By Philip Haldiman

Independent Newsmedia

Samentha Shelley was planning on becoming a nurse until she took an HTML coding class that eventually led her to Promineo Tech in the West Valley.

With that, she fell in love with coding and never looked back. Months later, after continued training at the technology school, she landed a job as an application developer making $60,000 at Nationwide Insurance in Scottsdale.

Previously she had been waiting tables and bartending at Chili’s Grill and Bar since 2012.

Promineo Tech president Nick Suwyn said there are other successes like Ms. Shelley’s story.

The school, which was founded in early 2018, offers technology vocational programs in high-demand fields like software development with some tuition costs that may be deferred until employment.

Corporate education and coding programs are also offered for children.

The school’s software development programs are 18-week, part-time classes designed for individuals with little to no programming experience. Students may attend classes remotely.

Mr. Suwyn said the flexibly allows those with work and other commitments to take classes.

“It’s all about making education accessible, affordable, and low risk. We teach programming languages and technologies that are in the highest demand in Arizona, and overall across the nation,” he said. “We also have some great options to work with companies to help them fill their needs for software developers either by sending our graduates their way, or by training individuals specifically for them.”

Promineo students don’t have to pay 90% of their tuition until and unless they get a job in the industry.

Mr. Suwyn said the most unique aspect about Promineo Tech is also one of the core elements of the business’ mission to provide low risk, affordable education.

This model, in combination with the decrease in corporate requirements for software developers to have four-year degrees, as well as the incredibly high demand for software developers, has led to the perfect landscape for what Promineo Tech provides, he said.

“This model is exactly what helps create the symbiotic partnership between our school and our students, with the overall goal every time being student success. Students see the commitment we make to them through our payment model and know that we are truly partners committed to their success,” he said. “This model allows students to focus on becoming educated and gaining the skills necessary to enter the workforce in software development without worrying about ‘what if this doesn’t pan out,’ which is too often a question in today’s post-secondary student minds. We are essentially saying that we refuse to profit until you profit from your education.”

Mr. Suwyn started programming at age 11.

His passion led him on a path to DeVry University, where he received a BS in computer information systems and then entered the workforce as a software engineer, later teaching at coding bootcamps, where he came up for the idea of Promineo Tech.

As a resident of Peoria, he says he has a sense of pride for the city.

“We are the only local, West Valley school of this nature, giving us a great geographical slice of the market by being exactly where we are. This, combined with the incredible growth that Peoria is seeing, makes being here an easy decision.”

Philip Haldiman can be reached at 623-876-3697, phaldiman@newszap.com, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman.

If you go

What: Promineo Tech

Where: Business is run out of co-working space Codobe, 12211 W. Bell Road #107, Surprise

When: The business is open Monday through Friday from 8am to 9am, and classes are in the evenings.

Website: promineotech.com

Contact: 480-744-7842, info@promineotech.com