Triangle coding bootcamp closes, citing AI

A Triangle coding bootcamp closed its doors despite having placed more than 400 graduates into tech jobs.

• One reason behind the decision: the rise of artificial intelligence.

Why it matters: Generative AI programs are increasingly able to code at novice level, potentially changing how entry-level tech jobs are filled, GovTech reported last year.

• And AI is already causing certain tech job postings to shrink, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Driving the news: Momentum Learning said last week it is permanently shutting its doors after a six-year run and placing 400 graduates in 120 different companies.

• Co-founder Jessica Mitsch Homes cited lagging worker demand and generative AI's influence on entry-level coding jobs.

The big picture: It's not just artificial intelligence potentially hurting job placement.

• The tech industry as a whole shed jobs at a high rate last year and the trend has continued into this year.
• That has dried up demand for many positions that were bountiful during the early days of the pandemic, when companies invested heavily into adding to their workforces.

What they're saying: Homes said Raleigh-based Momentum was prepared for a downturn in tech hiring. "The tide rolls in and rolls out. That is not a reason to close your business," she told Axios.

But then companies began telling her last year that they weren't hiring because AI programs had automated a lot of the entry-level work they had been doing.

• "We always try to look around the corner with what is happening in the tech industry," she added, "through conversations with many companies, from venture-backed ones to public."
• People weren't sure how Generative AI would affect these companies, she said. "By the end of last year the tune had totally changed and we were seeing that the entry level job is really starting to go away because it can be automated. These AI tools got good so fast."