As some technology bootcamps have begun to sputter, Denver’s Galvanize said it is dealing with its own growing pains and on Tuesday cut 37 employees, or 11 percent of its workforce.

“These actions are consistent with our overall strategy to build a more product-focused platform that enables a continuous learning environment, serving all members of the Galvanize community: from students to large enterprises to the more than 1,000 startups who reside on our campus,” Robin Olsen, Galvanize’s director of public relations, said in an email.

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Fad or future? Telehealth expansion eyed beyond COVID-19 pandemic The company, co-founded in 2012 by tech entrepreneur Jim Deters and several others, started as a co-working space for startups. But its goal was to add technology education and it did so the following year at its first location in the Golden Triangle neighborhood. Galvanize became one of the early companies to offer crash courses in web development, computer programming and other technology skills — for around $20,000 a session.

Galvanize also picked up several rounds of funding, its most recent last August when it raised $45 million in a deal led by ABS Capital Partners. At the time, it employed 139 people in Denver and 300 nationwide. The company expanded to Boulder, a second Denver location and one in Fort Collins, plus several other states. The company opened its eighth campus in New York City this year.

But Galvanize wasn’t the only bootcamp in town. In the Denver area alone, similar tech educators include Turing School of Software and Design, Skill Distillery and Code Craft School of Technology. Elsewhere, national bootcamps such as General Assembly, which has a location across the street from Galvanize’s Platte Street campus, grew rapidly. General Assembly now has about two dozen campuses worldwide.

According to the Course Report, which tracks and reviews bootcamps, the number of bootcamp companies has grown to 94 from last year’s 91. The number includes 15 new schools and seven closed ones. Denver has eight campuses, while Boulder has two, according to the Course Report.

“Statewide, competition has changed pretty dramatically over the last year,” said Jeff Casimir, Turing’s founder and executive director who helped Galvanize start its education curriculum in 2013. “A year ago, there was RefactorU in Boulder, Galvanize was operating four campuses (in Colorado), Skill Distillery was in the DTC, GA was here. Dev Bootcamp was planning to come here, and Iron Yard, which was the University of Phoenix, was threatening to come. Fast forward to today and RefactorU has changed their model. … Galvanize closed its Fort Collins campus. Iron Yard closed and Dev Bootcamp is not coming.”

Casimir said even his nonprofit bootcamp, which doesn’t have investors pushing for profitability, isn’t immune.

“Our enrollment is always a challenge. It’s difficult for us, too,” he said.

The New York Times this month detailed some of the fallout, using terms such as “shakeout” and “glut.” It quoted Tarlin Ray, president of Dev Bootcamp: “We were simply unable to find a sustainable business model.”

“I think the shutdowns are generally indicative of more competition and schools expanding very quickly. We expect some consolidation. As all new industries tend to do, bootcamps grew really quickly in the first couple of years — 200 percent year over year in the first year of operating, so some shaking out is normal,” said Liz Eggleston, co-founder of the Course Report. “We’ve already seen some consolidation (i.e., Hack Reactor buying/rebranding several schools), schools closing because the business didn’t make sense for the owners (i.e., Dev Bootcamp), acquisitions, etc., and I think we’ll continue to see that shake out a bit in 2017.”

However, Eggleston said, thousands of new developers got their start by attending these classes and now have new jobs.

“If other bootcamps can find a profitable business model (and they really should be able to) while focusing on quality outcomes and student experiences, then they’ll continue to thrive,” she said. “I would bet that Galvanize’s layoffs are part of an attempt to find that profitable model.”

For Galvanize, which continues to offer bootcamps, programs for students who pay their own tuition will still be offered, but the company is moving to a model of retraining employees of corporate clients who foot the bill.

Deters recently stepped down as CEO to become chairman at Galvanize. He will remain as chairman, Olsen confirmed.

“In a marketplace where we have watched several of our competitors close their doors recently, we see vast opportunity,” Olsen said, pointing to U.S. Department of Labor statistics that tech jobs continue to be the fastest-growing job category in the country. “There is a significant tech talent gap in the U.S. — with approximately 600,000 unfilled tech jobs — and the demand far exceeds the supply of skilled talent. Our move to a blended learning environment (physical and digital) and a business focused on both (consumer and business) learners is well positioned to succeed.”