LEXINGTON, Ky. — One web development business in Lexington has seen a spark of interest in the web coding industry over the last few months. 

“A lot of people who have said to us that for whatever reason, COVID has prompted them to want to switch careers so we're happy about that for sure. We are happy to try and help them get there,” Marketing Specialist at Awesome Inc., Stephen Ruh said. 

Awesome Inc. is a Lexington business whose mission is to help people pursue their definition of "awesome," whether that be through coding or other job fields. Since the pandemic started, Ruh has seen an increase of participants in their web development and coding classes.

“We have 10 to 12 average students and now two full cohorts have 15, and that might not seem as extreme but the amount of people applying is more for like, going from about 50 applicants or even in the 40s, up to 70 to 75 applicants,” Ruh said.

Adjusting to COVID-19 regulations, Ruh said their organizations have heard from many people who take their class that most of them are looking for a reliable job to get them through the pandemic.

“For us, people joining our program, we guarantee that they're going to get a job. And so for us to be able to do that we are wondering, 'Are the jobs still gonna be out there?' Obviously everybody across the board has been hit in some way by COVID so we were a little bit worried, but excited to see that people are still hiring web developers and everybody needs help with tech in some way,” Ruh said.

Continuing to teach web development skills both online and in-person, Ruh said they have been able to help many people during these tough months to find a job somewhere in the technology field.

“It’s really exciting to get to see and we always kind of celebrate when any of our alumni get a job. Like, 'Hey, we just heard that you had an interview, hope it goes well.' And now it's kind of the stakes feel even a little bit higher so that's pretty exciting to get to see,” Ruh said.

For anyone who would like more information on the bootcamps and training, they can visit the Awesome Inc. website.