AIBU to move into Tech by doing one of these government funded bootcamp skills courses

[Cobwebs5]

Good morning,

Could I have some advice from people in the Tech industry please ?

So I want to move into Tech. I think I’ve decided that I’m going to do a bootcamp, probably coding although I’m possibly more suited to business analysis or project management. I have A levels and a Business degree a looooong time ago. Since then I’ve been self employed.
Long term, I would probably like to work from home, contracting. I’m a single mother, so money is very important.
I’ve found a free course, that is for 13 weeks 8.30am to 5pm. This is just about doable, but obviously a big commitment. To put in that amount of effort, I need to be sure that this is absolutely the best course for me.

I’m in the West Midlands

www.gov.uk/guidance/find-a-skills-bootcamp/west-midlands

Skills Bootcamp Location of training Provider
Agile project management Online OpenClassrooms
Applied cyber security Online University of Birmingham
Artificial intelligence Online University of Huddersfield
AWS cloud data engineer Online Firebrand Training
Business analysis Online OpenClassrooms
Cloud Online Learning Curve Group
Cloud computing and data analytics Online Edge Hill University
Coding Birmingham and online Northcoders
Coding Birmingham and online University of Birmingham
Coding and web design Online The Development Manager
Cyber security Online TechTalent Academy
Cyber security Online The Skills Network
Cyber security Online Capita
Cyber security Online Learning Curve Group
Cyber security Online CAPSLOCK
Cyber security operations Birmingham Birmingham City University
Cyber technician Online Firebrand Training
Cyber technologist Online Firebrand Training
Data analysis Online The Skills Network
Data analysis Online The Skills Network
Data analysis Online Local Education and Development (LEAD Training)
Data analysis Online OpenClassrooms
Data analyst Online Babington
Data analyst Online Avado
Data analyst Online Apprentify Ltd
Data analytics Birmingham and online University of Birmingham
Data analytics and visualisation: from advanced Excel to Power BI Online Teesside University
Data and service management Online Northeastern University London
Data citizen Online Cambridge Spark
Data engineering Online Durham University
Data engineering Online QA Ltd
Data engineering Birmingham and online Northcoders
Data literacy Online Avado
Data science Online TechTalent Academy
Data science Online HyperionDev
Data science Online The University of Manchester
Data science Online The University of Nottingham Online
Data science Online The University of Warwick
Data science (with Microsoft certification) Online Northumbria University
Data science and cloud systems Online Birmingham City University
Data skills for creative industries Birmingham University of Birmingham
Data technician Online Firebrand Training
Data technician Online Learning Curve Group
Data utilisation and analysis Online QA Ltd
Desktop support Online Learning Curve Group
DevOps: DevNetSkills by The Open University Online The Open University
Digital Online Manchester Metropolitan University
Digital Online Twin Training
Digital content creation Birmingham and online Creative Alliance
Digital design Online Apprentify Ltd
Digital leadership Online Babington
Digital literacy Online Learning Curve Group
Digital marketer Online Avado
Digital marketing Online LEAD Training
Digital marketing Online We Are Digital
Digital marketing Birmingham BritAsia
Digital marketing Online Creative Alliance
Digital marketing Online Digisheds
Digital marketing Online Learn Play Foundation
Digital marketing Online Studio School
Digital marketing Online The Skills Network
Digital marketing Online Think Employment
Digital marketing Birmingham and online Creative Alliance
Digital marketing Online Local Education and Development (LEAD Training)
Digital marketing Online OpenClassrooms
Digital marketing Online Apprentify Ltd
Digital support and marketing Online The Development Manager
Front-end web development and UX Online University of Birmingham
Full stack web development Online School of Code
Full stack web design Online Creative Alliance
Google cloud data engineer Online Firebrand Training
ICT cloud Online QA Ltd
Infrastructure Online The Skills Network
IT sales associate Online Firebrand Training
IT support Online Lifetime Training Group Limited
IT technician Online Firebrand Training
Junior software developer Online Firebrand Training
Machine learning and AI for business applications Online Teesside University
Microsoft Azure data engineer Online Firebrand Training
Microsoft data analyst Online Firebrand Training
Microsoft data engineer Online Firebrand Training
Microsoft Dynamics 365 engineer Online Firebrand Training
Microsoft finance and operations engineer Online Firebrand Training
Microsoft IT engineer Online Firebrand Training
Microsoft Power platform engineer Online Firebrand Training
Microsoft software developer Online Firebrand Training
Network engineer Online Lifetime Training Group Limited
Real time 3D Online Mastered Studios
Service design and management with ServiceNow Online Northeastern University London
Software developer Online Digisheds

