Company attributes
Other attributes
Bloc was a San Francisco-based, online, mentor-led bootcamp for aspiring software developers and designers founded on December 14, 2011, by Dave Paola, Roshan Choxi, and Jared Tame. The company was acquired by Thinkful on April 9, 2018 for an undisclosed amount. The following year, Thinkful was acquired by Chegg.
Two of the founders, Paola and Choxi, met at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008. Paola majored in computer science, and Choxi majored in computer engineering. They started tutoring students over Skype in 2012, then introduced Bloc at the Launch Festival in San Francisco later that year. Bloc raised its first seed funding of $2 million in 2012.
Bloc originally offered a twelve-week online apprenticeship designed to teach the fundamentals of web development, using a mentor for guidance. Students paid a fee ranging from $4,250 to $6,000. An online mentor provided weekly one-on-one counseling.
As Bloc grew, they offered two learning tracks—the web developer track and the designer track. Both programs included career services to help students find job opportunities, connect with recruiters, and practice interviewing. If a student did not find a job in their chosen field within six months of completing the program, Bloc refunded their tuition. Bloc bootcamps were self-paced, and most students completed the curriculum in three to eight months.
