Almost 23,000 Americans graduated from code schools last year, a more than 900 percent increase since 2012, according to Course Report, a company that studies trends and attendance at nearly 100 code schools across the U.S.

Also known as bootcamps, code schools are typically three-to-six-month programs that usually bill themselves as the way to help lower-income workers and people from outside the technology sector find jobs in tech — minus the expensive, four-year computer science degree. Web development as self improvement.

In D.C., the same upward trajectory of code school growth and participation is playing out. Coding Dojo, which established an office in McLean, Va., in summer 2016, rolled out a new Java coding course last summer. Earlier this month, the New York–based Flatiron School, recently acquired by coworking giant WeWork, announced classes would begin at its new WeWork White House classrooms on G Street in March. The $9.6 million funding round announced several weeks ago by online-only coding program Thinkful coincided with its one-year anniversary of establishing an IRL networking presence in the District, where Thinkful employees set up events for students to meet one another and prospective employers.

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