Today we’d like to introduce you to Dimitri Antoniou.
Hi Dimitri, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I moved to Texas before it was the cool thing to do! After growing up in Boston and going to school in Philadelphia, I surprised/horrified my family by picking up and moving to San Antonio. This was back in 2016 before the pandemic forced everyone to work from home and all of California moved South. But I was pulled to the city at an earlier point because of the unique moment in time it represented.
Cities like New York, San Francisco, and Austin had long ago established themselves as major tech hubs. Sadly, the development of their information economies resulted in displacement of local residents by highly-educated and affluent people from other parts of the country. The tech boom in major US cities has often occurred at the expense of local residents. As the son of two entrepreneurs, I felt pulled to the frontier of new business and economic development. But as an Urban Studies major and product of work in non-profit and corporate social responsibility, I felt pulled to more socially-impactful work. After graduating college, I joined a 2-year fellowship called Venture for America, moved to San Antonio, and began working at a coding Bootcamp called Codeup.
Back in 2013, coding bootcamps were brand new – the first had launched in 2011, and two years later there were still only a few thousand graduates across the country. Moreover, San Antonio was still a pretty small and off-the-grid city, with only Rackspace to its name (sorry, The Alamo). There wasn’t a lot of tech entrepreneurship, the local co-working space Geekdom had only recently launched, and few young people like me were moving there. But there were irons in the fire.
Codeup was not only fueling economic growth in the SA tech industry – it was creating pathways for local residents. Baristas, veterans, stay-at-home parents, laid-off workers, and people from every other walk of life were coming to Codeup to learn to code and walking away with entry-level jobs paying $40,000-$70,000 jobs. Entry-level. The confluence of economic and workforce development shone like a golden egg, a unique opportunity to contribute to something larger than myself. If done right, Codeup could help San Antonio make a name for itself in tech and catalyze economic growth, without replacing San Antonians.
As Codeup has grown from 10 to over 60 employees over the last 6 years, I’ve had the privilege to work in and lead many of our departments and growth initiatives. We became one of the first bootcamps in the country to accept VA benefits, launched the first Data Science Bootcamp in San Antonio, acquired the Open Cloud Academy from Rackspace, and became an AWS Authorized Training Partner. In 2020, I moved to Dallas to spearhead our first geographic expansion. I now lead Strategic Initiatives to help accelerate Codeup’s growth and impact.
Since starting, Codeup has helped over 1,000 individuals transition careers into technology. Now you can’t walk around downtown San Antonio without seeing Codeup hoodies and t-shirts left and right. After launching our Dallas campus in February 2020, we were forced to train remotely due to COVID-19. We’re excited to finally be back in person and expanding our classroom footprint in Dallas! We’ve just expanded from one to four classrooms in downtown, and we look forward to making an impact on the Dallas community and seeing the Codeup logo on hoodies all across the city.
My work at Codeup has fueled my entrepreneurial spirit and my passion for building new things. Outside of my full-time work, I’ve spent the last 6 years experimenting in new initiatives to make my own mark. I worked closely with friends in San Antonio as they grew Pinch Boil House from a weekend pop-up to a brick-and-mortar restaurant, helped launch an eCommerce line for a meditation cushion called Mello {Be}, and in 2021 started my own company called Customized Camping. I hope that Dallas’ unique combination of Texan lifestyle with metropolitan hustle will accelerate the growth of Customized Camping, just as Texas has for my work with Codeup.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
From just before the pandemic to today, Codeup has more than doubled in both revenue and employee size. One of the biggest challenges has been scaling our offerings and our company culture alongside that growth, all within the context of the worst unemployment since the great depression, moving to a remote work environment, and doubling our geographic footprint. The environment, values, habits, and culture that so organically developed when 10-15 people were sitting in one office together became a central topic of conversation and intentional development. And as we move from startup to small business to medium business, this evolution continues to be the most important, and most nuanced, challenge in our growth.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I first fell in love with camping as a freshman in college. A pre-orientation backpacking program completely changed my transition from high school by bringing me closer to a group of strangers over just a few days than I had ever thought possible. Putting away all technology, getting sweaty and dirty in the woods, cooking together, sharing tents, telling stories around a campfire, and sitting in silence looking at the stars…those moments break down barriers and bring people together.
Ever since, I have loved organizing camping trips for friends and family, especially when I get to introduce someone to the experience for their first time. But camping has a high bar to entry – it requires a lot of specialized equipment, you have to know where to go and what to do, booking campsites and organizing logistics takes a lot of time and energy, and there’s a high risk to both the quality of your experience and your safety if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Enter: Customized Camping! I started this company to plan and facilitate all-inclusive and fully-customized camping trips for families, friends, couples, and individuals. You get to choose the details of your trip, like what kind of location and activities you want, and I organize the rest. Just show up and enjoy the experience, stress-free 🙂
In just my first few trips, I had the privilege to celebrate a family birthday, create a romantic couple’s retreat, and facilitate a college reunion. My favorite part is that each trip feels different! Some groups want me to spend time with them, teaching them how to set up tents and start fires, while others enjoy time alone and I make sure everything runs smoothly from the background. And for me, every trip is a win. I get to spend time enjoying nature while combining my favorite things: food, friends, and fire!
My mission is to make the magic of camping accessible to everyone, and I hope to create the kinds of memories and friendships for others that I’ve been so lucky to experience.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
As a leader within Codeup and figuring-it-out-founder of Customized Camping, I strive to project calm, cool, and collected confidence. But I still experience imposter syndrome all the time! It often feels like I’m faking it and people will discover that I don’t belong where I am. I try not to let that impact my work or how I show up in my day to day, but navigating those doubts and thoughts has been a steep learning curve in my career so far. That being said, I believe that everyone experiences this pattern of thinking, and navigating it begins with naming it!
Contact Info:
- Email: customizedcamping@gmail.com
- Website: www.customizedcamping.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/customizedcamping
- Facebook: facebook.com/customizedcamping
- Other: https://www.dimitriantoniou.com/
