How did you find your time on the bootcamp?

I am pleasantly surprised by how professionally and smoothly the work is organised. Friendly support from all mentors and coaches contributes to creativity and effective learning. I expected that we would be taught the programming language and frameworks. A surprise was that we were also taught how to search and think, how to work with documentation, how to organise work in a team, and how to use tools for programmers, such as GitHub, Trello, Figma and other tools. How to write a CV, how to go through an interview. It is impossible to list all the skills and knowledge we got there. The course fulfills all my expectations and even overcomes it at some moments. I am impressed by how enormous the volume of skills and knowledge is that students master at Northcoders in just 13 weeks. And what is the most important, I got the job due to the Northcoders course. I am very grateful for this.

What were you doing before the Bootcamp?

I worked as a private tutor helping Ukrainian students with different educational tasks, like exam preparation in Math or English. However, I was familiar with programming as I have a degree in teaching Informatics and studied it at university 20 years ago. The technologies studied at Northcoders were new, but I know what to expect from the coding bootcamp.

What made you interested in moving into Tech?

I loved programming when I studied it at university and always have had an interest in it. After relocating to the UK I anyway had to start a new job here. And I thought it was the best moment to move into tech.

Why did you opt for Northcoders specifically?

Because the path from the start to getting a job is very clear and looks realistic. For me getting a job was very important. I knew that I could learn on my own. But I needed to have experience in teamwork and support with the CV and interview process. Also learning with mentors is faster and I loved that the studying process at Northcoders mirrors the organisation of work in IT companies, for instance, Agile software development.

What was the support like on the course?

At Northcoders there is a very friendly atmosphere. I felt free to ask all the questions I had during seminars and lectures. If I was stuck with the mistakes, there was always a help desk available. I loved about the help, that the mentors tried to make you think and analyse your mistake, not just told you where it was. Also I asked for help with the code review, to check my readme file on the project stage (because I am not English native and wanted to write it correctly and closely to native speech to look it better), with the job interviews (the mentor sent me a booklet with the tips and possible questions). I really appreciate that I felt supported and that mentors care about us, their students, on all the stages of study and while applying for jobs.

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

At Northcoders there is a board with job ads from their partners. I have got a job from this board. I thought that it would be difficult to write a CV. However, after the masterclass at Northcoders it was easy. I just write down the answers to the questions provided at this masterclass and arranged the answers into CV. Also I had a career coach, who checked it and helped me with some sentences to sound better in English, which is not my native. I found lectures about CV and interviews very helpful.

What advice would you give to anyone thinking about applying?

If you have time for it and think about programming, just do it.