West Virginians Now Say Code School Promising Jobs Was a Fraud

"Two years after dozens of West Virginians left their jobs to take classes from Mined Minds, a nonprofit that promised to teach them to write computer code, former students have filed a lawsuit claiming the entire operation was a fraud," according to a report:

The program promised a better life and room for career advancement, which resonated with people in Appalachia, where career opportunities are limited. According to the New York Times, Mined Minds offered a paid apprenticeship in which students learned to code as they earned $10 an hour... [Students were also told they'd be paid while taking the classes -- which they discovered wasn't true on their first day of class] after many left their jobs to take the 16-week boot camp, which eventually stretched weeks longer than promised.

Many students dropped out. Those who stayed say they were given vague assignments with little instruction and told to "Google it" when they had questions... Only ten students made it to the final weeks of the program, and just one graduated. He now delivers takeout.


The Times reports that the program received a $1.5 million grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission -- though the lawsuit from former students quickly grew to at least 60 plaintiffs.
On Twitter this afternoon, one of the program's founders described the Times' story as "mostly false," arguing that it was based on the "same crazy lawsuit from 2017" with "no new developments."


But the Times also reported more complaints from this April at the code school, from employees who said they were fired for offenses like failing to make enough new LinkedIn connections, not submitting their resumes for review, or for failing to read the self-help book The Start-Up of You.