Facebook, Grand Circus Partner On Developer Training In Detroit, Grand Rapids

The tech-training institute Grand Circus is partnering with Facebook Inc FB to provide eight weeks of front-end developer training in Detroit and Grand Rapids beginning in October.

Students will receive training in HTML5/CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery, React, Node.js, NPM, AJAX and json, according to Grand Circus. The 25 applicants who are accepted will receive full scholarships.

“Partnering with Facebook allows us to continue to position Grand Circus graduates as leaders in the technology field,” Grand Circus CEO Damien Rocchi said in a statement.

The Facebook Bootcamp offers specialized training in the open-source JavaScript platform React, giving students a skillset that helps to fill a shortage of computer coding professionals, Rocchi said.

Grand Circus is a part of the Quicken Loans family of companies.

The bootcamp is another step in a partnership between Facebook and Grand Circus to train 3,000 Michigan residents in coding and social media business marketing over a two-year period. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg visited Grand Circus’ Detroit office in June to announce the partnership.

After the boot camp, attendees will be proficient in embedding media, leveraging scalable vector graphics and improving site performance with CSS, according to Grand Circus.

Graduates of the bootcamp are provided with job assistance training and first-round interviews at tech firms such as Accenture Plc ACN.

Erin Egan, Facebook’s vice president of U.S. public policy, said the social media giant’s partnership with Grand Circus means there will be qualified professionals to fill job openings as Michigan’s tech sector grows.

“At Facebook, we aim to inspire people of all ages to be involved in and excited about computer science. With 500,000 open computing jobs in this country and just 50,000 computer science graduates every year, both the opportunity and the need are clear,” Egan said in a statement.

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