About a year ago, David Zemola heard about an interesting opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
The 41-year-old aircraft mechanic at Columbus Air Force Base has worked 13 years in that field. But after his stepson told him about a program where he could become a certified coder, he enrolled. It might lead to more money, he thought, as well as more time to spend with his wife and six children.
“I decided ‘alright, let me give it a shot,’ because, at that time, I was trying to teach myself how to do programming on the internet,” Zemola said.
On Friday afternoon, Zemola was one of five Mississippi Coding Academy graduates honored in a ceremony at the East Mississippi Community College Communiversity west of Columbus. About 60 graduated from across the state this year, with ceremonies also in Jackson and Biloxi, MCA founder and co-chairman Mike Forster said.
MCA provides a tuition-free 11-month course for adults who have a high school level education. The course can be done both online and in person according to the MCA website. It teaches students how to code for websites, online apps and software development from the presentation layer that people see when loading an app or website, to the maintenance of code the technology uses to operate, instructor Jessika Hayes told The Dispatch.
In conjunction with teaching students to code, the program also works with local companies to provide internship experience and workshops for students to learn the different kinds of jobs that are available upon graduation.
“One of the key things about our approach is we deeply partner with business folks who are potential employers and who have needs,” Forster said.
One such company is AvidXchange, an auto payment automation software company that develops programs to automate the management and making of bill payments. Others include PACCAR in Lowndes County and Babel Street, a data interpretation company with an innovation center in Starkville.
Both Babel Street and AvidXchange have hired past MCA graduates as coders, Forster said.
MCA graduates can expect to earn upwards of $38,000 annually upon entering the workforce, Forster said. Some graduates are making up to $60,000.
MCA started in 2017 with locations in Jackson and in Columbus Municipal School District’s Brandon Central Services building. An academy in Biloxi was later added, and in 2021, the local academy moved to the Communiversity.
To attract students, MCA instructors and advocates work with local high schools to bring in students who are not interested in obtaining a traditional college education after they graduate. Though the course is free, students must apply and interview before being enrolled.
Funding and support for the academies come from private investment and affiliations with Mississippi State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, the Mississippi Development Authority and the Kellogg Foundation, the Mississippi Investment Board, as well as several other partners. Forster said there has been a collective investment of about $2 million.
When the program started in 2017, it was operating with a budget of about $250,000. That has now increased to about $1 million spread across its three campuses, he said.
At the graduation ceremony, EMCC president Scott Alsobrooks addressed the graduates with excitement about their addition to the Golden Triangle workforce.
“Let’s go out and make new things happen. Let’s make some more magic,” Alsobrooks said. “We are so delighted to see you graduates today get the certificate that you have earned.”
Prospective students apply for the course through the MCA website. Applicants also go through an interview and “boot camp,” which is a one-to-two-week session where instructors and students become familiar with each other. The next class begins on Aug. 15; applications are still open.
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