History

Operation Code's founder, and retired U.S. Army Captain, David Molina, attends his first hackathon in New York City. After a weekend learning at Opens in new windowAngelHack , he is inspired to pursue software engineering as a post-military occupation. He submits an application to The Flatiron School while on active-duty, only to discover that the program did not accept the "New GI Bill" as payment.

Molina exits military service in early 2013 and begins to self-teach Ruby on Rails, a full-stack web development platform for building comprehensive web applications. He also starts attending meetups with Opens in new window"Bmore on Rails" while finishing Opens in new windowOne Month's Rails online course.

Molina attended Opens in new windowRailsConf as a scholarship fellow. After meeting Rubyists from around the world, he is introduced to the Portland Ruby group.

Molina joins Opens in new windowPatriot Boot Camp (PBC) presented by Techstars, at George Washington University. During this time, Molina tells Virginia Senator, Tim Kaine, of the inability to use the New GI Bill for coding bootcamps. Before departing D.C., Molina receives advice from U.S. Army Congressional Fellow, Ben Culver, on gathering data to address the problem.

Molina purchases the domain opcod3.us and worked with fellow Army veteran and software developer, Don Livanec, to finish the first live webpage.

At Opens in new windowCascadia Ruby Molina receives encouragement from fellow Rubyist, Whitney Rose, to launch Operation Code's petition using "Launchrock". After lengthy discussions with Kristin Smith, Adam Enbar (representing The Flatiron School), and Opens in new windowCode Fellows the first line of code is Opens in new windowcommitted to GitHub .

Louisiana native, Army veteran, and software developer, Dr. James Davis joins Operation Code, supplying substantial website improvements.

Molina pairs veterans 1-on-1 with developers via the "Software Mentor Protégé Program" where HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Ruby were taught. Dr. Davis becomes Operation Code's first mentor.

Web developer, teacher, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Opens in new windowCode Fellows , Ivan Storck, purchases the domain "operationcode.org" becoming our first donor in the process.

Opens in new windowDNSimple joined Operation Code as the sole domain management service provider, ensuring maximum uptime.

Army veteran and aspiring software developer, Charles Sipe, writes a viral, Veteran's Day article called Opens in new window'Why Veterans Will Make Excellent Programmers'.

HackHands co-founders, Forest Good and Geraldo Ramos, join Operation Code, designing our logo and providing veterans free access to Opens in new windowhack.summit() , a virtual conference to learn from the world's most renowned programmers.

Software developer, Chris Hough, joins Operation Code providing software architecture advice, improving application functionality and speed. OperationCode website code becomes open source via public GitHub repository.

Former President and CEO of United Way of Columbia-Willamette, Jay Bloom, as well as former Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs, John Garcia, join the Operation Code Advisory Team.

Ruby on Ales (discontinued) - located in Bend, Oregon - becomes the first software developer industry conference to support veterans with Ruby development classes.

Columbia Journalism School graduate and former Mint reporter, Teresa Mahoney, joins Operation Code to interview veterans from across the country, crafting our story with professional media to drive more public awareness.

Operation Code changes it's Twitter handle to Opens in new window@operation_code , for more effective branding. Opens in new windowInstagram and Opens in new windowFacebook , accounts are created.

Opens in new windowFormal launch of Operation Code . The event hosts dozens of veterans, software developers, media representatives, and staff members from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and Congressman Blumenauer's offices.

Army veteran and software engineer, Fernando Paredes, joins Operation Code, expanding the Software Mentor Protégé Program using Opens in new windowour newly created Slack Team . Veterans now have real-time access to a helpful coding community and one-on-one software mentorship at their fingertips.

Fernando Paredes, Nell Shamrell, and Eric McKenna improve Operation Code's participation in open source development with our first Opens in new windowcontributing guide .

Global hospitality provider, Opens in new windowAirBnB sponsors lodging for Operation Code members attending SignalConf in San Francisco. Opens in new windowThey also invited our members to tour their headquarters ! Airbnb forges their partnership with Operation Code in steel by offering sponsored lodgings for veterans interviewing for a career in tech.

Opens in new windowSignalConf provides multiple Operation Code members with sponsored tickets. Opens in new windowTwilio - the conference's main sponsor - hosts an insightful tour of their headquarters.

Molina hosts a meetup in San Francisco, introducing Elmer Thomas (SendGrid), Laura Gómez (Atipica), Nick Frost (Navy Veteran), and Pete Runyon (Marine Veteran) to Operation Code.

To meet growth demands, Operation Code Opens in new windowseparates from its financial supporter . The Cogostar Foundation - Operation Code's current sponsor - helps to reorganize a new governing Board of Directors, comprised of Josh Carter, Aimee Knight, Nick Frost, Pete Runyon, Laura Gómez, Fernando Paredes, and Elmer Thomas. Operation Code incorporates as an Oregon non-profit organization.

Opens in new windowSticker Mule provides free stickers to all members! Laptops around the nation equip our logo.

Operation Code begins accepting online donations.

Jared Zoneraich, founder of Opens in new windowhackBCA joins the Operation Code advisory team. Mark Kerr - attorney, entrepreneur, and ex-Army Captain - joins the Operation Code board of directors. He is elected chair of the board, and the board begins having regular conference calls focusing on infrastructure, processes/procedures, and fundraising strategy.

Opens in new windowhack.summit() adds Operation Code to its list of coding non-profits.

Opens in new windowSpeakeasy joins as the Operation Code conference sponsor.

Operation Code files for and receives 501(c)(3) status as a federally recognized non-profit organization. Thanks go to Marine Veteran and Board Secretary/Treasurer Pete Runyon, who graciously donated $850 for the fee.

Multiple Operation Code veterans attend Opens in new windowOSCON to advertise the open source development opportunity in Operation Code's planned website redesign.

In an effort to give Operation Code members an outlet to practice professional development, our website's architecture and design is overhauled. We go live with just a minimum viable product, and iterate - generating interest of attracting support from the open source community.

On Independence Day, Opens in new window2000th Operation Code member joined our Slack Team