Most people live in fear of the big “F”– failure. Failure when transitioning into new careers, failure when building a start-up, or failure in developing an idea to a tangible product.
Traci Levine, founder of makeitMVP, lives by the motto of “fail fast, fail forward.”
Founded in 2021, MakeitMVP is a non-profit, collaborative community, for tech transitioners and recent tech bootcamp graduates, born from Traci Levine’s first hand experience transitioning into tech. Through community and programs, makeitMVP breaks down the barrier to enter the workforce with networking events, skill development programs, and career workshops.
How did makeitMVP start?
With her bachelor and masters in the field of social work, Levine has always had an interest in working with non-profits. Her interest for web development sparked while she was managing websites during her career in social work. She found herself researching various bootcamps, applying for bootcamp scholarships, and exploring what tools are available for tech career transitioners.
During this time of transition and exploration, Levine began her freelance development and design agency, Streaming Strawberry. “I started Streaming Strawberry as a way to practice my skills,” Levine explains, emphasizing, “it’s helpful to have a job on your resume while you’re looking for a job.”
It was while networking through Streaming Strawberry the seeds of makeitMVP were sown..
“I was talking to a friend who worked for MongoDB and he was like, listen… I have all these app ideas and no one to build them.” Levine, herself a recent grad and a member of the community of career transitioners seeking work experience, explains, “I have all these friends that need experience with nothing to build.”
While grads gain technical skills through these boot camp programs, they still need hands-on industry experience to be fully equipped to enter the job market. Levine noticed an opportunity to help bridge the gap. Today, makeitMVP prides itself on being that safe space for skillset growth for these transitioners. A place where bootcamp grads can experiment technically and learn through mentorship.
Why “makeitMVP”?
With lots of brainstorming, Levine and Doron Greenspan landed on the name makeitMVP. “Yes, we’re making physical MVPs (minimum viable products), but we’re also making Meaningful Viable People who are good in the job market,” explains Levine.
This dedication to providing a workspace of creativity and advancement led to the beginning of makeitMVP. “We brought bootcamp grads on completely organically and did this for 4-5 months.” Soon after, Levine brought in external founders who began paying for real project development and help from the makeitMVP community.
As makeitMVP continued to evolve, new opportunities for community growth were explored. Dan Smith makeitMVP’s Chief Learning Officer, contributed greatly to the development of Launch Academy, makeitMVP’s flagship free bootcamp which provides hands-on, cross-functional team experience to its’ participants. Launched in late 2023, Launch Academy groups teams of Developers, Designers and Project Managers to build an MVP and pitch what they built to a panel of industry judges by the end of 6 weeks. To date, makeitMVP has run five successful cohorts. Smith explains how “the most rewarding part of makeitMVP, by far, is its participants. Guiding folks and giving them this opportunity, then seeing what they’re able to accomplish, has been fantastic and inspirational.”
makeitMVP’s success can be attributed to the collaboration of the community. Levine states that “we are a place of education” this means “being open and collaborative, and being okay with failure has been the guiding principle with everything. I believe very strongly that you should test and fail, instead of thinking too much about the test and never testing.”
Head of Design at makeitMVP, Matt Hughes, can personally attest to the successful path that makeitMVP provides for tech transitioners.“makeitMVP was the exact opportunity I was looking for out of bootcamp and has been a major impact on my professional life. I believe developing makeitMVP further is an opportunity for me to give back and help others by offering and improving on the opportunity which helped me” Hughes emphasizes.
makeitMVP’s educational environment has created a community that supports innovation and creativity. This encouragement of trial and error motivates the community to continuously improve.
“We’ve figured out ways to make Launch Academy work even better. Adding Wednesday lab nights to be mandatory with mentors, coaching teams and helping them through their challenges. Our pitch nights have progressively gotten better! We’ve helped 350 Launch Academy grads this year” says Levine.
Throughout the ups and downs of development, the makeitMVP founders Traci Levine, Dan Smith, and Matt Hughes all highlight the importance of connections and community. The growth of makeitMVP can be credited to the hours of dedication and hard work put into networking. Smith relays how “opportunities to get to know people in the industry is what gets you your next gig or job.” With this the makeitMVP crew made it their goal to develop this strong community to help one another.
What is the future of makeitMVP?
The future of makeitMVP resides in its ongoing success to mentor and help community members through their career journey. Hughes explains how “it’s rewarding to see how far we’ve come. Even personally, how much has changed and how much I’ve learned and improved through makeitMVP and learning from all the cohorts. Also, seeing the members who I’ve been able to help, when they land their first jobs, or step out on their own to freelance, or become makeitMVP mentors themselves.”
makeitMVP’s community is full of hardworking creatives needing hands-on experience. Connecting these bootcamp grads with startups in need of development paves the way for the future of makeitMVP. “Where we see our success is in product and design consultancy, and helping start-ups run internship programs so that they can get their products built faster using our community for interns” Levine states.
makeitMVP’s foundations promise to persistently advance as a community and technically. With this in mind Levine’s goals for the future is “to be the largest community of tech boot camp grads and career transitioners, to provide value to as many people as I can.”
Snapshot of Taylor Wells 