Jay Holtslander


Co-founder, Vice President

In 2013…

Jay Holtslander and co-founder Tam Kbeili created a software development school. Being a PCTIA registered Institution, it was the first legitimate school of its kind in Western Canada. Drawing inspiration from similar training facilities in the US and eastern Canada, Jay and Tam set out to create a business to cater not just to those looking to learn new skills, but to the employers who sought new talented developers.

About CodeCore

CodeCore Developer Bootcamp is an intensive in-person training program in professional web development which runs for 8 weeks at a time, 5 times a year, out of Vancouver, B.C. Canada. They are known as “Bootcamps” due to their high intensity and fast pace which is designed to get students up to speed with the skills required and into jobs as fast as possible. CodeCore itself is lean and agile and able to adapt it’s curriculum quickly based on the input of employers.

CodeCore works with some of the biggest names in the industry. Great companies such as Samsung, Amazon, Hootsuite, Sage, and BMC have formed partnerships with CodeCore, and organizations such as Simon Fraser University, and Canadian Women in Communications have also built relationships with us.

In addition to working closely with industry partners for Grad placement opportunities and sponsorships, CodeCore also works with Government agencies to train those that are unemployed due to skills gaps and fill jobs through Service Canada and WorkBC.

Students attending CodeCore hail from all over the world. Nearly 35% of student applications come from those residing outside Canada and are attracted by not only CodeCore’s career boosting potential, great value, and student perks like discounts on Apple Hardware, but also the beautiful city itself that we call home.

CodeCore’s Instructors are carefully selected from some of the best our city has to offer. Sourced not just for their knowledge and experience in their field but more importantly for their teaching ability. Our Instructors and their curriculum are overseen by our Senior Educational Administrator who holds a Masters degree in Education as well as the Private Career Training Institutions Agency of British Columbia. Guest speakers from great local tech companies such as Payfirma, Fundrazr, Ethical Deal, and Lemonstand are frequently invited to speak with students, and Mentors are sourced from our city’s pool of talented developers.

CodeCore Developer Bootcamp is a program of TamTon Training Inc. which is recognized by the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education as a PCTIA Registered, Certificate granting, fully insured, Institution.

The Campus

CodeCore operates out of a 6000 sq. ft. recently renovated campus location in the heart of Downtown Vancouver. The campus is located in the heart of historic Gastown which is home to many Vancouver tech companies, and conveniently located next to the city’s Skytrain system and many other amenities including, food, shopping, entertainment, and parking. CodeCore has also strategically aligned itself with many service providers in the area to ensure students have adequate access to accommodations, student discounts on food, and parking.

PCTIA and BBB Logos

Jay at CodeCore


His responsibilities

Jay assembling furniture

In true startup fashion…

For the first 10 months of the business Jay worked long hours 6-7 days a week, wearing many hats while getting CodeCore off the ground.

It was not uncommon to find him assembling new office furniture in the evening when teaching the next day, or running out to pick up new printed marketing materials in between meetings with industry partners.

Below are just some of the things that Jay was primarily responsible for at CodeCore.

Business Development

  • Partner relations
  • Student housing sourcing
  • Market Research
  • Business processes development and documentation
  • Business Strategy
  • Competitor Analysis
  • Career services
  • Hiring partner sourcing

Partnerships

  • BCTIA
  • Vancouver Economic Commision
  • WorkBC
  • Apple Education
  • Simon Fraser University
  • Linkedin Education
  • The Next Big Thing Foundation
  • Futurpreneur
  • Canadian Women in Communications
  • BBB
  • AirMiles
  • FinanceIt
  • RCMP / Canadian Forces

PCTIA Liaison

  • Student records & maintenance
  • Course registration
  • Accreditation point of contact

Student Intake

  • Interviews
  • Financing
  • Application processing
  • Student housing

Hiring

  • Staff
  • Instructors
  • Job postings

Marketing

  • Facebook Ads
  • Google Adwords

Company Knowledge base (wiki)

  • Authoring and maintaining company’s Knowledge Database

Creative Director

  • Corporate branding
  • Interior design
  • Graphic design
  • Web assets
  • Video production and editing.

Website

  • v1.0.0
  • Blogging
  • v2.0.0
  • v2.5.0

Social Media

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • Google (Maps, YouTube, Plus, GApps Admin)
  • Instagram
  • Yelp

Teaching

  • Curriculum development
  • Instruction
  • Web Fundamentals course
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • Rails Bootcamp
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • HAML
  • LESS
  • SCSS
  • UI/UX
  • Tools, methodologies, and others

Event organization

  • CodeCamp
  • Concept (Dec 2013)
  • Teaching assistant sourcing
  • Web presence.
  • Design
  • Instruction
Meredith J. Powell

I had the pleasure of partnering with Jay and CodeCore with TNBT for CodeCamps, a charitable event series whereby we educated over 500 kids and teens how to code. CodeCamps were full day productions, all education provided by Jay and his staff of experienced educators. Kids were taught HTML, CSS and Ruby and it was an incredible success.

Jay’s support was a driving force behind bringing CodeCamps together – he jumped right in with the kind of positive “get things done” attitude it takes to create big impact on tight timelines and budgets.

Since then, I have also put many of my Fellows through Jay’s CodeCore coding technical dev courses and they came back with rave reviews. I look forward to continuing to work with Jay in future!”

Meredith J. Powell

Co-Founder, The Next Big Thing Foundation

Image Gallery

In 2015…

Jay Holtslander stepped down from his role as Vice-president of CodeCore. He remains on the advisory board as he moves forward to the next challenge.

What else has Jay founded?

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