Bitmaker Labs: A lesson in what’s wrong with Canadian tech education

By this point in June, most students are thrilled to see the end of school, but for those in Toronto dreaming of a career in web development, no one wants to see an end to Bitmaker Labs.

Founded less than a year ago by a group of University of Western Ontario grads, Bitmaker Labs has been described as a bootcamp that puts participants through nine weeks of training in the latest software skills before hosting a job fair that helps them get hired.

It looks, sounds and operates very much like a kind of school. On Monday, Bitmaker Labs’ founders said they were ceasing operations amid an inquiry by Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU). Though they haven’t actually been fined or forced to shut down, their position mirrors those who have been sent to the principal’s office for detention.

Among the local startup community, Bitmaker Labs was seen as a refreshing alternative to traditional education, offering something which similar technology programs don’t: curriculum that reflects the fast-changing IT industry. Plenty of companies have hired Bitmaker Labs participants, and after the announcement it ceased operations there were gripes on Twitter and elsewhere that wondered why the government would get in the way of something that was helping get people to learn in-demand skills and find jobs in which to use them.

According to Tory Jarmain, CTO at Bitmaker Labs, the organization was inspired by initiatives like Chicago’s Starter League, which are similarly focused more on educating than credentialing.

“The program is only nine weeks. There are no grades, no pieces of paper. We thought we were in some kind of grey area,” he said.

That grey area is important, Jarmain said, because having to get the MTCU to sign off on curriculum means some of what gets taught can be obsolete before students take their seats. The way that web development techniques called Ajax works can change from year to year, for example. As Bitmaker Labs now tries to become accredited, there’s a fear it won’t be able to keep skills relevant. “We have had some people drop out of other programs and come to us for precisely that reason.”

As much as it’s tempting to see Bitmaker Labs as the David and MTCU as the Goliath, however, the reality is a little more grey, too. It’s true that the inquiry is not a result of any complaints against Bitmaker Labs but was triggered by the organization's activities being featured in the Globe and Mail, surfacing them on the government's radar. Bitmaker's shutdown makes the Ministry seem unnecessarily heavy-handed, however, a statement I received from the government points out that there was also a way to double-check that this kind of situation wouldn’t happen.

“The Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities offers a free pre-screening process to anyone seeking information about whether or not Ontario’s legislation applies to particular schools and programs in order to assist businesses that wish to offer new programs,” it said.

Many startups have to do similar regulatory research before formally launching. This is part of doing your due diligence. The MTCU’s rules are there for a reason – we don’t want anyone getting ripped off by quasi-schools that don’t meet proper educational standards. Protecting students is obviously really important.

So what’s the solution? Well, you could argue that protecting students also means ensuring they can get access to the best possible programs – the kind that Bitmaker offers. The rules are enshrined in the Private Career Colleges Act of 2005. That’s up for review in September. Perhaps it’s time to explore ways curriculum can be assessed more quickly to meet the needs of a rapidly evolving IT industry. If that could happen, the Bitmaker Labs of the future would be more likely to go through proper channels and we would end up with what everyone wants: a more innovative workforce. No one’s going to get an “A” for learning it, but that’s the real lesson here.