A Memorable Journey’s End
Dear Collab Lab Community and friends of The Collab Lab,
After much thought, we’ve decided to close The Collab Lab at the end of this year. It was an incredibly tough decision, but we believe it’s the right move. Before we wrap up, we have one final cohort ahead of us, and we hope you’ll help make it unforgettable! ⭐️
Over the years, we’ve achieved amazing things together. Hundreds of Collab Lab developers across 25+ countries have found their footing in tech, and many of you have come back to reach a hand back to the next wave of early-career people behind you. Thank you so much for giving back. ❤️
So, why are we closing? Running a non-profit solely with volunteers is incredibly challenging. Despite our wonderful community, maintaining sustainability has become tough. We explored many options to keep The Collab Lab going, but they required significant resources and didn’t quite feel right. In consultation with the Board, we’ve decided it was best to close things down cleanly to preserve the legacy we’ve all built together.
Although this decision may come as a shock to many of you who have invested so much into our community, this isn’t goodbye to the spirit of The Collab Lab! We encourage you to take everything you’ve learned and built here and create your own communities, whether local or global. Keep supporting early-career folks and continue the cycle of mentorship and growth.
To the companies and organizations out there, we have a special message: Please consider hiring early-career engineers. The Collab Lab has been a testament to the incredible potential and talent that these individuals possess.
There are myriad benefits to hiring early-career developers:
- Enthusiasm and Motivation: The enthusiasm they bring to a team is contagious. They can serve as motivation to better document requirements, systems, and processes.
- Diversity: This group tends to include more people from groups underrepresented in tech, making it a great way to increase diversity on your teams.
However, like anything worth doing, you may need to make changes to make the effort successful. Harnessing that enthusiasm takes planning and organization. Increasing the diversity of your team by hiring bootcamp grads only works in the long term if you do the hard work of creating an inclusive, supportive working environment. There are no shortcuts in life or tech, but if you lay the proper groundwork, you’ll set yourself up to help your early-career developers succeed.
As we close this chapter, we are excited to announce that we will be running one final cohort. Let’s make it our best one yet! This is your chance to be part of something truly special and help us make a lasting impact. We encourage everyone to get involved, share your knowledge, and support our final group of early-career engineers. If you are an early-career developer, learn how to apply here! Experienced professionals, your guidance is invaluable and we encourage you to volunteer here.
Thank you for being part of this incredible journey with us. We couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you.
With all the love, Andrew & Stacie