Crowd Machine Officially Launches Crowd Academy - the Online Learning Program that Democratizes App-Building

By CIOReview | Friday, May 17, 2019

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif - Crowd Machine, the enterprise-grade zero-code app building and hosting platform, today launched an online training course that makes app-building accessible to all, regardless of application development experience. Crowd Academy is a free, seven-level accreditation online learning program that teaches individuals how to create market-ready apps quickly and without writing any code.

Crowd Academy, originally released in beta at the end of 2018, has over 800 Cadets (participants) from 71 countries, to date. The community is expanding its global reach and growing at a steady pace, with more than 100 Cadets joining in February 2019 alone. Anyone can join Crowd Academy, from seasoned developers seeking a faster, easier approach, to entrepreneurs looking to shotgun their start-up, to business end-users looking to build an app for their business line, to individuals wanting to advance their own skill set. With no technical experience required, Crowd Academy empowers anyone to see their innovative software ideas actualized.

"Our Crowd Academy Cadets are incredibly diverse - some have absolutely zero technical experience while others are already proficient in programming and just want to learn more," said Craig Sproule, founder and CEO of Crowd Machine. "We help them make apps they dream of and they take it from there."

Crowd Academy's first round of graduates, dubbed the Digital Disruptors, use their newfound no-code developer skills for real-world applications. Here are a few examples:

• Building a next-generation recruitment platform for freelancers: Kathrin and Dennis Hauck, based in Germany, are automating and building transparency into the recruitment and contracting process with Project Crowd. Graduating from Crowd Academy in only a few months, Kathrin Hauck is building her app with the Crowd App Studio, Crowd Machine's online platform to create apps. Currently, several of Project Crowd's employees are themselves learning no-code skills as Crowd Academy Cadets.

• Streamlining customer and equipment surveys at KONE, Inc: Derek Wierema, a data administrator at KONE, runs an assessment tool built on the Crowd App Studio. He's been so impressed with the tool, he now aspires to build more apps for KONE as well as an app for his daughter's gymnastics group.

• Mastering Crowd Academy tutorials in 51 hours: With no formal programming qualifications, Tom Hall smashed through Crowd Academy in record time to become the first ever certified Crowd Machine Developer. He's now powering up an innovative blockchain-based company on Crowd Machine.

• From code to no-code and loving it! Oliver Normann, based in Lithuania, built and sold his second app before he left high school. A seasoned software engineer, Oliver thinks Crowd Machine is a great eco-system, for both non-developers and experienced engineers, to get ideas to market faster. He's committed to helping others master the Crowd Academy curriculum as an active Alumni.

• Bringing Crowd Machine to Bahrain: Anna-Marie Lawrence, senior manager of business development at Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance, aspires to see Bahrain take the lead in FinTech in the Middle East. She plans to integrate Crowd Machine into leadership management strategy training.

"Crowd Academy is a great user experience and a very good opportunity to open a new world to people interested in building their software ideas and visions – from small to very complex applications," said Kathrin Hauck, Crowd Academy Graduate.

For those interested in trying out the program, now is an excellent time to get started in Crowd Academy. Crowd Machine will be offering free introductory webinars on March 20th to orient Cadets and power their progress through Base One. Visit www.crowdmachine.com/crowd-academy/ to get started.

No-code Needed Contest

To celebrate Crowd Academy's launch, Crowd Machine will host its first ever no-code app building contest for Cadets. Crowd Machine's "No-Code App Creator Contest" gives the Crowd Academy Community the unique opportunity to choose the winner of the "Best App" built on the Crowd App Studio. The winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000. Contestants must be graduates of Crowd Academy in order to participate.