Alchemy Code Lab offers the most advanced software developer training in Portland.

Alchemy Code Lab is a developer training academy and tech consultancy dedicated to guiding Portland’s future tech innovators along rewarding career paths. A true alternative to the cookie-cutter virtual code school chains dotting the tech training landscape, our uniquely intensive career track-focused JavaScript program, our intimate 6-to-1 student-to-instructor ratio, and an in-person, structured setting propels Alchemy Code Lab grads far beyond dead-end internships or low-level junior development positions. Through integrated expert guidance, our grads are ready on day one to contribute as productive developer team members.

With decades of real-life tech experience, our instructors teach students how to think like developers. Our emphasis on process, regular testing, and immersive lab sessions train Alchemy students to not only get their code to work, but to learn to articulate how and why it does what it does. These are the foundational elements instilled in Alchemy Code Lab graduates which launch them toward average starting salaries of $75,000, an average 80% job placement rate -- and most important -- elevated and fulfilling careers.

A Portland-only school, we believe in the power of coding and software development to advance our economy and our community. At Alchemy Code Lab, mentorship means daily, strategic career assistance for each individual student through empathetic interaction with experienced instructors and staff. We get Portland. We are committed to fostering a tech environment here that welcomes women, LGBTQ, veterans, and graduates from all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Through our local connections and App Lab startup app development program, Alchemy grads have a place in cultivating our city’s vibrant and inclusive software development culture.

Our mission is made more meaningful through diversity-centric scholarship offerings and partnerships with influential Portland organizations including PDX Women in Tech, Women Who Code Portland, DonutJS, and LatinX PDX. Founded in 2015, Alchemy Code Lab is located in the heart of downtown Portland and is a Powered by Code Fellows Partner.

how we got our start

From the start, we’ve found the advanced curriculum created by Code Fellows to be the very best -- it’s why we opened our doors with confidence in a city brimming with bootcamps. For its first two years, Alchemy Code Lab even operated as Code Fellows PDX.

Our CEO, Marty Nelson, began partnering with the Code Fellows network as an instructor in 2015, and helped shape and modernize the program’s 400 level, Career Track, curriculum.

As a key contributor to Reactive.JS (one of 2017’s JavaScript libraries to watch), Marty has a working understanding of the open-source space. This directly informs our curriculum and teaching methodologies, which are structured around the real life applications of code.

Since taking ownership of the school in 2016, Marty, and his wife Megan, co-owner and School Director, have built a program that engages directly with Portland’s tech and creative communities -- ensuring that our city’s leading-edge companies have access to the talent they need.