The American Dream is the belief that no matter where you come from, with hard work and determination, anyone can achieve success.
The reality, however, is that many people feel that they can never escape their circumstances and that they will be stuck on the hamster wheel of poverty for the rest of their lives.
Based in Rhode Island, DevAccelerator is on a mission to prove that anyone can achieve success and financial prosperity.
DevAccelerator is a workforce development program that offers those who typically don’t engage in post-secondary education the opportunity to transform their prospects through a 12-14-month software engineering internship.
The program was founded by Arnell Milhouse, who was the Entrepreneur in Residence at Brown University, Nelson Centre for Entrepreneurship in 2019 and 2020.
“The majority of our interns are people who have given up on their dream of entering the middle class; people working minimum wage jobs and believing this would always be their reality.”
The DevAccelerator program is free of charge and open to anyone – including those with no existing experience in software engineering. The key thing that sets the DevAccelerator apart is the hands-on experience that participants gain throughout their time in the program.
“When you study software engineering at college or a tech boot camp, you graduate with zero days of practical experience. We place our participants into software engineering internships where they start working on software projects from day one, giving them real-world experience that is incredibly attractive to employers.”
This level of experience is what sets graduates of the DevAccelerator program apart. Participants will command salaries of $80,000 and up when they finish the program – an amount they would never have thought possible in their previous careers.
“Typically, our interns would be earning $20,000 a year before they join the program. Once they finish, they embark on challenging and rewarding careers, purchase their own homes, and change the lives of their families. One of our interns even asked me to give the best man’s speech at his wedding, which was incredibly moving.”
Arnell knows first-hand just how transformative a career in technology can be for your prospects in life.
“I was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts – one of the toughest environments in New England. I always had a happy home, and my mom decided to move us to Cape Cod when I was thirteen. Moving from
somewhere so poor to a super affluent area was a huge culture shock, and it helped me see what was possible once you realized the opportunities and learned how to navigate them.”
Arnell then self-taught himself computer programming before taking high school classes. Later, he went to Johnson & Wales University to study Computer Science and Business Management and was given the opportunity to become a senior lab assistant and gain an academic scholarship when he was just a freshman.
“I had known since high school that I wanted to create a company to help anyone who wanted a great job. By the time I got to college, I started teaching my friends software engineering on the side and became a pied piper of tech. My friends took the skills they learned and landed great careers with excellent starting salaries that they couldn’t have achieved otherwise.”
Arnell and his business partner, Clifton Choiniere, then established CareerDevs Computer Science Institute, which reduces a four-year computer science education into a twelve-month program. It was this work that led to the creation of DevAccelerator.
And now, to bring more tech opportunities to Rhode Island, Arnell is also launching a brand-new program called SiliconXL.
The program is dedicated to finding the most promising, cutting-edge high-tech startups from around the US, and bringing them to Rhode Island for at least five years.
By relocating to RI, the startups will receive $100,000 in funding every year, plus an additional $100,000 in software engineering and cloud credits; for a small, fractional amount of equity (typically 3% to 6%).
“Typically, tech startups need to give up huge amounts of equity in return for funding, which they will then use to pay a software engineer to continue developing the business. SiliconXL cuts out the middleman, ensuring that founders retain the vast, vast majority ownership of the business, without requiring funding from VCs who typically invest with a non-favorable exit plan in mind.
SiliconXL also provides new opportunities for the DevAccelerator interns, as they can work hands-on with these startups and help to build and shape their technology.
“Each startup has access to our trained interns, funding assistance, and free office space. This, combined with the lower cost of living in Rhode Island, helps their money and runway go further and ensures they can operate for longer than they could in New York or Silicon Valley. In return, they help to boost the Rhode Island economy and open up new opportunities for our residents.”
Dev Accelerator is a major grantee of Papitto Opportunity Connection (POC), a Rhode Island-based private foundation that works with non-profit organizations to support diversity, equity, and inclusion across the state, by investing in education, job skills training, and entrepreneurial ventures.
“Our partnership with POC has been an incredible way to expand the impact of DevAccelerator. POC also aligns with our altruistic viewpoint of being philanthropic but profitable, so we can continue our work and never have to charge our interns for their participation.”
The POC was so impressed by the important work that Arnell champions, that they also invited him to join their board.
With ambitious plans to continue expanding the program, and the launch of SiliconXL on the horizon, Arnell is more excited about the future than ever.
“I know first-hand that having access can help you to evolve and reach your potential. My wife and I recently achieved a dream of our own andpurchased a farm, where we raise chickens (for eggs), grow our own food and live sustainably.I want people to know that no matter what your background, you can exceed your own expectations and live the life you want.”
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