Hello! I’m Gillian, a 50 year old ex-NHS employee, on the Data Engineering bootcamp.  I still can’t quite believe I’m doing this, so I thought it might be useful to explain how I got to this point and how it’s all going.  I’m quite some way out of my comfort zone here, but I was very reassured by similar blogs before I took the leap to do this bootcamp - so if this blog helps anyone to make a decision then I’ll consider it a job well done.

Up until last year, I had spent my entire career working with NHS technical teams in various organisations, and always loved the work and that feeling of making a difference.  But with both of my kids off to uni, and yet another NHS reorganisation in mid-flight I strongly felt that I needed a reset and a change.  I had a feeling that I couldn’t shake off that I wanted to get more hands-on – to be part of a delivery team, responding to customer requirements and building products that bring value to others.  Sadly, I have absolutely no creative or design skills (that part of my brain seems to have been replaced by a spreadsheet?!) but I have worked extensively with data teams and analytical products…so I chose Data Engineering in the hope that it would play to my strengths and that I could use my network to help with the job search at the end of the course.

I had already worked alongside Northcoders as a recruiter so I knew their reputation was excellent.  I have to admit, I didn’t do too much looking around – Northcoders is local for me, has a great curriculum for Data Engineering (updated in December 2023 to strengthen the Python and Cloud parts), and a great reputation – honestly the decision made itself.  Even the entry challenge didn’t put me off!

So now I’m here, on the bootcamp – 8 weeks in, which has flown by.  What’s it like?  The reality is that it’s hard work and like nothing I’ve ever done before.  It’s incredibly fast-paced - new content and concepts are explored and explained every day.  The concepts are often complicated, and the tools we use are unfamiliar to me.  I love to learn, but here there is truly a lot of learning to be done, and I’d be lying if I said I had not felt overwhelmed at times.  Before the bootcamp I had never done any coding or testing, never built a server or created an API, never deployed infrastructure in the cloud, never run a SQL query…now I’ve done all of these things.  Sometimes I even do them right first time!  It sounds ridiculous to say that I get a rush from completing a task, but I genuinely do – it proves that my understanding is building all the time, that I’m making progress.  Because the pace is so intense, I find I sometimes lose sight of how much I’ve learned.  The small wins each day really help with that, and definitely keep me motivated.

It also really helps that our days have a rhythm and routine that supports learning, plus a team of fantastic Northcoders mentors to guide and encourage us.  A typical day is a Zoom lecture in the morning, then we get hands on until lunch time, putting into practice what we’ve learned.  This is followed by a seminar or another lecture after lunch to consolidate the morning’s work, or introduce a new topic, and after that, more hands-on time.  We work alone or in pairs, and help is available if we need it, which is often!  We finish at 5 on the dot, and we are encouraged not to work into the evenings so that we get a decent break away from the screen.  The hands-on time is the most valuable because this is where we get to try things out, break things, fix things and deepen our understanding.

And whilst it’s great to develop technical skills, we are also learning to work effectively with each other, in pairs or teams.  We are learning how to share code, apply version control, demonstrate robustness in our work through testing, and efficiently manage resources in the cloud.  Plus of course, we get to know each other so we have a ready-made network of peers to call on when we need it.  Pair working helps to remind me that we are all on a similar journey, it’s a very supportive environment and I’ve met some great people.  In fact everything we do is geared up to making us employable and ready for employment – for me as an, ahem, ‘more mature’ worker, this is a massive strength of the Northcoders offering.  I am making full use of all the support and tips from the NC recruitment team – I’ve updated my LinkedIn profile and I’ve got a new CV ready to go that emphasises my technical skills and calls out relevant information from previous roles.  

I’m now 8 weeks into the course, and irrespective of what happens next, I already know it was worth it – definitely no regrets.  Of course the real benefits will become clear once I get my first Data Engineering job…but that’s a blog for another time!