Yukoners brave intense eight-week 'coding camp'

Students in Whitehorse are learning the basics of computer programming with an intense eight-week course.

It's the first time the web-development "codingcamp"has beenoffered in Yukon.

Vancouver-based Light House Labs began offeringthe program in 2013to train the next generation of web developers.Much of the program is carried out online using live interactive video as well hands-on classroom work.

Instructor Don Burks says there's a lot of material to cover.

"It's a full-time immersive boot camp," he says.

"Students are typically doing anywhere from eight to 12hours a day of lab work to build up those practical skills. [They're]going through and learning a lot of the modern web technology so they are ready to break into the job market at the end of the boot camp."

Ben Sanders,one of the students, is an engineer with experience working with BlackBerry and the Canadarm. He saysthe course is a humbling experience.

"You start to realize all this beautiful magic you see when you experience a website there is a lot of hard work that goes into making it," he says.

Students pay $8,000 for the session andmust pass an interview to beadmitted.

Students in Whitehorsehave already built applications for mobile phones and developed software for interactivepodcasts.By the end of their training they will know how to create websites as well.