Our students come from a range of diverse backgrounds but have one common goal, to learn new digital skills. We recently caught up with a few of our Professional Software Development graduates to find out a bit about their experience of learning with us. Here’s what they had to say:
1. Alina Linden
Since graduating from our Professional Software Development course last October, Alina has started a new role as a software engineer.
“My path into coding was a bit of a coincidence and to be totally honest, I was very reluctant at the beginning. I did computing at school and to say I was bad at it is an understatement. After moving to the UK, I wanted to apply for graphic designer roles as this was my previous career. All of the jobs required a basic knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript, so I started with free online resources. The more I learned, the more I enjoyed programming and I decided that it was what I wanted to do going forward.
“I now feel excited to learn something new every day. And sometimes I remember what one of my instructors, Sandy, used to say to us during the course (and I am paraphrasing here):
“It is okay to not understand 100% how it is working, for now it is okay to understand how to make it work.”
This really encourages me whenever I need to do more reading even after I solved the problem.”
2. Douglas MacIntyre
Seeking a career move into a sector with a range of career options and progressions, Douglas knew that digital was the best route for him and applied to our software development course.
“CodeClan broke me out of the ‘this is the way things are’ way of thinking that comes having worked for one company in one sector for a long time. It reinforced in me how much I like helping other people and working as a team. “
“I didn’t expect to genuinely enjoy the course as much as I did, having started with the view of ‘I’m interested in software development and it also seems a sensible sector to transition to in a Covid-19 world.’ I faced intellectual and emotional challenges, but they were not insurmountable, and I am better as a person for having gone through them.”
3. Helena Kolberg
After feeling like her career prospects weren’t great in the tourism sector, Helena retrained in software development and recently started her very first job as a Software Engineer.
“I found out about the Professional Software Development course through a friend who was a CodeClan alumn. She’d worked in customer service just like myself, but at the end of this 16-week course she got an amazing new job in the tech industry. This immediately sparked my interest as I was really craving a meaningful career change. I tried out some free online coding tutorials and I was instantly hooked – that’s when I knew that CodeClan was the right choice for me.
4. Francesca Mancuso
After taking a career break from tech, Francesca was drawn back to it and she knew CodeClan was the place to go to further her existing knowledge.
“So when I had an opportunity to move to Glasgow to work as a software developer I accepted on the condition that I would be trained at CodeClan. As a self-taught UX developer I really needed a course exactly like what CodeClan provided. I knew already that it’s impossible to know everything in technology and even if you do, it will be obsolete in a few years anyway – I didn’t expect miracles in that respect. I needed to learn in a non-judgmental environment, and learn concepts and mindsets rather than the syntax of specific language. This course really delivered what I expected and helped me to have more confidence as well.”
5. Calum Gould
While applying for jobs in graphic design, Calum noticed that many of the employers were looking for candidates with knowledge of HTML, CSS or Javascript. He was recommended CodeClan by a friend in the industry and trusted us to help him develop his skills. He now works as a Front-End Developer at a financial technology company in Edinburgh.
“I went into CodeClan with the aim of just getting the skills necessary to progress my career and move on, not expecting to make friends that would last after CodeClan. How wrong I was. It exceeded every expectation I had and I’ve met some amazing people and made some great friends. The instructors and wider team were all absolutely fantastic and I really appreciated all the work they put in to make remote learning as smooth of a transition as it was.”
