As the global economy enters a jobless recovery, piracy offers limitless employment opportunities. According to reliable estimates, 22% of all Internet bandwidth is used for piracy. The Gulf of Aden and the Straits of Malacca have also seen a vast upsurge in pirate activities since the start of this century. This has led to a booming demand for qualified privateers who can pull off the complex balancing act of participating in an underground economy while sailing the oceans.
In keeping with our philosophy of market-driven skills education, we are pleased to announce a Programming for Pirates Nanodegree to equip aspiring corsairs with the technical expertise they will need on the job. Among other topics, students will:
- Learn to navigate the seven seas (C, C++, C#, Objective-C, etc)
- Acquire fluency in R
- Become familiar with the latest decryption techniques for treasure maps
While piracy and programming have both been considered male-dominated professions, we are taking steps to ensure gender balance. Miriam “Swords” Kalk, one of the lead instructors for the Nanodegree, says: “The high seas don’t care if you’re a scurvy dog or a beauty. Anyone can be eaten by a shark, struck by a cannon, or washed overboard. So be ye lad or lass, weigh anchor and get coding! Yarrr!” She then whirled around and proceeded to fillet one of her ruder colleagues with her weapon, yelling “Who you be callin’ a Yo Ho Ho?!”
We estimate that completing the Pirate Programming Nanodegree will take twenty years to life.
