By Lauren Stacye, GadellNet Tech Blogger, Marketing Guru and Communications Manager
Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to support a great new start-up called Launch Code. If there are 2 things GadellNet is passionate about, they’re entrepreneurship and strengthening the community (and obviously technology!). So we were thrilled to learn of this entrepreneurial venture… which also directly strengthens the community.
To first give a little history and perspective, our founder, Joe Gadell, started GadellNet out of his home while working full-time for IBM 10 years ago. His passion and determination paved the way for our company’s success and is ingrained in our culture. We love that spirit and zeal entrepreneurs bring to the community, as well as seeing their successes. Because we work exclusively with small businesses, we’re fortunate to work with so many entrepreneurs with whom we share that same spirit and zeal.
And on the other side of that coin, we realize our success was dependent upon our communities in St. Louis and Indianapolis, which is why we feel so strongly about giving back and strengthening the communities that contributed so much to our success.
So back to Launch Code. If you haven’t heard of it, Launch Code’s goal is to increase the tech talent pool in St. Louis by pairing entry-level programmers with an experienced programming mentor, in order to bring new developers up-to-speed quickly. Another benefit of these placements is that it provides a possible job opportunity for the less experienced programmer at the end of the program. The combination of supporting fellow entrepreneurs and seeing the benefit this venture could bring to the community, we jumped on the train and gave support right away!
Also being a company who needs IT professionals, we understand first-hand the value this organization can provide to the business community. Due to our growth, we definitely need more programmers on our team, but like other businesses have found, it can be challenging to find them locally. Since we have a few openings, we are working with Launch Code to participate in the program and can’t wait to solve our own programmer talent shortage!
So if you haven’t heard of Launch Code, or may have some hiring needs of your own, we encourage everyone to support this organization and ultimately our community. It will be exciting to follow their successes over time as they help budding developers grow skills and improve St. Louis’ talent shortage. We feel so fortunate to be a part of enriching and engaged communities who also sincerely value that entrepreneurial spirit- we wouldn’t have been nearly as successful with out them.
