LGBTQ+ Coding Bootcamp Scholarships: A Complete Guide

There is an undeniable diversity gap in the tech industry among genders and races. According to a Williams Institute (UCLA) report, LGBTQ+ professionals experience difficulties finding a job in tech due to discrimination. As a result, it can be challenging to know what professional opportunities are available for LGBTQ+ individuals. 

That’s why many schools and tech companies offer LGBTQ+ coding bootcamp scholarships to foster inclusion in the technology industry. While the specific coding bootcamp you choose depends on your career goals, expertise, and availability, scholarship recipients can make the jump into a coding bootcamp much more accessible than those without financial assistance.

Prospective students often face difficulties breaking into the tech field and might not know which coding bootcamp suits them best. If you’re searching for coding bootcamp scholarship opportunities, you’re in the right place. In the guide below, you will find multiple LGBTQ+ scholarships that could help you build a tech career.

Can I Get a Scholarship for Coding Bootcamp?

As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, you will have access to a wide range of scholarship opportunities. Many coding bootcamps offer tuition discounts and grants and provide career services to all students. You’ll be able to meet excellent companies and increase your opportunities of getting hired after graduation. 

Bootcamps and Organizations That Offer LGBTQ+ Scholarships

The following list of organizations and coding bootcamps offer scholarships to LGBTQ+ students. These scholarships allow students to gain the tech skills necessary to start careers in a wide variety of fields.

• Burlington Code Academy
• Codesmith 
• Designlab
• DevPoint Labs
• Fullstack Academy
• Grand Circus
• Lesbians Who Tech
• Metis
• Tech Elevator
• V School 

Top LGBTQ+ Coding Bootcamp Scholarships

Though it might be tempting to enroll in a traditional college for your technical training as a coder, there are plenty of exclusive scholarship opportunities for members of the LGBTQ+ community. You will find the list of scholarship opportunities for queer individuals in tech and some currently available online programs in the following descriptions. 

In this list of bootcamp scholarships, we’ll cover the various eligibility parameters, where you can use them, and potential discounts students may receive. Some of them are offered by a particular school, while others come from an organization. Here’s the list of grants and scholarships in the tech industry for LGBTQ+ members.

Burlington Code Academy

• Scholarship name: Impact Scholarship
• Amount awarded: Varies by case

Burlington Code Academy is an online school offering software engineering and UX/UI design programs. This school provides multiple scholarships to students from different communities and situations. The Impact Scholarship is the best option for students who identify as LGBTQ+. 

To apply for this extensive scholarship opportunity, you must be part of an underrepresented community within the tech industry. The priority is given to BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and women-identifying students. The total amount covered by this scholarship will vary by case. 

Codesmith

• Scholarship name: Edie Windsor Scholarship
• Amount awarded: Up to 50% of tuition 

The Edie Windsor scholarship is provided by Codesmith and Lesbians Who Tech. Up to half of your tuition for the web developer training program can be covered. This opportunity offers discounts for women in tech and members of the LGBTQ+ community. It is highly selective, so you will need to stand out to receive this grant.

Designlab

• Scholarship name: Diversify Design Scholarship
• Amount awarded: 50% of tuition or $1,000

Designlab’s Diversify Design Scholarship is an excellent opportunity to build a profession in the exciting career field of user experience (UX) design. To be eligible for this scholarship, you must identify as a part of an underrepresented community within the tech industry. This includes BIPOC, LGBTQ+, women, and people with disabilities. 

Once accepted, this scholarship offers bootcamp students a tuition discount for their intended program. Each month, one student is given a 50 percent discount on tuition and three students are rewarded $1,000.

DevPoint Labs

• Scholarship name: Opportunity in Tech Scholarship
• Amount awarded: 50% of tuition

DevPoint Labs’ full-time bootcamp is an excellent way to break into tech. The diversity scholarship is for people from a variety of backgrounds that continue to be underrepresented in the tech industry. The scholarship is available to people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ individuals, students of color, veterans, and mature students. 

 For the scholarship application process, you will have to write an essay and submit a recommendation letter from a teacher or previous employer. You don’t need to have prior experience in coding to participate in this opportunity and land a career in tech.

Fullstack Academy

• Scholarship name: Edie Windsor Scholarship, The Ada Lovelace Scholarship
• Amount awarded: 50% of tuition, $1,000

Fullstack Academy has partnered with Lesbians Who Tech to provide the Edie Windsor Scholarship scholarship to non-binary individuals and LGBTQ+ women. This scholarship covers 50 percent of the cost of tuition and provides added support to students during their education. 

The Ada Lovelace Scholarship provided by Fullstack Academy is for women-identifying, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming students. The scholarship rewards $1,000 off the tuition costs of any Fullstack Academy program. 

Grand Circus

• Scholarship name: The Grand Circus Diversity Scholarship
• Amount awarded: $1,750

Grand Circus offers a scholarship that can be applied to any of its online courses. The diversity scholarship is awarded to self-identifying women and veterans, as well as gender-nonconforming, Native Americans, Black, and Latinx students. This partial scholarship helps individuals obtain an excellent coding bootcamp education and get hired for careers in tech.

