Holberton Student Honored with an EdSurge Independent Fellowship Position

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 26, 2017 -- Today the Holberton School, a prestigious two-year higher education school for software engineers, announced that student Bobby Yang has been chosen as one of only 14 students from around the world to participate as a Fall 2017 EdSurge Independent Fellow. 

EdSurge Independent Fellows meet and engage with some of education's top philanthropists, entrepreneurs, and technologists. Past guests include the Founder of Quizlet, a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Founding Dean of Minerva Schools at KGI.

"Throughout the course of the semester, these Fellows will meet weekly to discuss some of the biggest trends and most pressing issues in higher education and beyond,” said Jared Silver, community coordinator, EdSurge Independent. “They’ll meet with leading education experts, connect with mentors in the education space, and share their thoughts and perspectives with the readers of EdSurge Independent.”

“It’s such a huge honor to be chosen by EdSurge Independent, I plan to take advantage of this opportunity to the fullest,” said Yang, a Holberton student since January 2017. “Holberton has given me so many opportunities to help me build an extraordinary career.”

Each semester, EdSurge Independent holds a forum with a select group of the world's most impressive students who care about making an impact in education and are given a platform to share their views on the future of education. EdSurge Independent gives a voice to students by allowing them to share their opinions within their cohorts as well as have the opportunity to write or create other media for the EdSurge Independent publication, read by many students and education leaders.

Yang is a self-taught software engineer who is going through Holberton. He has been drawn to computers since he was a middle schooler, building his first website in 8th grade. Although he loves programming and engineering, at his core Bobby cares most about people. He believes that technology is here to enable and empower people. Everything he works on is a part of that vision. He hopes to see technology connect everyone in the world.

Launched in 2016, Holberton’s curriculum is based on a methodology that combines project-based and peer learning where students help each other to learn and reach goals. At Holberton, there are no lectures and no teachers, but instead tech mentors. Students acquire practical skills and an understanding of theory through hands-on learning. This guarantees that students possess the skills necessary for the technology industry's most demanding jobs. Holberton students have attained prestigious positions at some of the top tech companies in the US and around the world, working at companies such as Apple, Tesla, NASA, Dropbox, LinkedIn, IBM and more.

In less than two years, Holberton students have received renown participating in a number of different projects and events, from a student meeting Linus Torvald to Vint Cerf giving his stamp of approval to the school. The school's numerous achievements include introducing highly qualified mentors from well-known companies, articles published under both student and founders, and even having one student receive a coveted internship at NASA's SETI Institute. Holberton is the winner of the EdTech Digest Awards Program 2017 and was featured in The New York Times emphasizing diversity.

The school charges no upfront tuition. Instead, graduates are asked to contribute a percentage of their salaries to the school for the first three years of their post-Holberton employment, giving back to the next generation of software engineers. If not hired, students pay nothing to the school. Their success is the school’s success.

About EdSurge
EdSurge delivers insights and connects those exploring how technology can support equitable opportunities for all learners.

About Holberton School
Using project-based learning and peer learning, Holberton’s mission is to train the best software engineers of their generation. At Holberton, there are no formal teachers and no formal courses. Instead, everything is project-centered. Holberton gives students increasingly difficult programming challenges to solve and minimal initial directions on how to solve them. As a consequence, students naturally look for the theory and tools they need, understand them, use them, work together, and help each other. Holberton School teaches how to learn instead of teaching a specific tool or programming language. Holberton School is based in San Francisco and supported by leaders from the technology industry. Go to www.holbertonschool.com to learn more.

Editorial Contact
Joe Eckert for Holberton School
[email protected]