Adam presenting.

Adam Bray and Zack Reneau-Wedeen
Feb 1 at SML

The past two years have seen an explosion of student interest in developing software. Adam Bray and Zack Reneau-Wedeen will discuss their two initiatives in this area. Adam will present on the Student Developer Program, which is hiring and training students to work on projects for the university. Zack will talk about how students with HackYale are teaching and enabling their peers to develop great apps.

Zack presenting.

Talk Recap:

Since the early 2000’s student techs have been building web apps that integrate with Yale to solve issues such as shift scheduling, pay forms, and mailing lists. By 2007, it became clear that a more structured, sustainable way was needed to manage and grow all of these apps. Furthermore, the rising interest in entrepreneurship and web development called for vocational training in web programming. Hence, in 2008, Adam Bray of the Yale Student Technology Collaborative began a summer program that hires and trains 6-10 students to work full-time developing apps for Yale. More recently, HackYale, founded by Will Gaybrick, YLS ’12, and Bay Gross, YC ’13, began offering a variety of web development courses to undergraduates in 2011.

Bray’s summer program recently extended into the academic school year, allowing students to learn the Ruby language and Ruby On Rails (RoR), a development framework, through a non-credit course taught by Bray. In fall 2012, the course’s inaugural running, over 100 students registered. Similarly, HackYale’s course garnered over 500 applicants in its first semester during fall 2011.

The interest in learning how to code and to develop websites has spawned a number of initiatives from students and Yale employees alike. Organizations such as HackYale, Yale Boot Up, and the STC are pushing for a more cohesive coding community at Yale. Furthermore, the groups are trying to teach as many students as possible, though the inability to meet demand remains a key issue for HackYale.

Nonetheless, the coding culture at Yale is undoubtedly improving. There is more visibility and activity. For example, in 2011, Jared Shenson and Charlie Croom, YC ’12, developed an online Yale BlueBook app, which was acquired by the University after it burgeoned in popularity. The big remaining questions are whether or not these initiatives will be able to keep pace with growing interest and work together to create a more cohesive web development community at Yale.

– Earl Lee

For full coverage of this session, please click the video below
(note a slight delay upon initial playback):