Introducing Student Scholarships

*This scholarship is no longer available. Please see our Financial Guide for financing options.

Today is an exciting day at Lighthouse Labs.

For years, Lighthouse Labs has been an industry leader in tech education, with more than 1,000+ graduates, and another 20,000 Canadians introduced to coding. Now, to encourage greater access to coding education, we’re launching $150,000 of student scholarships as part of the Lighthouse Labs Student Scholarship Program.

“Right now, the barriers to enter the tech industry are very high for certain groups of people. Because technology is responsible for finding solutions to so many of our everyday problems, it’s so important to empower people with different mindsets and experiences to succeed at careers in tech,” says Lighthouse Labs CEO, Jeremy Shaki. “With the Lighthouse Labs Scholarship Program, we want to be active participants in breaking down these barriers to entry for underrepresented groups.”

As Canada's leading Bootcamp, we created our scholarships program to support exceptional individuals in underrepresented groups in technology as they pursue a career in development. Lighthouse Labs is committed to $150,000 worth of scholarships in 2019 in addition to external funding for students who want to jump-start their careers in technology to become a professional developer.

"It’s so important to empower people with different mindsets and experiences to succeed at careers in tech," says CEO Jeremy Shaki.

The Lighthouse Labs Scholarship Program is available nationwide - geographical restrictions may apply - including in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. The Lighthouse Labs Scholarship Program goes into effect today for Bootcamps in 2019.

What are we looking for in a scholarship recipient? Scholarships are meant for leaders and self-starters who want to make a difference in the developer community as a whole as well as their own community whether that's through mentorship, support or in some other way.

One of the available scholarships comes from a not-for-profit organization we’ve worked with for a number of years, the First Nations Technology Council.

Futures in Innovation and Technology, a digital skills training initiative of the First Nations Technology Council, is open to all Indigenous peoples in British Columbia. Through a combination of more than $150,000 in First Nations Technology Council funding and the new Lighthouse Labs Scholarship Fund, seats are immediately available in the Web Development Bootcamp program.

With the goal of reducing barriers and increasing access to the technology field, the First Nations Technology Council has additional funds available to support students’ living expenses. Indigenous students applying for this scholarship are encouraged to connect with the Technology Council to find out more.

Our goal is to make tech education more accessible and amplify the voices of underrepresented groups to support a more inclusive developer landscape. We hope to do this by lowering barriers, providing multi-dimensional access to coding education for underrepresented groups in technology, and ultimately alter perceptions of what a developer “is.”

To ensure the proper insight, we're partnering with community organizations who represent different and intersecting underrepresented groups with expertise in the subject matter. Our community partners, whose core missions emphasize diversity and inclusion, will consult Lighthouse Labs as a whole from both technical and cultural standpoints to ensure we're informed and supported as an education provider.

To be eligible for the merit-based scholarships, prospective Bootcamp students are asked to submit a written essay of up to 300 words about how they will contribute back to the community in the months, and years, post-Bootcamp. For the First Nations Technology Council’s Futures in Innovation and Technology, no essay is required. Rather, simply confirm you self-identify as Indigenous on the first page of your Bootcamp application.

Otherwise, the Bootcamp admissions process remains the same. We look for grit, passion, an aptitude for coding and a culture fit. Students, after all, will be learning alongside our quirky, hard-working and dedicated staff for more than 12 hours a day, every day, for 10 weeks.

The application process, interview process and being admitted to Bootcamp is an identical experience for those applying to scholarships and those who aren't. This is because the expectation for our scholarship applicants is that you would be coming to Bootcamp regardless. The scholarship is an important demonstration of support for that pursuit from Lighthouse Labs and our partners in response to a candidate's merit and dedication to championing those they represent.

Ultimately, we hope to alter what it means to be a developer.

Prospective students are able to apply for more than one scholarship at once and are notified of the status prior to Bootcamp commencing.

Beyond serving students and the developer community, the Lighthouse Labs Scholarship Program is an opportunity for companies and organizations to support the skills development of underrepresented groups in Canada through tuition coverage and community connection. So, if you want to have a positive influence on the tech education landscape, we want to hear from you!