By Amanda Raymond

amanda.raymond@salisburypost.com

Coding classes are coming to Salisbury through a new relationship between 10thread and Tech Talent South.

Tech Talent South, an Atlanta-based computer coding bootcamp, is in talks with 10thread to extend its services into Salisbury.

According to their website, Tech Talent South is committed to “fostering talent in technology throughout the southeast United States and aid the region in evolving its high-tech hubs.”

The second phase of 10thread, a new company hoping to become the technology hub of Salisbury, is hoping to open soon on the 1000 block of South Fulton Street. The company will offer Salisbury residents collaborative office spaces, desk space and private offices. The spaces will also come with 24/7 access, Wi-Fi Internet provided by Fibrant and free coffee from Mean Mug.

Taylor Hutchins, manager of 10thread, said after he read about what the Tech Talent South was doing in Charlotte, he decided to get in contact with Betsy Hauser Idilbi, co-founder of the company.

“The wording she used was ‘my timing was impeccable’ because they were trying to reach on the outside of the Charlotte area more and more,” Hutchins said.

Andrew Au, community organizer for Tech Talent South’s Charlotte campus, said even though the company had no specific plans to move into Salisbury, the company did want to extend to other cities around Charlotte.

“One of our biggest initiatives of recent has been to just start to increase our resources in other surrounding communities of Charlotte,” he said.

Au said Tech Talent South will offer discounts for 10thread members when they take classes in Charlotte.

Hutchins said representatives from the company will visit 10thread sometime in February to look at the new space and determine what classes it would like to hold in Salisbury.

Tech Talent South plans to help 10thread become the established tech hub it wants to be by holding introductory events to get people interested in the company. One event might be a start-up crawl, which is like a bar crawl but instead of bars participants travel to different start-up businesses. Au said the start-up crawl is a way to give local businesses and entrepreneurs the opportunity to be seen by the general public.

Tech Talent South would also probably bring some of its stand-alone classes to Salisbury, like the Intro to Web Design and Creation and JavaScript 101 classes, Au said.

Au also talked about bringing a free coding weekend event for children to Salisbury. Au said the classes are good for parents who might have children who are interested in coding but do not want to commit to a month of classes.

“They can investigate and see if this is something their child is interested in,” Au said.

Hutchins said the relationship with Tech Talent South will help the company develop connections with other technology centers.

“That’s just going to do nothing but immerse us in that type of area, which is where we need to be to begin with,” he said.

Au said although the company is helping 10thread build its name, 10thread is also helping Tech Talent South extend their reach into smaller communities.

And Hutchins said the relationship will bring growth to Salisbury and Rowan County.

“If two or three of the people who take this course, if they want to start a small business, well hey, that’s another small business in Salisbury,” he said.

Contact reporter Amanda Raymond at 704-797-4222.