Despite facing a slew of legal trouble in recent years, Grooveshark is still kicking from its downtown Gainesville location.
On Wednesday evening, participants of all skill levels had their first classes at Grooveshark University, a free semester-long programming workshop in its fourth year. Web app development will be taught at the company’s headquarters, located at 201 SE Second Ave.
About 15 participants will learn the ins and outs of programming, said co-founder and chief technology officer Josh Greenberg.
“We target people that know how to code a little bit and try to get them a lot better,” Greenberg said.
He said Grooveshark sessions are molded by startup culture.
“We try to teach programming the way that you would need to do it at a startup,” he said.
Greenberg would not comment on a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the company by major record labels in 2011. A federal judge ruled against Grooveshark in September.
The legal issues didn’t stop Preston Morgan, a UF digital arts and sciences alumnus, from joining Grooveshark University in spring 2013.
“They were offering to teach me something for free,” Morgan said, adding that he wouldn’t let anything keep him from participating.
After participating in the classes, Morgan became an intern and is now Grooveshark’s quality assurance developer.
“I would say definitely give it a shot,” Morgan said. “Even if you don’t make it in — if we run out of room — keep learning, keep practicing and refining, and keep applying.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 2/12/2015 under the headline “Grooveshark University holds web app development classes"]
