What job role have you secured?

I am self-employed as a developer, working on B2B front-end and back-end projects. All my work so far has come through word-of-mouth, but I will be launching my own development website by the end of the year to broaden my client base.

How did you find your time on the bootcamp?

The Data Engineering bootcamp was challenging and rewarding. I had been teaching myself to code for 6 months before beginning and completed a few simple projects, for instance a Rock-Paper-Scissors browser game and a Calculator. However, when the course began, I realised I had barely scratched the surface. It was a matter of days before I was out of my comfort zone learning new skills and tools.

Pair-programming was a heavy feature of the course, and a welcome one. I was lucky to be paired with many exceptional individuals, who I learned a lot from. On the rare occasion where a lesson clicked with me before it did with my partner, having to explain it to them deepened my own understanding and confidence.

The three-week project phase was a highlight of the course. We had a small team, so we really had to engage with the Agile practices we had learned on the course to ensure we weren’t treading on each other’s toes during development. My teammates were tremendously talented, and we have kept in touch.

What were you doing before the bootcamp?

I was (and still am, after school hours) and piano teacher. I have a small teaching practice of around 20 students who come to me for weekly lessons. Teaching is a constant source of joy and is a welcome contrast to the command line in my working day.

What made you interested in moving into tech?

Being self-employed, I have had to cultivate a wide range of skills to manage my business. I had made several websites using content management systems like Squarespace, however, I had always wanted to get in the weeds of how they worked and break away from using third-party tools. 

On the back-end, I love automating tasks wherever I can. I can complete my tax return in under an hour thanks to a couple of well-thought-out spreadsheets. Having felt I had found the ceiling of these tools, I wanted to look under the hood and see what more was possible.

What made you choose Northcoders?

I had heard stories of companies throwing out a bunch of PDF documents and claiming the government grant money. Northcoders was the first provider that looked serious about training beginner developers. There were lots of contact hours with tutors, live lectures, pair programming and career support.

What was the support like on the course?

Support was excellent, both academic and pastoral. Help was just a few clicks away if we hit a blocker, though we were encouraged to resolve any issues by browsing documentation and sites like StackOverflow before reaching for help. We also had scheduled pastoral support meetings, to make sure we were coping with the pressures of the course.

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

My situation was unusual for the careers team as I wasn’t looking for a junior developer role after completing the course. Nevertheless, my careers advisor made some good suggestions about where to get started and checked in with me several times after the course finished.

What advice would you give to anyone thinking about applying?

Before applying, it is absolutely worth doing some background reading. Once the course begins, you won’t have time to catch your breath, so any head-start you can give yourself will be a huge advantage. I swear by The Odin Project, but MDN, Codecademy and FreeCodeCamp all have good content for beginners.

Once the course starts, look after yourself! Outside of the 8-hour days, get lots of sleep, eat well, exercise and most importantly treat yourself. You will need all your energy during the course.