Academy Overview

The best way to become a Software Craftsman is to learn from other Craftsmen. Receive direct mentorship from the industry's best, and dive into real projects to put your skills to the test. Are you ready for the challenge?

About the Academy

Our program facilitates the regular additions of a cohort of apprentices to the RoleModel Software team through a program called the Craftsmanship Academy. The academy takes a hands-on approach to learning and offers the opportunity to jumpstart a career in software development. Traditional education paths like college degrees or bootcamps don’t always prepare their students with the tools necessary for real-life work scenarios. In contrast, apprentices in the Craftsmanship Academy learn through hands-on experience, and begin solving real-world problems from day one. 

We take a maximum of five Academy participants each year. Those who don't make it all the way through to apprenticeship will still have received a solid foundation in Software Craftsmanship principles.

Our long term goal is to continue growing the experienced Craftsman that RoleModel is known for by investing in and training our own talent. This is demonstrated by Academy graduates John Calvin Young and Kyle Smith having achieved the level of Craftsman at RoleModel after several years of faithfully serving our customers.

The 3 Phases of the Academy

Phase 1 - Skills Immersion

Phase 1 - Skills Immersion

The first two months of the Academy are dedicated to building your basic toolbox through a series of progressively more complex assignments. You will deep dive into Test Driven Development, and Object Oriented programming to develop a sound foundation of skills. As you progress, your skills will be evaluated to help you grow.

Phase 2 - Apprenticeship

Phase 2 - Apprenticeship

After the first two months of skill immersion, you will enter into a 3-6 month apprenticeship where you will apply your education on a real-world project under the supervision and direction of a Craftsman and others. At the end of this phase, you will be evaluated and considered for Phase 3.

Phase 3 - Residency

Phase 3 - Residency

After your Phase 2 evaluation, you will enter into the residency phase. In this final stage, you will work on RoleModel projects as part of a team supervised by the project's technical leader. At the end of this phase, successful participants will receive a full-time position as a developer at RoleModel.

The 3 Phases In-Depth

Phase 1 - Skills Immersion

The first two months of the Academy are dedicated to putting together your basic toolbox through a series of progressively complex assignments. Subjects include but are not limited to:

  • Test-driven development of object-oriented programming alone and in pairs
  • Web application development using Ruby, Sinatra, Rails, HTML (ERB/SLIM), SASS (CSS), JavaScript (ES6+, React), SQL (relational databases), and no-SQL storage
  • Mobile-first and responsive design for the web
  • Data Structures, Design Patterns, Techniques, and Tools
  • Agile software development

Instructors are on hand for 8-15 hours per week, giving lessons and direction, checking on progress and facilitating real learning. You will have 40+ hours of reading assignments and coding exercises per week. Each participant is also assigned a personal mentor from among RoleModel's team.

Evaluations will occur at two weeks, four weeks, and eight weeks to determine if you are making adequate progress. If you pass every evaluation during the Skills Immersion Phase, we will invite you to continue on to Apprenticeship.

The immersion phase prepares the participants to accelerate their journey to becoming Proficient and Expert software developers by:

  • establishing good habits of software development in a modern web/mobile environment,
  • establishing an awareness of bad habits to avoid,
  • establishing confidence through encouragement and accomplishment, but
  • keeping them from overestimating their competence by challenging them with harder and harder problems whose solutions they’ve not yet seen

The expected outcome of this phase is an Apprentice prepared to sit next to a more seasoned TDD/OO/Agile Developer without being completely lost. Such an Apprentice should be ready to absorb like a sponge while having something to offer on the trivial and non-trivial (but not incredibly complex) tasks… preparing them to participate in more and more complex tasks with competence.

Participants come to the Academy having already had some exposure to programming in parts of the “Stack” of technologies of Web Development. By the time they are finished with the Immersion Phase, they will be exposed to the “Full Stack” and have several weeks of experience with Ruby/Rails, HTML/CSS, JavaScript (and some JavaScript-based frameworks), Database uses with good TDD development habits under their belts and an object-oriented paradigm planted in their brains.

Though we encourage participants to help each other out, and even occasionally assign them to pair program, each participant is responsible for his or her own project. We need to make sure each participant “gets it” and can apply what we have encouraged them to learn without relying on someone else.

Phase 2 - Apprenticeship

In this phase, you will apprentice for 3-6 months in developing a real-world project under the supervision and direction of the Master Craftsman and others. In addition to re-enforcing the skills you've already learned, the Apprenticeship will help you cultivate the practical skills, intuition and confidence that only real on-the-job experience can provide. It will test your work ethic and your abilities to apply knowledge, to provide value through service to others, to work under pressure, to work as a team, to communicate, and to seek help when needed, just to name a few.

Phase 3 - Residency

After three months of Apprenticeship, we evaluate you to see if you are ready to move on to the Residency phase. (If you have not yet demonstrated the target skill level, we will either offer you a chance to extend the Apprenticeship phase or dismiss you from the program.)

Residents work on RoleModel projects as part of a team supervised by the project's technical leader. At the end of each three months of Residency, we evaluate you according to a skills matrix to see if you are ready to receive a full-time position as a Developer at RoleModel.

