In mid-April of this year, Ms. Laucher reprimanded five employees for not making enough networking connections on LinkedIn, for neglecting to read a book she had assigned, “The Start-Up of You,” and for not submitting their résumés to her for help. The next day, all five were fired. The staff of the program in West Virginia, two of those former employees said, now consists of Ms. Laucher’s brother and sister.
And several weeks ago, Ms. Laucher announced on social media that she had been accepted to law school in Chicago.
Asked if this was the end of Mined Minds, Ms. Laucher wrote: “Absolutely not. Still going.”
Since the class in Beckley ended, Stephanie Frame has mostly stayed home.
As she recounted her experience with Mined Minds in her living room, her husband, Roger, just off work, sat down and listened. It’s always the same here, he finally said.
“They’re coming here promising stuff that they don’t deliver,” said Mr. Frame, his hands and face still gray with coal dust. “People do that all the time. They’ve always done it to Appalachians.”
He recalled the pittance his great-grandparents sold their mineral rights for, and what they got from it: the coal company tearing down mountains and building roads wherever it wanted. Timber, coal, oil and gas, “it repeats itself,” he said. “It’s like a never-ending cycle.”
Members of the Beckley class still keep in touch on a private chat group they call “Disenfranchised Appalachians.” Nearly everyone they had worked alongside has quit or been fired, though some said they had learned a lot from their work at Mined Minds. One, usually described as the program’s clear success, found a programming job in South Carolina.
TriflingHotDogVendor on May 13rd, 2019 at 04:10 UTC »
This is why people in coal country cling to coal. They've actually seen coal provide jobs and security. All they've seen from the "we'll save you from poverty" types is empty promises. It's been that way since the monied interests realized they could exploit them for their mineral rights a hundred years ago.
hookahmasta on May 12nd, 2019 at 23:56 UTC »
My 1st job out of college, in 2000, is at a "school" where we are supposedly to teach people who, for one reason or another (mostly work related disability), cannot go back to their previous jobs. It's a 3 month curriculum where, after they are done, they should be able to at least get their foot in the door to be PC Techs, and go from there. It's also mostly paid for using government funds.
From what I saw (I worked there for 4 months), is that perhaps 1 out of 3 students is able to make that type of transition. We have somewhat semi-qualified teachers, and we do try hard to teach. Most people pass the class, but fail to actually be successful because they are either
Have absolutely zero foundation on anything computer related to begin with. Some of them don't even know what a computer, or even what a mouse is. Teaching them how to change the background theme to Windows 98 is a non-starter. They were sold the idea that this is some sort of magical solution, and have this weird sense of entitlement where they will have a nice job waiting for them whether they paid attention to class or not. Pressure from the school to get whoever students regardless of qualifications. This results in a situation where it's not possible for them to succeed. This is where some of the shadiness that happened here creeps in.Assuming the pool of applicants are similar situations, I can't see the chance of success being much higher.
SpreadItLikeTheHerp on May 12nd, 2019 at 19:39 UTC »
This is a shame. Mined Minds sounds like a scam from the get go. No qualified staff to teach a technical subject. High turnover among staff. Blatantly false promises. Teaching newbies fucking Ruby...srsly?
On the other hand the people who got taken in should be aware that being trained to do x is only half the battle. If there are no coding jobs in nearby towns, Ruby or otherwise, you’re still not in good shape. Like that one woman did, sometimes you have to go where the jobs are. Even if that job isn’t coding.