How did you find your time on the bootcamp?

I had an amazing time on the course, I met so many great like-minded people and was able to really get to grips with programming in ways that I was never able to purely by occasional self-study. The course is intense, exhilarating, and always pushes us one step further than we ever thought we could get to - by the end of the course, many of my cohort were saying that we'd never imagine being able to do things with ease and understand and apply things we have just looked up. The environment was really welcoming and friendly, and help was never too far away, and especially early on, we needed it a lot. All in all, my time at Northcoders was definitely one of the best things I've ever done, and created a career option for me that I never thought possible.

What were you doing before the bootcamp and what made you apply?

I was working in a IT support role which was something that I really wanted to get into as a change of career, but ultimately it became clear that customer support was not the right role for me, and I felt that I wasn't fulfilling my potential or doing what I really wanted to do in IT, which was programming. I then began to look around and see if there was any way that I could make that happen, and then I found Northcoders.

What was the support like on the course?

The support and training all along the course was fantastic. It was encouraging straight away that many of the tutors and mentors were ex-Northcoders graduates, and great also to know that the material had been updated and refined all the way along. This gave us confidence that we were learning up to the minute skills. Day to day help from tutors and mentors was excellent too, there was always someone ready to help if we got stuck on something.

How much support did you receive from Northcoders with your job search after the course?

The support after the course was excellent, and this is clear from the fact that I was in a job within 7 days of finishing the course. The careers team were able to advise and tailor my job search to make it the right fit for me, and ultimately I accepted a job that feels very comfortable and a great learning environment to continue my study and advance my career.

What advice would you give to anyone thinking about applying?

I can only say that the Northcoders experience is unlike any other, and that the progress that you can make in such a relatively short space of time is incredible. Learning to code is difficult, and especially so if you have little direction or a clear example to follow and check your progress and iron out errors that you may not even be aware of. The value of a course like Northcoders is then obvious, where your progress, goals and learning strategies are all bound together - all with the aim of elevating you to the level of a professional junior developer.