Chris Castiglione Co-founder of Console.xyz. Adjunct Prof at Columbia University Business School.

63 MBA Students Learn to Code

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On Monday 63 Columbia University MBAs used One Month to build a website in under one hour. Did you know you could build a website from scratch in just one hour?

mba students learning to code
MBA students learning to code HTML & CSS

Why are MBAs learning to code?

MBAs are learning to code because having basic programming skills has become one of the most important skillsets to have when launching a business, hiring, managing and of course when finding job. 

Chris Harper, Columbia Business School student, explains why it’s so important for us to invest in closing the skills gap,

Current workforce skillsets are misaligned with industry requirements and the gap is rapidly widening. The future of work is a central question in tech and venture communities, and rightly so. Existing jobs are being automated, entirely new jobs are being created, and the very nature of work is evolving.

Higher education provides a great deal of value to students (engaging lectures, access to professors, on-campus networking, etc). But where there are gaps in a traditional business school education, skill-based education fills in.

Neha Bansal, a former Digital Literacy student at CBS, credits the coding curriculum at business school with helping her land a summer internship at Google. Bansal says, ” Taking those classes gave me a lot of confidence for my interviews.”

What coding language should MBAs learn?

Python & SQL are the new languages of business.

In addition HTML, CSS and JavaScript are fundamental to understanding web design and app development. If your business plans on having a website? You’ll want to know the basics. 

The first assignment: Learn HTML & CSS

Imagine this: Cookie Monster is your client. He’s applying for a job. You have one hour to launch a new website for him using only HTML & CSS. You’ve been given his headshot, bio at Sesame Street, and Cookie Monster’s Saturday Night Live Demo Reel. Go!

It might sound silly for business school students to be hanging out with Cookie Monster, but it’s a fun way to learn these necessary career skills.

Columbia Business School student Student Aisha Dawood shares her final project on Twitter:

Want to build the HTML project? 

Cookie Monster’s “About Me” is the first project students build at One Month. If you’d like to try it yourself all the code is free on my Github page.

Want to build the project? Our online HTML & CSS course takes you step-by-step through building the Cookie Monster project. The course comes with one hour of fun videos. Access to ask questions to me and my team (you’ll join a private Slack room). And every homework assignment will be graded (with feedback) by either me or someone on the One Month team.

A new One Month HTML course starts every Monday!

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Chris Castiglione Co-founder of Console.xyz. Adjunct Prof at Columbia University Business School.