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.

@Justthisonce12

Yes, I have got a long way to go with my research ! I’m hoping to get more help on this thread.
I agree with you, as I said in my opening post, I need to get on the right course, I can’t afford to get this wrong.

What you need to analyse is what kind of role want to work on. Languages are not specific per area and changing from one to another shouldn’t be a problem. As another poster said what you really have to understand is the logic of the languages : oos, inheritance , asynchronous, classes etc etc. I learnt Java in uni and after 12 years post uni I’ve never used Java but I’ve used many other languages which I learnt as part of my role.

if you’ve the time then I’d suggest first researching and doing some free courses to see whether you like it before doing any of the ones you had in mind.

@EasterIssland

I’m doing Basic JavaScript on freecodecamp now.

Girl you have to do some work yourself.

do you think someone is just going to give you the answer:take this course and you are going to earn a ton.

it does not work like that.
I already advised somewhere in this thread :before you commit to a course do some research.
check out what are different paths, check github and reddit for other peoples experiences.

if you will not feel what youre doing/there will be no drive, you will not get where you want to be.

there are no easy answers because the question is complicated: we dont know you.

There is a shortage of UK based cyber security professionals so I'd train in this area if I were you.

@FlamingBells

would you recommend the CISSP certificate?

@FlamingBells

Thank you ! That’s exactly what I wanted. No point in me doing something there’s no demand for or an excess of supply, and is poorly paid.

CISSP requires you to have 5 years work experience in cyber security.

Let me tell you about my experience as I changed careers and went into tech as an older woman.

I did a full stack bootcamp before I got my job. It was intense and relentless. Expect it to take over your life. Make sure you have good family support to see you through because you will need it.

I learnt a lot including what I liked and what I didn't like in terms of the tech stack. Back end does not interest me but at least I know what is what. I found JavaScript hard to begin with and seeing the endless code was overwhelming, and yet, my brain just got React - it made sense and yes, it's still JavaScript but being component based means everything is in manageable chunks.

Yes, do your research but sometimes you don't always know what will click or what you will get interested in. For example, I am now very interested in web accessibility and can see myself specialising in that, and although not many roles about, there are some.

And don't underestimate your non-tech skills. Graduates may be able to code more than me but I bring much more experience to the team.

Good luck.

Hey, just to clarify, Python is used along with numpy, scikitlearn, seaborn and so many more packages that are super powerful for data analysis. So learning python, is actually a pretty good idea if you want to get into data analysis or data science

Hacker High School has some good lessons for free and is worth a look.

NCSC is a good website to look at for Cyber.

The Government have a Cyber Profession document which is worth a look at.

SANs have been running cyber courses for none cyber professionals for free; and I believe ISC2 have too.

I also had to laugh at that message!

Well that quote ate half my message and the original quoted one of yours! Thanks, poor phone reception.

I was attempting to agree with you; we use python a lot and its use in analytics is only going to grow as data science is integrated as standard more into data platforms.

Business analysis would be a much better option for you than trying to start out as a dev at this stage in your career. Logical and analytical skills are important, but you don’t need to be able to code, and the wider business skills you’ll have built up in your career so far will benefit. You need more than just the techie hard skills- you need to be able to communicate and influence- but you’ve got a decent chance of being on 50k with 2-3 years’ good experience, and you won’t always be playing catch-up against new graduates.

Don’t go into project management, though. It’s primarily about budgets and reporting. Yes, you can make decent money, but if analysis and detail and getting stuck into the actual work are what you want, you’ll be bored.

I thought I’d seen that Python was used in data analysis. I’m not pretending to be an expert, I’m just asking for a little guidance, but I seem to have upset @Justthisonce12 somehow.

@LoobyDop

Thank you. That’s just the sort of insight I need.

@FrontEndEngineer

Very interesting. Thank you.

Hi @Cobwebs5 I don't think it's that you've upset anyone. it's just that as a result, I think, of the Government advertising lots of these tech boot camps there seems to be an abundance of people on MN and elsewhere who think that a couple of weeks on an intense course will leapfrog them into a well paid tech role.

For those of us who've been working in the field for years, it can be a little frustrating to see.

The reality is that the boot camps will get you to entry level which is great if it's a field you are actually interested in and have a passion for, but if the move is predominantly as a result of hearing that you can stroll into a role and make money hand over fist in tech then that just isn't realistic.

It's a fast paced, ever evolving field, you need to devote a huge amount of effort and energy to learn a lot of complex information in a bootcamp. The You need to gain experience, continue learning and progress through the levels as in any other role.

Most of the professional qualifications offered by membership bodies (ISC2, ISACA etc) require you to have several years experience and for that to be validated by your employer/a professional sponsor before you can become qualified.

This forum has been a bit saturated with these threads over the weekend I've seen 4 different active threads asking about switching to tech using a bootcamp.

To me to be honest it doesn’t make sense. Why ? for doing something you have to have a will and drive for it. There might be a lack in the market but to be honest there is everywhere. I’m a software tester and I just changed roles. Did apple around 50-60 companies and had interviews for around 10-15. There is marker. Same in software development. But for me the most important is that you have to like what you do. If you don’t feel like you like it then you won’t reach those salaries that are amazing in your eyes
id not myself specialised in cyber because I don’t like it that much.

Couldn’t agree more with your comment.

i started as a junior tester back in 2008 at 24k. For a long time my salary was below 40k. It’s not been until the last few years and by becoming senior and now lead that my salary is considered high. Expecting to earn more than 50k coming from a junior role within 3 years to me it’s not realistic

Have a look at Makers too, very well respected and big companies hire from the programme makers.tech

While I would never promote it as "do a bootcamp and jump straight into a high-paid role", as someone who career-changed into tech, I do think it's over-mystified and seen as this Super Hard Monolith as well as heavily coded male. And it's not that super hard. You have to learn and study and gain experience, but that's true of all fields, and there is a shortage of talent generally and of women particularly, so if bootcamps and the prospect of good demand help encourage more women to give it a go, I'm in favour.

Someone up thread talked about the Service Now rise up programme.

I'd take a look at that because these skills are really in demand across industry, partners and in the actual company.

If you are very technical have at it, however, equally important is agile project management. You need to actually deliver it.

Have a think about pure tech V tech project management. Your skills so far may lend themselves towards the latter.

I'm senior and been in the tech business 30 years. I'm a single mum too, it's well paid and flexible.

I would definitely do a free online tutorial for a few hours before committing to a boot camp. If you find you have a knack for all commands then great, but it very quickly corrected any notion I had that I would take to it naturally and, if I'm being honest, put paid to any inclination I had to take it futher. I know there's more the job than basic coding, but 13 weeks of that suddenly seemed quite scary.

Thank you. I’ll take a look now.