Tech

Boost from Facebook: Detroit and West Mich. Training for 3,000 Digital Marketing Jobs

June 08, 2017, 3:36 PM by  Alan Stamm


Sheryl Sandberg speaks Thursday to Detroit coding "boot camp" graduates. (Facebook photos by Grand Circus)

A prominent social media executive announces good news for tech career aspirants in the Detroit and Grand Rapids areas.

Chad Livengood of Crain's Detroit Business covers a Detroit visit by Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, which "will fund the training of 3,000 Michigan workers for jobs in digital marketing over the next two years," he writes.

Grand Circus Detroit, a computer coding training firm that's part of Dan Gilbert's family of companies, will offer the 10-week training courses in Detroit and Grand Rapids in partnership with Facebook.

Sandberg told Crain's that the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company's funding of the training is designed to help fill a growing shortage of computer coding jobs and develop talent for a future possible expansion into Michigan.


Informal conversations with newly trained Detroit programmers were part of Sandberg's visit.

Local training in coding, social media and business marketing starts later this year at Grand Circus' classrooms in the Madison Building downtown. Details about how to apply aren't posted yet, though you can register here for email updates.

Graduates can work wherever they choose.

"It's just a great opportunity for us to develop people who will go to do great work with Facebook and other local companies," Sandberg says. "We want to make sure that we can get the talent that we need. And if some of these people go on to work for other companies, that's great."

Related post: Sheryl Sandberg: 'Detroit Is Building on the Spirit of Innovation'

The Crain's reporter spoke Thursday with her and Grand Circus co-founder Damien Rocchi, its chief executive:

"Auto[motive] is a very important industry for us," Sandberg said. "This is a growing part of our business and we're hoping we can expand here because our business will demand it."

In his interview, Rocchi says:

"Facebook's intention is to do this nationally, but this has been launched here. I think it's an endorsement for the tech community that we've built here and the sort of traction we've been getting in Detroit over the last five or six years."

Grand Circus says 650 graduates of its 10-week coding "boot camps" work in 120 Michigan companies. Meridien, a Detroit-based health insurance administrator, this summer offers free three-month apprenticeships at Grand Circus for city residents who want to become software developers.  

At its Facebook page, where the accompanying photos appear, the four-year-old training center says: "We're thrilled to announce our official partnership with Facebook to launch a new training program in digital marketing."

Related article:

A Growing Employer Will Teach Detroiters to Code This Summer So it Can Hire Them, May 20


Read more:  Crain's Detroit Business


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