The Synchrony corporate campus in Stamford is the site of frequent meetings to discuss code and tackle programming challenges, but four times a week the gathered developers aren’t mentioning interdepartmental miscommunications or their managers’changing priorities. Instead, they are citing things like homework and SAT Prep.
Instead of Synchrony employees, the developers are students from Norwalk and Stamford public schools who are using the company’s Synchrony Skills Academy as a space to study and explore the world of coding while also developing confidence, leadership skills, and new friendships forged by shared interests.
A.M. Bhatt, the founder and CEO of DAE, described the opportunity to collaborate and grow as being of equal, if not greater, importance to the technical skills the students develop.
“This is a Trojan Horse,”Bhatt said. “We deliver like crazy on the tech side, we deliver on that and no one can dispute it. That’s what Synchrony has given me the space for, that’s why the state gives us money. We have to get that right, but the soldiers inside the horse are what I really care about. The thing I care about, and that my staff cares about, is that the kids leave here more bullet proof than the average kid.”
Bhatt explained that the core insights and goals of the DAE program he runs within the Skills Academy, which grew out of the original program he started in New Haven, could be attached to any vocational training program. His experience in the tech sector is supplemented by studying theology and training guides the DAE approach.
“The program is not about technology. Where we start is: what do you want to use your life for?”Bhatt explained.
That philosophy also guided the selection of staff. Bhatt called the instructors for the program all capable programmers, but said that they would have been his first choice on the basis of personal skills even if they knew less code.
Mohameth Seck, a senior educator at DAE, is a graduate of the DAE coding course. He wound up recruited by Bhatt.
“I honestly didn’t see it coming, me being a teacher,”Seck said. “I thought after the program I’d be working in big tech, and some classmates wound up at Sikorsky or Travelers. I thought I’d be a full-time software engineer, but I like where I’ve ended up. It’s fun showing these kids how to build cool things that I’ve always wanted to do.”
The DAE program also recently accepted a cohort of students from Norwalk’s public schools. Carol Wilshire-Toth, the workforce development manager for the Norwalk schools, praised the DAE program and Synchrony for being excellent partners since discussions started last year.
“What was particularly attractive about it was that there were no skills or prerequisites required of our scholars,”Wilshire-Toth said of the way they are developing a program with longevity.
“The idea is to be able to build upon this particular cohort in the future and then if successful to replicate that success with a new cohort in the fall.”
Wilshire-Toth also noted DAE instruction is being provided at no cost to Norwalk students, alongside transportation to the Stamford facility from Norwalk courtesy of Synchrony which made participation immensely attractive. She added that she hopes to continue developing the skills of Norwalk students not only in coding but with other workforce development systems by exploring other afterschool training programs.
Two Norwalk students who recently joined the program were eager to discuss their projects and their appreciation for the atmosphere DAE has created.
“I’ve gotten to know people that are from a different school, and I’m not usually much of a social person, but here I can discuss problems,”said Fabia Tahiat. “That’s a challenge for me and it kind of helps me out to be more social and interactive with others.”
Tahiat is a freshman at P-TECH, an NPS magnet program focused on STEM professional skills. She originally built a site about flowers, and is now using JavaScript to develop a site that prompts visitors to answer riddles.
“I’m interested in writing and this is kind of like literature,”Tahiat said of deciding to build a riddle website.
Tahiat has many interests and is not certain if coding is what she wants to do in the future, but she appreciated the perspective it has provided.
“I didn’t know anything about coding when I first came here, nothing at all,”she said. “So, it developed my knowledge about what the field actually is and how the language operates. Coding may not be your career path here, it can be something that you learn to build on your other interests.”
Charlie Hernandez, a freshman student at Norwalk’s P-TECH, had no prior coding experience, but he has now built a website sharing information about his favorite elements and has begun building a new, interactive site in JavaScript.
“The first day I came here I couldn’t believe it,”he said. “I thought my eyes were deceiving me. I just got used to it one step after another and now it’s pretty nice. You basically have all the creative freedom ”“ no will judge you. Everyone is here to help you achieve your dreams.”
