Last year was a busy one for Michael Gelphman and Kansas City IT Professionals (KCITP), the grassroots group for Kansas City technology professionals that Gelphman started in 2008.
In February, Gelphman left his day job to work full-time on KCITP. The organization held a variety of first-time events in 2012, including the inaugural Hack the Midwest hackathon and the maiden Compute Midwest conference. And, as the year ended, KCITP drew ever-closer to 10,000 members (a mark it has since eclipsed).
Which all led to the question: What will Gelphman and KCITP do for an encore in 2013? Help Kansas City become the place for the creation of mobile applications, Gelphman hopes.
KCITP next month will welcome the first class of its Disruption Institute, a 12-week program designed to teach people how to build mobile apps. “The vision for it,” Gelphman said in a phone interview last month, “is to make Kansas City the leader in mobile innovation.”
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Gelphman said he frequently fields inquiries from people looking for talented developers. In early 2012, inspired by the example of The Starter Leauge in Chicago, he came up with the idea of some type of school for developers in Kansas City. He let the idea marinate while he focused on KCITP’s full schedule of events in 2012. Finally, at Compute Midwest in November, Gelphman announced the launch of the Disruption Institute.
Applications are currently being accepted for the Disruption Institute’s first class, which starts Feb. 4 and runs until April 26 — a total of 12 weeks featuring 12 hours of class time (three hours per day Monday-Thursday) each week. The first class will cost $4,000 per student.
Gelphman (right) compared the format of the class to “an extended hackathon,” where hands-on learning is emphasized. The first class will learn Objective-C, the primary programming language for iOS.
“There’s going to be little bits of lecture, but it’s not going to be like a typical classroom,” Gelphman said. “The focus is on getting people to build things.”
Students will spend the final few weeks of the program building apps that will serve as their final projects. They’ll show those off at a public demo day at the conclusion of the 12 weeks.
Gelphman said the class will accept students with a variety of backgrounds and goals: People who want to be entrepreneurs and build their own applications, people who want to find jobs as software engineers, or people who currently work as engineers but want additional seasoning.
“There’s going to be little bits of lecture, but it’s not going to be like a typical classroom. The focus is on getting people to build things.” – Michael Gelphman
He said the number of students in the first class and the level of technical expertise of those students is still being determined. The only real prerequisite for students, he said, is a motivation to learn and build.
“This whole first class is going to be all about getting continual feedback,” Gelphman said. “We’re going to be learning at the same time.”
The plan is to have a group of several mentors work with the class throughout the 12 weeks, with each class session featuring a student-to-mentor ratio of about 3:1.
With each class that graduates from the Disruption Institute, Gelphman envisions the pool of potential mentors in the Kansas City area growing. “You can create this sort of huge mentor network,” he said. “And they’re helping to create the success of that future (developer) within the ecosystem.”
Gelphman said several area tech companies have expressed interest in the Disruption Insititute, and a handful will potentially provide classroom space for its first class.
As for the addition of another endeavor to KCITP’s 2013 schedule after a busy 2012, Gelphman said he’s not concerned. He feels the educational mission of the Disruption Institute fits well with KCITP’s grand vision.
“I don’t necessarily think that this is at the expense of one thing or another,” he said. “It’s an additional thing … a long-term thing of getting people to build things and contribute to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Credits: Photo of Gelphman courtesy of Gelphman.