Lesbians Who Tech

• Scholarship name: Edie Windsor Coding Scholarship
• Amount awarded: 50% of tuition

Lesbian Who Code offers the Edie Windsor Coding Scholarship to queer women and non-binary people in tech. This scholarship covers 50 percent of the coding bootcamp tuition cost. You will receive continued guidance from Lesbians Who Code through your bootcamp education and after you obtain a full-time job in tech.

Lesbians Who Tech partners with many schools on this list, as well as other big names in the tech education industry. The scholarship can be applied to programs at school like Brainstation, Coding Dojo, and Lighthouse Labs. 

Metis

• Scholarship name: The Metis Scholarship
• Amount awarded: $2,000 or $3,000

Metis data science program offers 30 scholarships per cohort. The scholarship is available for the coding bootcamp program to underrepresented students such as Black students, LGBTQ+ and gender-diverse individuals, women of color, Native Americans, Latinx, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, and Alaska Natives, American Indians, and Native Hawaiians. 

Tech Elevator

• Scholarship name: Represent Tech Scholarship
• Amount awarded: $13,175

This bootcamp scholarship is ideal for underrepresented backgrounds such as minority groups, self-identified nonbinary individuals, and women. This grant covers the majority of the tuition cost for the coding bootcamp. 

You will have to go through the program’s admission process for the online application process, enroll in the bootcamp, and submit the scholarship request seven weeks before the cohort start date. 

V School

• Scholarship name: You Belong In Tech Scholarship
• Amount awarded: 100% of tuition

This V School bootcamp scholarship is one of the few full-tuition scholarships available to LGBTQ+ students. This grant is for members of the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, refugees, veterans, and people with financial assistance. V School offers this scholarship for its web development and UX/UI design programs. 

Will I Get a Job After Graduation?

According to our most recent State of the Coding Bootcamp Market report, between 74 percent and 90 percent of bootcamp graduates find a job upon completion. Coding bootcamps offer career services to help you land a job after graduation. 

Most coding bootcamps offer career prep courses and partner programs with hiring companies, which opens a vast list of possibilities for you to get a tech job. 

How Much Do Coding Bootcamp Graduates Make?

The average salary of a coding bootcamp graduate is $70,000, which is considerably high compared to the average wage of all occupations. While this figure may fluctuate based on your experience and current skillset, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national average salary of all occupations is $56,310.

Resources for LGBTQ+ Professionals

In the following comprehensive list, you will find the best LGBTQ+ resources and organizations to guide you in your career path. These tech-focused institutions could help prospective students find the right school, educational program, scholarships, and career services. 

Out In Tech

Out In Tech is a non-profit organization that provides career opportunities in the tech field to members of the LGBTQ+ community. You will have access to personalized mentorship and guidance throughout the entire process of obtaining a scholarship, job, or another type of career opportunity. 

National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals

The National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals, which was recently rebranded under the name Out to Innovate, is a non-charitable organization that helps the LGBTQ+ community find opportunities in tech, research, and science fields. 

Queertech

Queertech is an LGBTQ+ advocate organization located in Montreal that helps gender and sexual orientation minorities become tech-entrepreneurs. This institution provides mentorship and guidance by including you in a robust community network.

Lesbians Who Tech

Lesbians Who Tech is a mentorship community and non-profit organization dedicated to creating opportunities for queer women and other LGBTQ+ members. Leanne Pittsford founded this institution in 2012 to make a comfortable transition to the work environment for LGBTQ+ members.

Unicorns in Tech

Unicorns in Tech is an organization founded in 2014 that connects LGBTQ+ members with career opportunities in IT, journalism, social media, and design. Today, the institution has over 4,000 members. It has some outstanding companies such as IBM and McKinsey and Company. 

Events for LGBTQ+ in Tech

The best way to start developing your network in the LGBTQ+ community is to meet like-minded queer people. The following events are meant for LGBTQ+ members in the tech industry to forge new employment pathways through networking. Below, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best LGBTQ+ events for tech job seekers.

Increasing Diversity in Tech: Represent Tech Scholarship Session – Virtual

This upcoming event hosted by Tech Elevator is meant to incentivize more LGBTQ+ representation in the tech industry. It’ll be an online event that will take place on December 21st. With this event, you will learn about financial options for a career in tech, the current workplace landscape for LGBTQ+ members, and explore Tech Elevator’s software engineering program.

Nail Your Tech Interview Workshop

This online event provided by Out In Tech will give you handy tips on how to master your tech industry. If you’re an LGBTQ+ member and want to improve your interview skills, this is an excellent event to attend. The event will take place on December 7th.

Debug Summit 2021 – Lesbians Who Tech & Allies

Every year, Lesbians Who Tech hosts an event called Debug Summit. This year’s Summit will take place on December 6th and 7th. This event is hosted by industry leaders in AI, project management, and software engineering to help the LGBTQ+ community upscale their technical abilities.

Queer Tech Club

The Queer Tech Club is a networking event conducted every month in Chicago. At this event, you will meet other LGBTQ+ people and share entrepreneurship ideas in the tech sector. It’s an excellent way to provide visibility for your projects and career skills. It can be an excellent opportunity to bootstrap LGBTQ+ people’s careers in technology.

Unicorns in Tech Summit

Just like Lesbians Who Tech, Unicorns in Tech also conduct an annual Summit for the LGBTQ+ community. This online event has topics like software development, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. It’s an excellent way to obtain in-demand skills.