Following a downturn in Oil & Gas, John decided to transition into digital with our immersive programming course.
I used to work as PDMS Piping Designer in the Oil & Gas industry, using various design packages to model modifications, upgrades and repairs for a number of offshore platforms in the North Sea.
Up until the last few years, it was always busy and I was doing 45-50 hours per week on a regular basis.
I was never dissatisfied with my job. It was a combination of things that led up to the change. I always had in interest in tech and in the years leading up to joining CodeClan, I toyed with a few online courses and started an Open University degree in Computer Science.
I decided to jump ship when the Oil & Gas Industry downturn hit the project I was working on. The team I was working with had largely been unaffected, but when the client decided to pull the project.
It was kind of a now or never moment.
Finding CodeClan
I heard about CodeClan through word of mouth. After the project I was working on had been shelved, I decided I wanted to do something fun for a while before committing to anything else or looking for another job.
I signed up to do a ski instructors course in Switzerland. It was there I met a guy who was a software developer. We got chatting about the industry and I had told him I was thinking about doing a bootcamp type course to get my foot in the door.
I had already looked at the courses in London which were about £8000 and put some money aside for it. CodeClan’s course was half the price.
On top of that, the Scottish government had set up a transition fund for Oil & Gas workers to train up in other industries. It was a no brainer.
The learning process
The course was really intense, but also really addictive. I loved it!
The pub across the road was the only real hurdle, I probably spent too much time there. The cohort I was with were great and we went out together on a regular basis.
The employer meet-ups were a little nerve wracking to begin with, I went in thinking it was going to be like an interview.
I soon realised it was super chilled out and started to enjoy meeting them, hearing about their companies and the roles they had available.
Life after CodeClan
I’m currently working at Tesco Bank as a Java Developer.
My day starts with a ‘stand up’ in the morning. The team get together and everyone gets a chance to explain what they’re working on and if they have any issues.
At the moment I’m fixing bugs on two different codebases. Tickets are created by someone else on the team and are assigned to the relevant developer. I do almost all of my work in IntelliJ IDEA.
The biggest shock was being back in an office.
Codeclan does well in covering the basics you need to get yourself in the door. After that it’s up to you to develop those skills further.
Find out more about our 16-week intensive course or come along to our next info session in Edinburgh or Glasgow.
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