Romy is a current Northcoders student.

I always thought I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. But when I found out how disciplined, intelligent and physically fit you had to be to have a chance of being selected to go into space, I left that idea in my childhood memories.

After that I never had any inkling about what I wanted to be when I grew up, despite many friends and family members being certain of a career in law, medicine, or management consultancy (still don’t understand what they do).

My Career To Date

I always loved maths and art when I was at school. I was persuaded by my teachers and peers to go to university to study a degree in Aerospace Engineering (at a time when I just wanted to party and get drunk). Nevertheless, I scraped through my degree by the skin of my teeth and knew I was not interested in aeroplanes anywhere near as much as I should have been to really have enjoyed my course. Since then, I have had a variety of jobs, which I left like clockwork after little more than a year because I did not find them interesting or challenging anymore.

I only recently decided to grow up a little (I got voted as least likely to grow up in my secondary school yearbook - they were right) and make a firm decision to pursue a new career, instead of falling into jobs accidentally each year, with no progression.

My Journey Into Code

Deciding to give up a job that you’re very comfortable in is a really hard choice. I know I stayed too long there because it was the easy and most risk averse option. However, at the end of last year, I was very unhappy and knew I needed to make a change and pursue a career that I had the potential to enjoy.

I went to a free ‘learn to code for beginners’ meet up, where one of the tutors had been a Northcoders student and had then worked for them. She helped me go through some exercises in basic HTML and CSS. I asked her a million questions about how and why she got into coding because I wanted to know if a career in programming would be a good fit for me.

After digesting all the information I was given, I started to learn JavaScript using free websites and tutorials to see if I enjoyed it. I also researched and asked people within the tech industry, including previous Northcoders graduates, whether the Northcoders course seemed appropriate for getting a foot on the ladder as a junior developer. Their feedback about the course structure and syllabus was all positive, so I went for it.

Northcoders

A couple of months later and I'm more than half way through the course. It has been brilliant so far. It is a collaborative, supportive environment, full of friendliness from both students and tutors alike.

At times, the speed at which we learn and progress can be overwhelming, but there is always someone willing to go through things with you in great detail, to ensure you understand. If you’re willing to work hard, you can progress at an alarmingly quick rate and surprise yourself about what you have managed to achieve in such a short space of time.

When there is a concept you take a little longer to process than others, we are given more exercises than we could ever achieve during the school day hours, meaning there is plenty to work on in your free time, to hard code your understanding and pin-point where you may be having trouble. And of course - if you really need more time - you can just go back and do a block again!

Northcoders feels like a family from diverse backgrounds, all coming together with a common interest.

It’s the best decision I have made this year.