is filling the tech pipeline, we have a moral obligation to make EDI our priority, or else we’re contributing to the problem.

Now, we’ve taught over 260,000 people how to code and design, and our goal is to create lasting, systemic change in tech. In 2016 we launched the Jad Academy Apprenticeship Program to help companies build diverse, local talent pipelines into their software engineering teams. We’ve partnered with the Boys & Girls Club, Salvation Army, and AnitaB.org to place over 100 apprentices at tech companies across the nation. In the Spring of 2020 we decided to open source how we worked to reduce barriers in employment through apprenticeship to invite other companies and organizations to join us on this journey.

We believe that achieving equity, diversity, and inclusion requires doing constant work to learn, grow, and change. We have a long way to go, but we are dedicated to building a more equitable, diverse, & inclusive environment at Jad Academy and in the larger tech industry.