Press Release

If you have passion, empathy, and patience, we can teach you the rest

Over the past few weeks, I had numerous calls with people who are interested in learning more about the Code Ninjas franchise, so they can start teaching the next generation of kids how to code and problem solve.

Usually, we go over what it takes to be a great franchisee in our company. When awarding our franchises, we will certainly want to take a person’s background into consideration.

Even if you’ve been a programmer for 20 years, that doesn’t necessarily make you a great franchisee candidate.

If you’ve been a programmer for 20 years, you’ll have a better understanding about the subject matter than most, but that doesn’t necessarily make you the best franchisee candidate though. Here are a few reasons why:

#1 — Just because you know a subject doesn’t mean you’re passionate about it.

My uncle took a rather strange career path. He started out as a doctor specializing as an ENT. Then he went back to school to specialize in plastic surgery. Then, after 20 years, he surprised everyone and went into the seminary.

If you asked him why he walked away from his lucrative private practice, he’d likely tell you that he wanted to heal the soul as well as the body. He wanted to fix people in a new way. His passions had changed.

We want franchisees that love the idea of creating the problem solvers of tomorrow.

In much the same way, if your passions are not with you at a Code Ninjas, you will likely not be fulfilled. We want franchisees that love the idea of creating the problem solvers of tomorrow. It’s your job to stay involved in your center and community, work hard, innovate, and have a never quit attitude. It’s our job to provide a program that you can sink that passion and hard work into.

It’s your job to stay involved in your center and community, work hard, innovate, and have a never quit attitude.

#2 — You will have world class training from leaders in franchising.

When picking our team, I reached out to a lot of people in the franchising industry that I have met over the years, saving the “rock star” calls and emails for last because I thought there was almost no chance that they would jump on board with a start up — even one with such obvious appeal.

Boy was I wrong and I have never been happier about it.

Those last calls turned out to be game changers for us. We now have a highly sought after franchisee development and support team that has over 50 years of combined experience in franchising.

Our franchisees are supported by the best team in the industry and backed up by world class technology.

These people know how to train. I know this first hand because some of them trained me back when I was a new franchisee. I remember being at franchisee training and thinking to myself, “If I ever have a chance to have these guys on my team, I would really love working with them.” It’s one of those things that you think about but never really think it will happen. Awesome and strange how things work out sometimes.

Now our franchisees are supported by the best team in the industry and backed up by world class technology.

#3 — If the kids can learn it, so can you.

The curriculum is written with kids in mind, but there is no reason that you can’t go through the courses faster and learn the material first hand. In fact, we strongly recommend that you do, even if you aren’t going to be in the classroom.

When you learn to code, it changes the way you think about problems. We can all become better problem solvers.

#4 —Empathy and patience — critical elements of providing a great customer experience — are harder to teach than code.

We can teach anyone how to code, and teach you how teach. Harder to teach are traits like empathy and patience, which are crucial to providing a great customer experience.

If you can’t relate to a kid who has been at school all day and needs to “get the wiggles out,” that’s going to be hard for us to teach. That said, you can hire someone with that skill.

Having the technical skills is great, but if you can’t relate to a kid who has been at school all day and needs to “get the wiggles out” (that’s what my kids say when they just have to move), then it’s going to be pretty hard for us to teach you that particular skill set.
That said, if you aren’t the patient type, hire a patient manager and empathetic teachers, but know your role in the organization and that what you can contribute is still of value.

 In conclusion

Yes, it could be great if you have built-in, ready-to-go programming or teaching skills that you can put to good use right away. But at the end of the day, it’s much better to be a passionate, empathetic person who wants to see the kids have fun while learning.

If you have passion, empathy, and patience we can teach you the other stuff.