General Assembly to Open Arlington Location, Acquires Bitmaker

Today General Assembly is announcing their largest expansion effort to date, moving from 15 campuses to 25 by the end of 2016. The expansion will also consist of their first Canadian expansion as a result of their acquisition of Bitmaker.

General Assembly is an education company that specializes in the most in-demand skills across data, tech, design, and business, which then later pairs students with local employers. One of the goals for the company is to support both demand and growth outside Silicon Valley, improving accessibility to education for those seeking in-demand digital skills.

“We are seeing incredible demand among employers — outside of the traditional urban hotspots more commonly associated with the tech sector — as they struggle to fill jobs that require 21st century skills like web development, data science and UX design,” said General Assembly cofounder and CEO Jake Schwartz. “This demand outstrips the capacity of conventional education which is why we are scaling to an entirely new level, adding resources for people and companies in these additional cities around the world.”

Upcoming General Assembly Campuses

Before the year’s end, General Assembly plans to launch new campuses in the following cities. They will also be announcing another U.S. market in the coming months. Earlier in the year they also launched a new campus in Denver.

  • Arlington, Virginia
  • Brisbane/Sunshine Coast, Queensland
  • Brooklyn, New York
  • Dallas, Texas
  • Geelong, Victoria
  • Irvine/Orange County, California
  • Raleigh, North Carolina
  • San Jose, California

“From small businesses and startups to Fortune 500 brands, digital skill sets have never been more in demand. It is no coincidence that the skills helping companies to evolve – mobile development, data analytics, product management and user experience design – are the skills that we teach at General Assembly,” said General Assembly Campus Education & Operations GM Anna Lindow. “By expanding into new markets like Canada, and furthering our presence in existing Australian and U.S. regions, General Assembly will be able to empower even more individuals and add value to even more employers.”

Bitmaker’s Acquisition Brings General Assembly to Canada

Similar in mission and goals, Bitmaker was also designed to help bridge the gap between local demand by tech companies and expanding the available developer pool. Since launch they’ve seen more than 1000 graduates from their programs. As part of the acquisition Bitmaker’s existing team will remain in place, including the founder.

“We are incredibly enthusiastic about what this means for our students and community given General Assembly’s strong reputation and ability to deliver quality education and outcomes at scale,” said Bitmaker Founder and CEO Andrew Mawer. “As Canada's first tech and design accelerator, Bitmaker has built an outstanding foundation. Now, combined with General Assembly's global resources, we can take that foundation and our shared values as mission-driven companies, to make an even bigger impact.”

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Written by:
Elliot is an award winning journalist deeply ingrained in the startup world and is often digging into emerging technology and data. When not writing, he's likely either running or training for a triathlon. You can contact him by email at elliot(@)elliotvolkman.com or follow him on Twitter @thejournalizer.
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