Software development Online TechTalent Academy
Software development Online QA Ltd
Software development Online Durham University
Software development Online Capita
Software development Online Apprentify Ltd
Software development (with Microsoft certification) Online Northumbria University
Software engineer Online Firebrand Training
Software engineering Online HyperionDev
Software engineering Online The University of Manchester
Software engineering Online The University of Nottingham Online
Software engineering Online The University of Warwick
Software engineering and development Online Aston University
Software tester Online QA Ltd
Tech, networking and cyber security Online The Development Manager
Technical sales Online The Skills Network
Technical service desk Online The Skills Network
Technical support Online Firebrand Training
UI/UX design for games Online Teesside University
User experience and user interface design Birmingham and online Creative Alliance
UX and front end web development Birmingham University of Birmingham
UX design Online OpenClassrooms
UX/UI Online University of Birmingham
Web design and development Birmingham and online Creative Alliance
Web development Online HyperionDev
Web development Online The University of Manchester
Web development Online The University of Nottingham Online
Web development Online The University of Warwick
Web development Online OpenClassrooms
Web development skills Online Bath Spa University
3D CAD for backstage theatre Birmingham and online Creative Alliance

northcoders.com/our-courses/coding-bootcamp

Introduction Week

We'll begin by helping you build your confidence with JavaScript, laying the

foundations for you to be able to handle data and create interactivity on websites and apps. We'll also provide you with resources to help you build your HTML and CSS skills.

Fundamentals

First things first. We’ll give you a solid understanding of the fundamentals and best practices of programming. We'll cover test-driven development, pair programming, object-oriented programming and a range of other core tools and workplace practices through the medium of JavaScript.

Back End

JavaScript is the only language that can be run both on the front and back end. Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals of coding in JavaScript, we show you how we can use use Node.js to run code for the back end, and focus on ways of dealing with asynchronous programming. We'll look at APIs and databases, and cover Express and SQL. We’ll also work with some pretty cool third-party data sets and APIs, and help you deploy applications to the cloud!

Front End

It's front end next - you'll learn all about the DOM (Document Object Model) and how to make accessible websites with semantic HTML and responsive CSS, and we'll introduce you to UX. React is the most in-demand front-end framework. We'll teach you to use it in-depth - but we don't stop there. We'll introduce you to its key peripheral technologies, and teach you all about testing front-end applications.

Project Phase

There's no better way to consolidate and extend your knowledge, and prove what you can do, than to get hands on with a real, green-field team project. With previous groups exploring Virtual Reality, Machine Learning, image recognition and blockchain (to name a few!); what you create is limited by your imagination. Curious as to what our previous graduates have created?

Or this one by the same company, same hours. northcoders.com/our-courses/data-engineering-bootcamp5

Introduction Week

We’ll begin by helping you build your confidence with JavaScript, laying the foundations for you to be able to handle data and functions.

Fundamentals

First things first. We’ll give you a solid understanding of the fundamentals and best practices of programming. We'll cover test-driven development, pair programming, object-oriented programming and a range of other core tools and workplace practices through the medium of JavaScript.

Back End

JavaScript is the only language that can be run both on the front and back end. Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals of coding in JavaScript, we show you how we can use use Node.js to run code for the back end, and focus on ways of dealing with asynchronous programming. We'll look at APIs and databases, and cover Express and SQL.

Python

Python is a popular a programming language used in machine learning, artificial intelligence, web development and data analysis. Fortunately it is relatively easy to learn when compared to pretty much any other programming language, due to its simple and easy-to-use syntax. After getting to grips with the basics, we’ll learn how to use Python's extensive suite of data libraries to automate complex management tasks.

SQL and Data Modelling

Using SQL we will learn how to turn raw data into easy-to-consume data sets. Data Models ensure consistency in naming conventions, default values, semantics, and security, as well as optimising performance and data quality. We'll start to learn the fundamentals of data warehousing and how to deal with different file data formats like JSON, XML and Parquet.

DevOps

DevOps is a combination of the two words “development” and “operations” - it's an umbrella term that describes how a development team manages the transition from writing software through to deploying a live, working application. Using Amazon Web Services, we will discover how to deploy applications and data infrastructure in the “cloud”.

Practical Infrastructure Tasks

This is where we take everything we have learned to deploy a Python ingestion function on an EC2 instance with database source, deploy a Python transformation function on Lambda and populate a data warehouse from refined data.

