Ada Developers Academy

Ada’s one-year, tuition-free coding training program has been Seattle’s best-kept secret for years. Now, we are growing our impact. This GiveBIG, we are raising $50,000 to support even more women and gender-expansive folks to break into the tech industry. To continue to change the face of tech, we need your help. 

Why GiveBIG to Ada this year?

1. Now, we are focused on building the long-term resilience and sustainability of the organization by building new partnerships with industry leaders and influencers
2. Developing and piloting new AI curriculum components
3. Expanding internship offerings beyond big tech through new partnerships with companies in the fintech, healthtech, climatech, and government spaces
4. We continue to offer preparatory programming: Ada Build curriculum, Live review workshops, and a NEW beginners coding workshop

We've learned that providing students with a supportive community and access to essential wrap-around supports makes their tech journey even more successful. Barriers such as access to equipment, childcare, mental health supports, and more must be addressed for folks to persist through our program. As we grow, we must continue to make these supports available to any student who needs them – and our student body has tripled since 2020.

You – our community – help make students’ dreams a reality. We need your support to multiply our impact. Give BIG to support Ada's growth today! 

Mission

Ada's mission is to prepare women and gender expansive adults to be software developers while advocating for inclusive and equitable work environments. We primarily serve and address the needs of Black, Latine, Indigenous Americans, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander, LGBTQIA+, and low-income people.

We provide a one-year coding training program, preparatory programming, inclusivity training for corporate partners, and continuing education for Ada alums. Our programs are completely free for students, and include a collaborative learning environment, individualized support (mentors, tutors, a network of mental health supports, affinity groups), and an applied learning internship.

Programs

Tech jobs change lives! 

Ada has helped 800 women and gender-expansive people launch careers as software developers. We do this through four main program areas:

Ada Core: Ada’s one-year immersive coding training program fast tracks women and gender expansive people into high-paying, secure software developer jobs, providing 6 months of cost-free instruction and a 5 month internship (with stipend) at one of our tech industry partner companies. Ada provides coaching and wraparound supports to ensure students have what they need to successfully complete the program, including financial assistance, childcare subsidies, therapy, and laptops. These are critical for our majority low-income students (85%) who might not otherwise have the resources to complete the program. 

Ada Build: Our preparatory program is designed to prepare students to apply to Core by introducing fundamentals of programming. A series of eight online lessons covers writing a program, learning programming vocabulary, and learning to store and interact with data. We also offer a Live virtual review series of the Ada Build curriculum.

Lovelace Learning Labs: In order to support industry retention and build a tight-knit community of women and gender-expansive tech professionals and leaders, we offer ongoing education for Ada graduates, including Lovelace Learning Labs continuing education workshops, leadership training, and networking opportunities. Workshops cover technical topics as well as professional and personal development.

Corporate Equity Training: Every corporate partner we engage with receives our corporate education and accountability programming that includes onboarding, equity training workshops, coaching, and holding companies accountable to creating safe, inclusive, and supportive environments. 

Impact

The result? We typically see 98% of students graduate, and 94% are hired into full-time software developer jobs within six months. On average, graduates earn nearly triple their previous salary in their first full-time software developer roles. 

Ada Developers Academy is dedicated to tackling gender and racial gaps in the tech industry, both to grow economic power among people underrepresented in tech, and to build a more equitable and inclusive tech sector as a whole. 72% of our students are people of color, and 36% are LGBTQIA+. The technology sector is the wealth engine of our time, and if we do not intervene now, gender and racial gaps will widen even more dramatically as the industry grows in the coming years and decades. As we change the face of tech, we change who holds power and influence in our economy and our society. 

We need your support! We rely on charitable giving and community support to fully fund our work. To create impactful change, we are asking you – our community – to invest in building a more resilient economy together.