Growing an international network of coding schools

September 2026 marked five years since the first group of learners began their coding journey at kood/Jõhvi. What started as one school in eastern Estonia has since grown into //kood, an international network of coding schools. Our work together began even earlier, in the second half of 2020, when the school was still being developed under the working name Jõhvi Technology School.

The ambition was clear from the start: make practical tech education more accessible, help address the shortage of technology professionals, and open the sector to people with a wider range of backgrounds and experiences.

Our first task was to introduce the idea to the public and build the interest needed to get kood/Jõhvi off the ground. That meant explaining a learning model that was new to Estonia, engaging potential supporters, helping recruit the school’s leadership team and staff, and attracting its first learners. Our work ranged from press releases and media outreach to building the first website and newsletter and communicating directly with prospective learners.

That was the first chapter of a partnership that has now lasted nearly six years.

The launch of kood/Jõhvi laid the foundation for a lasting partnership. What began as one campaign grew into an ongoing role as //kood’s sounding board, external marketing and communications team, design partner and adviser.

We work closely with the //kood team every day. Ideas and tasks move between us as needs arise, and we can often act on them the same day. That pace is possible because we understand their goals and the thinking behind each piece of work.

Much of what we do together serves one goal: helping //kood reach its next learners. We connect marketing, communications, design and analytics across the journey from first encounter to application. We work across eight marketing channels and the website, regularly analysing results and refining our approach. The digital marketing we manage has become //kood’s main route to reaching new learners.

As //kood has expanded beyond Jõhvi into new cities and countries, our work has grown with it. We have supported learning centre launches, run campaigns, developed the brand and created messages and materials suited to each market, while keeping //kood recognisable wherever it operates.

We have helped //kood bring its brand to Finland, Ukraine (Zhytomyr and Odesa), Kenya (Nairobi) and Moldova. In each market, we have helped establish marketing from the ground up: adapting the visual identity, creating or supporting local channels, and launching digital campaigns.

The work introduces the school to new audiences, builds trust and interest, and helps prospective learners move from first discovering //kood to deciding to apply.

Bringing coding education closer to young people

Working with the Võru County Development Centre, a regional development organisation in southeastern Estonia, //kood has launched kood/Võru and kood/FutureCoders.

For kood/Võru, we supported the launch of a new learning centre, learner recruitment and awareness building. We connected //kood’s wider story to the region’s labour market, development goals and the needs of local employers.

kood/FutureCoders gives young people the opportunity to learn practical coding skills, including at schools that do not have a programming teacher. We helped shape a clear story for the programme, reach schools and young people, and draw attention to the broader question behind it: how can access to technology skills depend less on where a young person lives?

A new route into a technology career

kood/Nooremarendaja, a junior developer retraining programme delivered with the Estonian Education and Youth Board, brought //kood a new audience and a wider reach. In just a few months, the programme needed to reach people considering a career change into tech and make that opportunity clear, credible and relevant to them.

We built an integrated marketing and communications approach around the programme. Paid recruitment campaigns, media relations, content, spokespeople and audience-specific messages all worked towards the same goal.