Lighthouse Labs is a coding boot camp in Canada that trains software developers in as little as 10 weeks. Unlike in the traditional college classroom, Lighthouse students don’t listen to lectures; their training is hands-on, and their teachers all have jobs in Web, software or mobile development.

The boot camp has instructed more than 20,000 Canadians and launched 1,500-plus graduates into careers as professional developers. About 97 percent of the school’s graduates find jobs.

Coding boot camps are becoming more popular around the world as employers begin to value the blend of soft and hard skills, as well as hands-on experience, that these schools provide.

“Technological skills learned in a student’s first year of college are no longer relevant when they graduate,” said Jeremy Shaki, Lighthouse’s CEO. “The No. 1 thing we teach at boot camp is that you must be constantly learning. That runs counter to what we see in people we find in college.”

“Policymakers, parents, educators and politicians have created this narrative that college is the next step after high school, but that’s not necessarily aligned to the [current] economy or to what certain employers need,” said Michael Horn, a Yale University graduate and co-author of Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decisions Throughout Your Life (Jossey-Bass, 2019). “High-skill jobs require more learning than high school, though it’s not clear a college degree is necessary. Employers don’t ultimately need the degree; they need aptitude and skills. And there are many ways to gain aptitude and skills.”