UPDATED 17:00 EDT / DECEMBER 12 2016

NEWS

Providing a project-based alternative college for software engineers | #theCUBE

The Holberton School, located in downtown San Francisco, is a two-year alternative to college for training software engineers. Rather than the traditional lecture and textbook model, the school uses project-based and peer learning to give its students hands-on, practical training they can use immediately in the world of information technology.

Dora Korpar, a student at the Holberton School, recently joined Lisa Martin (@Luccazara), host of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, at the CloudNOW – 5th Annual “Top 10 Women in Cloud” Innovation Awards, held in Mountain View, CA. CloudNOW is a non-profit consortium of leading women in cloud computing and converging technologies. (*Disclosure below)

They discussed what brought Korpar to the Holberton School and where she hopes her training will take her in the future.

A non-traditional approach to learning

Korpar had earned a degree in biology, yet she was not working in the field. She said that what sparked her interest in technology was a friend in college, who had been a German and philosophy double major. “I ran into him a couple of years after graduation and asked him what he was doing; he said, ‘Oh, I just got a job at Apple.’ I asked him how he did that, and he said, ‘I taught myself how to do this stuff online.’ I said, ‘People can do that?’” said Korpar.

She said she started teaching herself to do programming online, but she felt like she wanted others with whom to discuss her projects and exchange ideas. Korpar found that the Holberton School was taking applicants for its first class, in January 2016; she applied and was accepted.

“This school is perfect; I get to basically do what I’m doing now — working on projects, [such as] making websites, but I can do that within [a supportive] environment,” Korpar explained.

She said that she has a job now and is looking forward to gaining experience in the technology field. Eventually, she would like to start her own company using her knowledge from her training at the Holberton School.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the CloudNOW – 5th Annual “Top 10 Women in Cloud” Innovation Awards(*Disclosure: Some segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE are sponsored. However, no sponsorships have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo by SiliconANGLE

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