Codecademy CEO Wants To Fix Broken Education System

According to online interactive platform, Codecademy, education is broken.

Company co-founder and CEO Zach Sims told Benzinga, “We're still operating in a system in which education costs students tens of thousands of dollars per year, but doesn't promise return on investment.”

Related: Codecademy Teaches a New Generation of Computer Programmers

Bottom Up

The combination of high student loan debt, abysmal job placement rates and low salaries has resulted in students who, Sims said, “spend their lives toiling in jobs they don't want to pay for an education.”

As an education company, Codecademy said it wants to fix these problems by “rethinking education from the bottom up.”

All About Outcomes

Doing this involves providing job seekers and students with skills designed to help them succeed in a society focused on technology.

“Codecademy exists to teach the skills that learners need to find jobs,” Sims said.

On the website, individuals sign up to learn to code in one or more programming languages via free online classes featuring a number of incentives and awards.

Big And Getting Bigger  

If growth of the user base is any indication, the concept has been working. The platform has grown from zero to 24 million subscribers in about four years.

“Overseas expansion is going well,” he said. “We have a terrific program with UK schools that we hope to emulate elsewhere. The U.S. remains 30 percent of our market, with the rest of the world being 70 percent.”

Monetization

Making money has never been a focus of Codecademy. The company has seemed to be content to create a unique online learning environment as the first order of business.

Asked if that means monetization isn’t a concern, Sims replied, “I wouldn't say it's not a concern. At the moment, we're focused on continuing to build a product that people can learn from and use to advance their careers. Eventually, we'll focus on making sure we can continue to do that by being self-sustainable.”

Related: Can One Hackathon Unite The World?

Global Hackathon Seoul

In addition to companies like Codecademy, events such as Global Hackathon Seoul, which will take place between July 29 and Aug. 1, 2015 in the South Korean capital city, also reinforce the importance of gaining knowledge and skill in programming and technology.

Sims said Codecademy had not evaluated the opportunities provided by Global Hackathon Seoul and therefore had no comment on that event.

The statedgoal of Global Hackathon Seoul, however, seemed to be compatible with the tech-centered educational philosophy espoused by Codecademy.

Executive director of Global Hackathon Seoul, KJ Yoo, told TechCrunch the goal (of Global Hackathon) was “to have hackers build innovative products that will inspire local entrepreneurs to launch similar startups in Korea.”

At the time of this writing, Jim Probasco  had no position in any mentioned securities.