Web Development Fellowship Recruits Youth

Photo courtesy of NYC Department of Small Business Services.

Applications are still being accepted for the NYC Web Development Fellowship, a city program which for the first time is open only to 18-26-year-olds without a college degree.

Youth have until Wednesday, December 31 to apply for the opportunity, which begins in January and consists of a five-month training program and a 12-week paid internship at one of the city’s many tech-focused companies — many of which are in Brooklyn — such as Buzzfeed, Kickstarter, Microsoft, AppNexus and The New York Times.

“As a tech company born here in New York and now employing over 550 people at our home in Flatiron, AppNexus has a strong commitment to developing homegrown talent,” said AppNexus Founder and CEO Brian O’Kelley. “We look forward to welcoming our NYC Web Development Fellows to the team this summer.”

Past fellows now work at Etsy, Venmo, Intel and other tech-focused companies. Jonathan Brown is one of those graduates.

“[The fellowship] gave me an opportunity when I felt opportunities were dwindling down,” said Brown, who currently works as a software engineer at Sellect Commerce. “I’m doing things now, with confidence, that I couldn’t have imagined myself doing a year ago.”

The program is run by the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline, the city Department of Small Business Services, and the Flatiron School and Youth Development Institute.