Both of these courses seem quite broad. Would I be better to do something more focused like a Python, AI, Data Analysis, Web Design ?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

If you don't know exactly what you want to do yet, broad is definitely better than narrow. The boot camps sound good, if you can swing it and are motivated to learn to think like a coder. What do you enjoy at work? I'm a huge advocate for getting into tech, but if you aren't at all analytically minded, there's no point doing something that runs completely counter to who you are.

Have you looked at typical career paths for business analysis or project management? There may not be a lot of use diving headfirst into coding if you already think it's not where your talents and interests lie. There is more money in software engineering than project management, I won't lie, but good project managers in tech still do very well.

I don't know about the bootcamps, but my brother is in coding. It's EXTREMELY well-paid. I say go for it!

@astronewt

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, I’m very analytical and good at logic puzzles. My maths is strong. I would enjoy coding and I think I’d be good at it.

@XelaM

I’m definitely going to go for it ! I just want to be sure I’m picking the right course.

I’m interested in which areas of software development are most in demand and where there are shortages in supply please.

Check out the ServiceNow Rise Up program. I work in Tech and they are a brilliant company

There's a really good thread in Feminism - Chat called women returners to Tech or something like that. A mine of information

I will offer some balance as I work in this field for a multinational common name, started out as a Dev and now work in the back end dev (db and algorthym design) and promote Women in Tech and go to Uni drives etc.

I would say go for it, but be realistic, going on a boot camp will not mean you walk into a job on high wages, you will be facing a lot of competition not only from grads who will have a more rounder knowledge of dev (I see that is what you are interested in) but best practices all around which will mean they can pick up other languages very quickly and visa applicants who have extensive knowledge and years of experience.

You also need to be realistic about the job, I have hired many women into my department from a career change mistaking the relaxed atmosphere with what is required code production wise.

I say go for it, but have a realistic opinion of where recruiters will be placing you when you finish, a lot of people think it will suddenly open doors to the high paid, 'fun' careers.

@Justanotherlurker Do you think having a leaning towards maths is a prerequisite or can just about anyone do it? I mean become a dev.

Maths is useful in some aspects of dev work, but being a 'dev' is huge area where your maximum wage is anything from 25K a year to 100k+, there is a misconception on MN that is not highlighted is that even with people like me championing Women in Tech they will be ultimately in the 25K braket and still facing a lot of competition.

And even though this sounds like gatekeeping, no it isn't something everyone can do, or just pick up from doing a bootcamp, as for the non technical jobs such as PM, BA, Data Analysts etc, those are the jobs that are being dropped in vast numbers in the tech industry at the minute.

MN likes to pump threads like the OP's with posts like 'My DH works in Tech and earns mega bucks!!, go for it' thinking it is a simple route to an easy wage and simpisitc job.

It is like any other job, the easy route to mega wages is a thing of the past when we have a turnstile of graduates that every company on earth can burn through. If you want to work youself up through the ranks then go for it.

@Justanotherlurker Thank you for shedding some light. I often am a bit sceptical of these 'get into tech' threads (and general online discourse) which make it sound as though in 6 months anyone can become like Steve Jobs. That said, I think a lot of people are put off because they think they don't have the stones for it (see question about maths) but I suppose the key to it is research research research and speak to people in the industry.

If I was advising a friend at the moment that had a similar thought, I would probably suggest getting skills in both AWS and Azure environments if they didn’t have a specific role in mind.

Given you have mentioned development, I’d certainly lean heavily toward anything that gives skills in Powerplatform (.net?) or whatever opens a door into automation.

Do you have a questioning kind of mindset? The people I've worked with who have been best at software dev work have been the kind of people who ask 'why?'.

You will get requests from sales, and operations and all over the company to build this, that and the other, to add functionality or change the layout. If you don't have the kind of brain that wants to understand why they are requesting those changes, what they are hoping to achieve, how they expect it to actually work...... then you'll end up with a product that technically meets the requirement but doesn't actually achieve the goal. Then a whole load of pushback, urgent requirements to fix it and annoyance on all sides.

In a larger organisation there will be BAs, project managers, UX designers, scrum masters..... a whole structure who in theory will take care of establishing what the user story is and figuring out what can and can't be delivered. If you end up in an SME though that structure likely won't be there and you'll need to be able to do those pieces as well as the actual development work.

Another one sounding a note of warning - DH is a (well paid) software engineer, but he had 10,000 hours of coding under his belt before he graduated (and he didn't do computer science either). You will have many skills he lacked at that stage due to both work and life experience, but it's worth being realistic about who else is out there.

He was a (very) geeky teen, for those wondering about the hours....

@Justanotherlurker with the way tech business is going do you think salaries won't be so high in 5 years?

@Cobwebs5 hi I work in a global org in tech but not as a techie.

