Students earn starting tech salaries averaging $92,000 – 21% higher than the norm
CodePath, the nation’s leading provider of industry-aligned computer science education with strong roots in South Florida, announced some news earlier this month: Florida International University, along with Miami Dade College and just two other universities outside Florida, has implemented a new Emerging Engineer Empowerment Program. It’s part of its expansion of its partnership with FIU, providing computer science students access to career readiness workshops, mentorship opportunities, and CodePath’s computer science curriculum designed and taught by software engineers.
“Our expansion in South Florida represents a significant milestone in our mission to reprogram higher education and create the first AI-native generation of engineers, CTOs and founders. By embedding our programs directly within college campuses, we’re ensuring students graduate career-ready and positioned for economic success.” said Michael Ellison, CEO and co-founder of CodePath.
“At FIU, where over 1,000 students have taken part in CodePath programs since 2020, our expanded collaboration will further integrate industry-aligned curriculum into FIU coursework and expand career pathways,” Ellison continued. “We will continue to ensure our strategic plan and growth exponentially advances FIU’s initiatives.”
The CodePath E3 Program
The CodePath Emerging Engineer Empowerment Program, also called the E3, is a collection of CodePath courses that “represents the ideal intervention that we wish every single CS program could have,” Ellison said in an interview with Refresh Miami. “With the expanded partnership at FIU, where CodePath is in the course roster, we are providing adjunct faculty or co-teaching with existing faculty, allowing us to be able to have a much deeper and much longer-term relationship with the students being the default. Most computer science programs don’t have practical software engineering, and so we now have for-credit courses that are a great fit for bridging that gap. And then there’s also a very important component of the E3 program: personalized career coaching,” he said. E3 has a mandate to drive more local hiring.
What’s more, FIU students will now have the opportunity to enroll in a new for-credit course covering technical interviewing skills. Taught by a software engineer in partnership with FIU faculty, this course enables students to ace technical interviewing while giving them a preview of real-world challenges in the industry.
In addition to FIU and MDC, CodePath also works with students at Florida Memorial University, and together, the organization is now reaching 16% of the computer science students in South Florida. In the past year, CodePath course completions have grown by 79%.
CodePath alumni earn starting salaries averaging $92,000 – 21% higher more than typical computer sciences graduates and almost double the average for college graduates with other majors. While $92,000 is a national number, CodePath’s Director of Community Relations Victoria Angulo Springer said that is also on par with what FIU’s CodePath students are receiving. FIU empowers local students to step into high-paying tech industry roles, and “as they reinvest their knowledge and resources back into the community, they create a ripple effect of opportunity and growth, underscoring the fundamental truth that a rising tide lifts all boats,” adds Angulo Springer, an alumnus and Miami native.
Ellison calls FIU the pioneer for CodePath, a national model for the organization’s work in action. Indeed, numerous FIU students and graduates, most from underrepresented communities, are represented among CodePath’s 30,000 alumni nationally.
Student success
CodePath played a key role in helping Nicholas Nguyen secure his upcoming internship with Royal Caribbean. “Their resources, especially the resume review, were incredibly helpful,” Nguyen said. “Being part of the Tech Fellow program helped me strengthen my leadership and soft skills, which made a big difference in my overall professional development.”
CodePath courses introduced Nguyen to different networking and cyber topics as well as new tools such as Wireshark, he said, and CodePath’s staff “is extremely friendly and always willing to lend a hand.” Nguyen hopes to graduate this fall or next spring and secure a job in cybersecurity.
CodePath alum Sebastian Nunez earned his associate’s degree at Miami Dade College and recently earned his bachelor’s degree at FIU, both in computer science, and worked at full-time paid internships at JPMorgan Chase, UKG and Google. This year, Nunez landed his first full-time job as a software engineer at Google in New York City at a salary over $125,000.
Nunez began coding toward the end of high school, when a friend recommended an introductory computer science course, and he fell in love with it. “For me, CS combined my strengths in school: math, science, analytical thinking, logic, and just general interest in solving problems,” Nunez said. He explained that CodePath provides multiple career pathways for students to explore, such as web development, cybersecurity, mobile development, and they provide a track especially catered towards interview preparation (TIP), and a general “break into tech” (ICP) program. “Going to college and getting a degree is not enough, you have to work on projects, build a network, and prepare rigorously for interviews.”
How did CodePath help him? Nunez was able to build a portfolio of relevant and meaningful projects on GitHub after taking courses in Android, iOS, and web development, and that helped him pass the recruiter screens to get interviews for paid internships and a full-time job. Through CodePath’s TIP track, he built up his technical skills in order to pass industry standard, 45-minute, “LeetCode” style interviews, sometimes three rounds of them. These interviews typically come after passing an online coding challenge or “online assessment” and after passing the recruiter/resume screen. There also usually is a behavioral interview with a hiring manager or another member of the team, which ICP courses prepared him for, and all the while a student needs to be applying for opportunities constantly, Nunez said.
“CodePath introduced me to this process and prepared me to succeed at every step,” Nunez said. “It’s a convoluted process, and it’s something that takes years to prepare for, so, if you’re just a college student working towards your degree without understanding this, you will be left behind.”
CodePath also gave him exposure to AI. Two years ago, CodePath received a Google grant to start embedding AI education inside all its courses, and the courses are designed to help students understand how to be a better programmer leveraging AI. “I was introduced to the power of Generative AI (LLMs) through their Android 101 course I took in Fall 2023. This course was built around using Gen AI, and specifically, I learned to integrate AI tools like GitHub Co-pilot into my coding workflow. I use tools like these pretty much every day at Google,” Nunez said.
Looking ahead
What’s next for CodePath? South Florida expansion will continue, Ellison said, noting that both FIU’s president and provost are eager to see even more students involved and additional courses and programs. Ellison is also planning more expansion around the state and is working to persuade big national funders to invest in Florida. Looking ahead, CodePath also plans to offer more advanced courses important to South Florida and the state such as in cybersecurity, and potentially in other areas like space tech and drug discovery.
Ellison also said CodePath is studying ways to more easily plug in talent into some of Miami-Dade’s 88,000 small and medium sized businesses. That could be by embedding bite-sized AI projects into these businesses that CodePath funds initially, but it’s in hopes that as they grow these businesses will hire more people locally. SMBs could benefit from some tech upgrading of their processes now, which could lead to producing more high-paying local tech jobs as they grow.
Growing the talent base beyond entry-level is also key to a thriving ecosystem. “We need larger numbers of the mid- to senior-level engineers in the area to attract Google or another major tech company to build an office here because having small startups is just not enough,” said Ellison. More jobs will of course counteract the brain drain, and another exciting development could be seeing Miami’s creator economy spreading well beyond social media unlocking new areas of tech entrepreneurship, he added.
For now, Nunez advises students to ready themselves for the workforce by building projects outside their college-curriculum. “Of course, CodePath is my go-to recommendation for this. Specifically, I would greatly recommend the Web 101-103 pathway and alongside TIP 101-103. These courses, assuming full dedication and participation, will set you for success,” he said. Nunez also recommends students in MDC and FIU engage with other organizations like INIT, a non-profit that also provides support for students interested in coding, and he urges them to create a LinkedIn and start building their professional online presence.
“Not knowing everything is okay. However, waiting around doing nothing is not the way to go,” Nunez said. “Stepping outside your comfort zone and pushing your own mental boundaries will help you succeed – and expect to need a lot of help along the way.”
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