Wilmington, Del., April 24, 2025 — Zip Code Wilmington, founded in April 2015 as an affordable, nonprofit software coding bootcamp, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Launched by venture capitalist Ben duPont, Epic Research CEO Jim Stewart, and Brown Advisory Partner/Portfolio Manager Porter Schutt, Zip Code Wilmington provides tech opportunities for people from all backgrounds and has trained nearly 700 people over the past decade.

Since 2015, Zip Code Wilmington has grown into a nationally recognized technology educator, changing the lives of its students and lifting the community. Its graduates have been hired by close to 100 companies, with approximately 75% of them working and supporting Delaware’s economy. Its alumni network and talent base are growing, and its graduates are thriving in data engineering and software development careers.

 

Desa Burton, executive director of Zip Code Wilmington, emphasized that reaching this milestone is a proud moment for the organization. “As we mark this milestone, we look back on our accomplishments with pride. Our graduates are mainly working professionals who come from a variety of backgrounds. Where else can a line cook, a veteran, or a musician successfully pivot to a tech career in just 12 weeks?” said Burton. “Thank you to the students and employers who have put their trust in us for 10 years.”

That mission-driven success is rooted in the organization’s founding vision.

Ben duPont, co-founder of Zip Code Wilmington and president of its board of directors, said, “When we launched Zip Code Wilmington, our hope was twofold: to provide an avenue for high-potential individuals to launch tech careers and to provide a reliable pipeline of skilled tech talent for employers in the Delaware region. We’re thrilled to have succeeded on both counts and look forward to doing more of the same.”

Zip Code Wilmington’s Data Engineering and Analytics bootcamp provides instruction in Python, Spark, Pandas, SQL and data-related topics. Its Software Development bootcamp is centered on Java and other object-oriented software programming languages, covering topics such as Core Java and three-tier web architecture.