Hostel Chain Selina Partners With Training School Elevation Academy on Tech Bootcamp

Latin American hospitality chain Selina Ltd. has partnered with Israel-based tech-oriented training school Elevation Academy to launch a new program fit for the digital nomad age—one that combines a trip to a Panamanian coastal resort with a three-month tech bootcamp. Participants in the program will learn coding and app development five days a week between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., and be free to enjoy Selina’s various amenities, including yoga, local tours, and surfing, the rest of the time.

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The first 15-student cohort is set to open in August and cost $6,000, not including travel. Future cohorts will cost between $6,000 and $10,000 depending on location. In comparison, a coding bootcamp in New York costs between $11,000 and $16,000, while in Tel Aviv such a program costs between NIS 22,000 and NIS 25,000 ($6,154 and $7,000). The Selina-Elevation partnership also intends to offer shorter, one week or one weekend-long programs, which will cost $1,000-$2,000. Founded in 2014 in Panama by Israel-born Rafael Museri and Daniel Rudasevski, Selina currently operates 55 hostels in 13 countries, according to its website. Selina’s hostels offer co-working spaces, curated tours, wellness and fitness classes, homegrown produce-based meals, and volunteer activities.

“We understood that current changes mean more people are living as digital nomads or working as freelancers,” Avi Snir, co-founder and CEO of Elevation Academy, told Calcalist in a recent interview. In the U.S., 30% of people work as freelancers, he said, and forecasts are that soon their number will reach 50%. “Looking ahead, travel is supposed to be shorter and cheaper, less people will own apartments and private vehicles, people will be freer to move around in the world,” he said, “and the way people want to study today is also different.”

Of the people who participated in one of Elevation’s coding bootcamps in Tel Aviv, 20% were visitors arriving from abroad, Snir said. “They learned about a new culture, a new language, and they understood that if someone wants to build a new career, the best way to do it is as a concentrated experienced somewhere that is fun and a little remote,” he said. “So we partnered with Selina.”