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From Gang Bangers to Web Developers?

Posted by Cliff on from the turning-ones-life-around dept.

evenprime asks: "The Economist is running an article about a program that takes gang members in Milwaukee, sends them through rehab, and teaches them web development so that they can have a decent paying job. I think this type of program - one that gives people the ability to help themselves - is a great idea, and it is something that many of us could help with. Do slashdot readers know of any similar programs in other places? If so, what type of qualifications do you think they would require before allowing someone to help teach web design?" Such programs are just too damned cool. Are there any others like it?

7 of 603 comments (clear)

  1. Gang bangers? by aozilla · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Aren't we being a little presumptuous here? Kind of like saying all members of that linux gang are hackers...

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  2. Tech skills not enough by Tassach · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Web development is more than being able to use FrontPage, or even being able to hand-code HTML. Language skills are essential -- an ungrammatical, misspelled web page is unprofessional. Some artistic / asthetic skill is required too -- chosing good color schemes, coming up with an attractive & functional layout, etc.


    I think that web development is still a pretty decent entry-level job. While there are not as many new public web sites, most big companies are still investing a lot of time & money in their intranets. Web development is becoming like every other kind of software development -- 90% of it is done for internal company use. That's not going to change anytime soon.

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    Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
  3. Re:So, break laws and get free training by tomknight · · Score: 3, Insightful
    No, I see nothing wrong with this. I'd feel happy to know my taxes are being spent on something worthwhile (and yes, this is a worthwhile project - anything that gets people involved with education is worthwhile), rather than all the other shitty things my government does with my money.

    Would you rather your taxes were spent keeping these kids in prison?

    Tom.

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    Oh arse
  4. This is what our prison systems should be doing... by supabeast! · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Right now most nations spend billions of dollars every year filling prisons with people who sit in cages all day watching television. Those people then get released years later, with no new skills, severely damaged social skills, and no real contacts other than criminals they met in prison.

    Imagine if, instead of being locked down all day, the US prison population was educated. Classes all day, homework all night. Give them job skills. Rehabilitate criminals into functional members of society so that when they get out they know how to do something other than be a pain in the ass!

    Of course, is most of the world this will never happen, because prison building and maintenance is now an important industry, and rehabilitation of criminals is detrimental to construction companies, their employees, police unions and their members, as well as prison employee unions and their members. Welcome the the twenty-first century, where deprivation of human freedom is a commodity.

  5. Re:Whoops. Three years late. by Magumbo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well it depends on your definition of "decent paying job". I think you're confusing "decent paying" and "high paying".

    What's a reformed gang banger going to get a legitimate job doing? Suppose he/she has been Livin tha Gangsta Life(TM) since a young age, and maybe doesn't have a solid education beyond, say, elementary or junior high. What options would be available? Fast food? Secretarial work? Telemarketing? Various forms of manual labor? Now, what do jobs like that pay? Minimum wage? $10/hr? $17/hr after 25 years?

    Now look at a low paying web job. What do they pay? $35000/yr? $40000/yr? It's decent.

  6. Some folks are missing the point by sirgoran · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It states in the article that the kids have the option of being programmers or being helped into colleges and other programs. Any intercity program that helps lower the crime rate, murder rate, gang membership is a good thing. Helping kids help themselves into being an asset to society instead of a number in a prison is not something to take lightly.

    Everyone at some point in their life had some sort of influence that helped them along. Be it advice from a teacher, some news story or article, parent, or friend it got you where you are today. I see nothing wrong with giving these kids a different path to follow. In the end it will be up to the kid. If he/she stays the course and changes their life or fails. I'm just glad that someone is trying to help.

    Goran

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    Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
  7. Some clarifications by c0rnfused · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For starters, I am an employee at Homeboyz Interactive, the company reported in the article.

    Just wanted to clarify a few things. The students who go through the program are not simply taught how to launch Dreamweaver and click their way to a Web site. They go through about nine months of training ranging from HTML, to JavaScript, PHP, databases, data modeling, use cases, etc. We provide more skills to these students than most of my university peers seem to have! We are just starting to use Java to deal with some of our larger projects where PHP becomes a burden.

    Think again if you're worried that this is just another basic class in WYSIWYG HTML editors... you are very wrong ;)