Ben Hubbard, director of development and outreach for the Mississippi Coding Academies, was guest speaker at the Jan. 08 meeting of the Louisville Rotary Club.
MCA trains young adults to become entry-level software/information technology professionals via a no-cost simulated workplace program dubbed “The Mississippi Model.”
Mississippi Coding Academies is a non-profit corporation started by and spun out of Innovate Mississippi in 2017. The academies train recent high-school graduates for 11 months in a free program to gain enough functional knowledge and skill in coding to take a computing project from start to finish, which is what is called a “full-stack coder.” MCA has facilities in Jackson and the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park in Starkville.
Hubbard said 53 young adults have been certified through MCA and 37 placed in software/information technology roles with an average starting salary of $40,000. Of those, only one has moved out of state.
Most students are underserved recent high school graduates not planning to attend college. About 72 percent of students are African American, and 32 percent female which adds diversity to the tech field.
“We’re trying to make investments in Mississippi,” he told Rotarians.
As director, Hubbard coordinates efforts with nonprofits, technology companies and government agencies to grow the academies and help expand to new locations. He also coordinates efforts within the company to share information among different departments to improve efficiency.
Accoirding to Hubbard, MCA was the first to brand this model as a work place rather than a classroom, replacing education words with work place words and highlighting business concepts more than educational ones. They have also worked to place students in internships during the training.
“In July 2019, we started an evening program for workers teaching front-end coding primarily to veterans. With funding from Comcast, we have been able to extend it to a full-stack program. It has the potential to train a larger number of coder/developers at low-cost,” said Hubbard.
Estimates are that students were making $10-14,000 annually before entering the program–assuming they worked a full-time job at minimum wage. Thus, the program increased their income 2.5-3.5 times. The first 20 employed coders from Jackson are earning a total of $465,000 more annually than before entering the program. MCA estimates that average annual income for coders will be $75,000, assuming a normal salary path for a coder/developer in Jackson and the average compensation and data from Code.org. The increased income of each coder should be about $210,000 over five years. Aggregate increased income for the Jackson coders is estimated at $4.2 million. Similar results are expected for the GTR coders.
Hubbard was born in Brookhaven and went to high school in Louisville. He graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor’s degree in software engineering and computer science in 2005. He received a master’s degree in computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007.
While at MSU, Hubbard was part of a program called the Cyber Corps, a cyber-security scholarship program that the National Science Foundation sponsored for the federal government. He received a full two-year scholarship through the program and then owed the federal government two years of service after graduation. He chose Eglin Air Force Base in western Florida.
Hubbard served as a software developer and solution architect for the U.S. Air Force at Eglin from August 2005 to September 2009. While there, he worked on computer applications to help manipulate data for weapons testing, including bomb explosions and missile launches.
In 2009, Hubbard co-founded a Jackson-based software startup called Navagis and also served as the company’s vice president of solution engineering. Hubbard left the company to start his new position with MCA in early 2019. He moved from Starkville to Mathiston in 2019.
Supported by local leaders, employers and educators, Mississippi Coding Academies is made possible through grants and support by Innovate Mississippi, the Mississippi Development Authority, the Mississippi Works program, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, MSU, and private donations from employers and individuals.
Visit www.mscoding.org for more information.
County bridge update
Winston County engineer Jimmy Kemp gave a detailed information on the bridge and road projects underway in Winston County at the time and how the county received the funds being used presently on the projhects.
