Grooveshark.com, a music-streaming website founded by two former UF students, is giving programmers an opportunity to learn about the technology that makes it work.
Grooveshark University is a free, 12-week-long lecture series that allows its participants to learn and perfect skills relevant to web development. The first semester wrapped up Dec. 2. Fifteen students attended class at Santa Fe’s Center for Innovation and Economic Development every Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Students were continually encouraged to create their own projects.
“We had a lot of cool prototypes by the end of the semester: a side-scroller game, a web-based RPG, a ‘Halo Reach’ application for Android and a music mashup site,” said senior software engineer Paulo Da Silva.
Grooveshark University student Ty Kauffman applied techniques learned in the class to develop a multiplayer strategy game called “Reign.”
“I was able sit down with Paulo Da Silva, Jay Paroline and Skyler Slade one-on-one and discuss ‘Reign,’” Kauffman said. “They offered invaluable critical feedback and encouragement.”
Enrollment in the course is by application only, and it’s not limited to college students.
“We had undergraduate and graduate students taking the course, as well as some people who have been in the industry for 10 plus years and just wanted to keep up-to-date with technology,” said Pavle Stojkovic, director of hiring.
Recruiting for Grooveshark University’s spring semester will start in January.
Open applications begin next week and will continue until the second week of classes.
“It’s not every day you find a company willing to open its doors and invite local students and young entrepreneurs in to learn from such talented people,” Kauffman said.
