Co-founders of The Pragmatic Studio, Mike and Nicole Clark are a two-person company dedicated to creating high-quality, project-driven development courses. Since 2005, they’ve taught thousands of developers through their unique approach of building real applications in real development environments.

Background

• Founded 2005: Started with the first-ever public Ruby on Rails course
• Golden Spike Members: Alumni of their original Rails course are highly regarded in the community
• Teaching Experience: Over 100 public classes in 14 cities, hundreds of private corporate classes
• Student Reach: 2,500+ in-person attendees, tens of thousands online

Teaching Philosophy

Their courses focus on project-driven learning where students build complete applications rather than just learning syntax. They break down complex topics into understandable chunks using screencasts, animations, text, and hands-on exercises.

Company Values

• Bootstrapped business free from debt and VC constraints
• Donate 15% of profits to charity annually
• Focus on a small set of topics they know exceptionally well
• Exceptional customer service and long-term student relationships

Links

• Website