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We regularly get comments from people who are amazed that the best developers they see in the Research Triangle Park area are the ones who came through RoleModel.

Ken Auer
Founder
RoleModel Software

The Craftsmanship Academy Track Record

Previous apprentices at RoleModel Software include Nathaniel Talbott, Matthew Bass, Adam Williams, Michael Hale, Austin Taylor, Paul Nicholson, and others. Each of them have enjoyed very successful careers in software development.

Academy graduates John Calvin Young, Kyle Smith, Jeremy Walton, Logan Peterson, Josh McLeod, Ben Smith, Connor Torrell, Nathan Sadler, Stephen Finch, Trevor Buck, Braden Rich, and Josh Pickel are employed at RoleModel, delivering value to clients and continuing to grow.

Academy graduates Braxton Plaxco, Christian DiLorenzo, Amanda Simon, Adam Simon, and Daniel Sullivan have since moved on from RoleModel, but have been successful in their software development careers.

Technical Requirements

Participants must bring their own MacBook/MacBook Pro and know how to use it. This is not negotiable because we will be using tools optimized for macOS. A good Craftsman invests in his tools. You will be working together with instructors, mentors, and other apprentices. Using similar tools makes that collaboration much smoother.

Location & Housing

Location:

RoleModel Software's headquarters is in growing Holly Springs, NC with a studio space specifically designed for collaboration. Our location is minutes from all the major highways used to navigate the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill). The Immersion Phase of the Academy must be completed onsite in our Holly Springs.

Housing:

The Craftsmanship Academy may be able to assist in finding affordable housing of various sorts. Housing requests will be handled on a case-by-case basis depending on availability. If you are interested in housing, please check the appropriate box on your application. If you are accepted into the program, we will work out those details.

Financial Model & FAQs

RoleModel leverages an Income Share Agreement (ISA) for participants to fund the tuition portion of the Craftsmanship Academy. Beyond Phase 1 (Immersion) successful candidates will receive a job offer to continue their apprenticeship at RoleModel.

  • Phase 1 (Immersion) - Cost $30,000 paid by participant via ISA or $25,000 upfront payment
  • Phase 2 (Apprenticeship) - stipend at RoleModel
  • Phase 3 (Residency) - stipend at RoleModel
  • Potential contract offer as a RoleModel Developer

ISA Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is an Income Share Agreement?
    • With an Income Share Agreement (ISA) you won’t pay any up-front tuition until you find a job making $48,000/year. Once you are employed, you will pay 10% of your annual income for up to four years.
    • Through our ISAs, participants are enabled to attend the Craftsmanship Academy without paying up-front tuition, in exchange for an agreed upon percentage of their post-graduation income over a pre-defined number of years. This is our way of aligning incentives, we only succeed if you succeed!
  • What are the benefits of an ISA?
    • Since repayments are tied to your income you only make repayments when you are in a position to afford it. ISAs protect you in times of financial hardship.
    • We invest in your future potential, that’s why our ISAs do not require a Credit Score or Co-Signer.
    • Fixed payment schedules of personal loans force repayments regardless of income. With an ISA you can put your full focus on your career.
    • Affordability/Peace of Mind
    • Accessibility
    • Focus on Your Career
  • How much will I pay?
    • Your repayments are tied to your income. You will pay 10% of your pre-tax annual income on a monthly basis for 60 months. However, you only repay if your annual income is over $48,000 per year (or $4,000 per month).
  • When are my ISA payments completed?
    • You have paid a total of $30,000
    • You have accumulated 96 months of deferment and repayment, regardless of the total repayment amount
    • You have made 60 monthly payments
  • How is this different from a traditional loan?
    • Loans are paid back through fixed monthly payments including interest based on a principal. ISAs are more flexible in their repayment terms and will adapt to your income circumstances throughout the repayment period. Repayments for an ISA are based on a percentage of your income and not on a fixed principal, so they should always be affordable. Also, ISAs do not include an interest rate that will increase your outstanding payment amount over time.
  • When do I begin paying for my ISA?
    • Your payments begin when you are earning more than $48,000 a year (or $4,000 per month).
  • When do payments pause?
    • earn less than $4,000/month (equivalent to $48,000/year)
    • are unemployed.
  • Do I have to accept my job offer?
    • No! You have the full discretion to reject any job offer of your choosing.
  • Is my income calculated before or after taxes?
    • Your payments are calculated based on gross income (before taxes).
  • How do I make payments for my ISA?
    • Your ISA will be managed by our ISA provider. Payments are handled through the ISA provider's portal.
  • How do I report my income and track my ISA status?
    • Income can be reported on our ISA provider's portal. After logging in, you are able to make payments, verify income and track the current status of your ISA payments.
  • Can I pay off my ISA early?
    • Yes! You can extinguish your obligations under your ISA by paying $30,000 (less payments made to date) at any time.
  • What happens if I experience financial hardship?
    • ISAs have a built in mechanism for pausing payments if your income ever falls below $48,000. If you have extenuating circumstances and are unable to make a payment, please contact our ISA provider to discuss options rather than letting your account go into default.

Let's Get Started!

Are you ready to start your journey to becoming a software Craftsman? We would love to get to know you and find out if you're the right fit for our program. 
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