Peanut butter and jelly. Spaghetti and meatballs. Craft beer and computer coding.
In a mutual effort to increase brand awareness and grow respective company audiences, Cranston-based Revival Brewing Co. and technology skills educational firm General Assembly, with offices in Providence and across the country, recently joined forces to host a computer coding lesson at the brewery’s tasting room on Aug. 31.
With a background in computer science, Owen Johnson, co-founder, CEO and chairman of Revival Brewing, was enthused when General Assembly knocked on Revival’s door proposing the partnership.
The late August lesson was the first such computer science-related event on the 7-year-old brewery’s calendar, but Johnson is excited to “plug into that circle of people.
“Our brand is fairly well-known locally among folks interested in coding,” he said. Because the craft beer-making process is artistic but “accessible,” Johnson said, “Software engineers, programmers, developers [all] have a strong presence in the industry.”
A two-hour, instructor-led course, Code in the Brewery, was free to attend and was first-come, first-served regarding participation.
Mei Li Zhou, partnership specialist at General Assembly, explained maximum headcount at Code in the Brewery events depends on the space available at each brewery.
Previous Code in the Brewery events, said Zhou, including those at Night Shift Brewing in Everett, Mass., and Harpoon Brewery in Boston, were able to host 60 and 150-200 guests, respectively.
While General Assembly, also 7 years old, hosts more than 200 technology-related educational events each year, said Zhou, the effort to do so at craft breweries is still in its infancy.
‘When you’re learning a new skill … it’s cool to shake up the environment.’
DANNY KIRSCHNER, General Assembly lead instructor
The Providence event, GA’s third Northeastern Code in the Brewery night, saw 30 participants. Asked to bring fully charged laptops, these 30 individuals learned basic HTML, a web programming language, and CSS, or cascading style sheet, skills. The event was marketed to those with little to no technological background as well as those with some knowledge looking to learn more and possibly make a career move.
One of Revival’s goals is “to build local community,” said Johnson, and inviting various sectors of the community – coders, engineers and computer science fans included among those groups – helps Revival Brewing to build a stronger local connection in Rhode Island.
Johnson said the event was “helpful” in more ways than one for the company. By attracting people to the brewery, he said, events such as these “reinforce” the fact there is a destination attached to the brewing brand, where patrons can enjoy Revival’s beer. Today, Revival boasts 31 beers on its website, including White Electric Coffee Stout, Rocky Point Red Ale, Aloha Amigose Pineapple Gose, and Juliet Imperial Stout.
Code in the Brewery nights, said Zhou, are “great ways for General Assembly to get out into the community and connect with an audience we might not have otherwise attracted to our campus.”
She added that since General Assembly already has a presence in Providence, having previously hosted multiple boot camp-style educational workshops in the capital, the company chose to expand to Cranston, where Revival is located, to increase its reach among other cities in the state and to identify more people potentially interested in coding and information technology careers.
When encouraging people who may not have computer science backgrounds to consider IT as a hobby or career, said Danny Kirschner, a lead instructor at General Assembly, it’s better to do so in a lively atmosphere.
“When you’re learning a new skill, especially a technical skill, you envision a boring room, so it’s cool to shake up the environment,” he said.
The ease of hosting classes, he said, showcases “how you can code almost anywhere,” and may encourage a switch among those who are less-interested in working in the restraints of a corporate, cubicle environment.
Joe Devine, board chair and interim executive director of Tech Collective in Providence, was not surprised by the success of General Assembly’s Code in the Brewery event at Revival Brewing.
He said an interest in the craft-beer industry “overlaps all groups” and imagines a “big cross-section” of engineers and beer aficionados are ripe for the picking. A top priority for Tech Collective is to recruit 2,000 IT professionals over the coming years for technology-related careers as the industry grows.
“We’re trying to reach IT people wherever they are,” said Devine, and events such as Code in the Brewery are very helpful.
He, like Kirschner, hopes that by hosting introductory courses at entertainment venues such as breweries, “other people may stumble upon [them] as well and it may be more approachable” for them compared to the traditional, classroom setting of most technology seminars.
The ambience of Revival Brewing may have drawn “a younger crowd,” he added.
Zhou and Kirschner are both excited to host additional Code in the Brewery events, and Johnson agrees the partnership is a win-win opportunity.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, Gowdey-backus@PBN.com.