Went to a meet the senior leader chat and the SL was the global information security head.

He said Cyber was a key area now. As it wasn't just protecting the company its now about protecting our way of life.

Millions of cyber security jobs around the world.

You should look at that.

Companies will also train you (onve u have foundation's / skills)

My husband did one of these bootcamps a year ago and is very happily employed.

Like the above post says, he loves asking questions, systems thinking and does spend lots of time interrogating processes and practices before he starts the creation if whatever it is he creates (I'm very untechnical, so still fuzzy on what he actually does!).

He did the bootcamp over 9 weeks after being completely burned out in his previous career. He's taken a significant cut in salary and status, but is working from home and has the bandwidth now to be the home support team for me (I'm in education...it's tough right now) and our teenagers. It also meant we could get a dog at last!

I'd say go for it. My husband has started a new career at 50 and had the pick of several jobs as soon as he'd finished.

@VladmirsPoutine

To be honest not a lot people do have the stones for the role, it has been portrayed as an 'fun' job with with adult ball pits and slides ala google, MN has pushed the idea that 'transferable skills' is an easy route to headline wages just by doing some online free course.

The reality is that the industry has moved on since the early 00's and you need real world experience, the job is a lot more demanding, stresfull and mundane than what those outside the industry paint it as, and the competition is fierce even with postive discrimination in place.

Even as some PP have suggested, it should be highlighted that even coming in as a Scrum Master or PM means you are on the bottom rung and will be on a pittance or high demand short term contract where you will be worked to the bone, the same as someone suggesting getting a qual in AWS, if that is all you have then it is esentially useless you have some real world experience in sys admin or dev etc.

This is very interesting. I’ve just finished a code for girls Data and MySQL course and am trying to get on to their boot camp ( python, back/front end). I am interested in cyber, too.

I have been looking at MySQL posts in London and most seem to ask for a few other programs but are advertising £50 k wages.

This is what I am looking for - is it realistic? Or am I wasting my time?

@felded

Wages will increase for specialised engineers, but dev is a huge spectrum now, there is a huge chasm between people doing websites in Squarespace/Wordpress and those who are hijacking ajax libaries to make 2FA work, both work in 'tech' but the wage disparity is huge

@Justanotherlurker thank you

I run these bootcamps for a different provider than the one you've mentioned.

The digital skills ones we run are delivered by a tech trainer and are of a really high quality. From April they are also going to inspected by Ofsted as well as thematic reviews by the DofE so all providers make sure they will stand up to scrutiny.

Part of the funding requirements is that the training provider has to obtain you a job interview and a job - they don't receive full funding unless they do this so it's well within their interests to support you into work.

The tech one we have running at the moment has 100% success rates with jobs for the students on it before the course has even finished.

Students are not accepted unless they are on the course for the right reasons (wanting employment) and dependent on the level of the course (can be from 3 as a minimum up to 5) will also have qualification or experience criteria as well as passing initial interviews or assessments for the higher level ones.

On the whole, they're a really good way of retraining as well as getting support into relevant job roles.

He said Cyber was a key area now. As it wasn't just protecting the company its now about protecting our way of life.

Millions of cyber security jobs around the world.
You should look at that.
Companies will also train you (onve u have foundation's / skills)

This is the type of misinformation I am talking about, the OP is not a 'techie' and just suggests getting into Cyber.

Firstly any bootcamp will not lead to a job in Cyber (even with a bootcamp of MySQL and Python), and the mundane aspects of Cyber mean you will need basic sys admin work, which will mean you need to do a few years of helpdesk before you gain basic sys admin tasks, then after that you may progress into being a sys admin where you can forget your bootcamp cyber training and learn again on the job.

@Notwavingbutsignalling
This is what I am looking for - is it realistic? Or am I wasting my time?

Well if you want to go into Cyber then MySQL is wasting your time, ther is an overlap between MySQL and actual SSMS but the difference is huge in regarders to Cyber (read admin).

To burst your bubble, no you will not be hitting the 50K jobs for MySQL as they will require years of experience, the bootcamp is a foot in the door and you will be competing with grads and visa applicants who have a more rounded understanding of tech and are looking at the easy entry into the market.

1 devops, aws, azure is useless for someone without any dev or ops/sysadmin knowledge and experience. That is not a route for a tech newbie

2 you will not get good money with no exp and just bootcamp. With a good portfolio and github linked to your cv you will get junior role if you can convince the recruiter youre worth the investment. They receive up to 200 cvs for an entry/junior role nowadays

3 check what interests you first, there are many routes in tech.
you do not need to be coding.

4 there are hundreds of people with little or no experience cometing for the same junior roles.