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.

Exactly @Taxistaxing - apologies for the thread derail but it really, really fucks me off. I was a lone parent for a long time and had to put up with this shit from people who really should know better, including a colleague who described themselves as a single parent on the one day of the week they did bedtime on their own.

By proxy indeed! Completely agree.

I'm a fullstack devevloper and don't earn those big £££. But I don't work crazy hour and it's almost never that I have to work over time. I work from home and there is a lot of flexiblity on my hours. The role is mostly 'working by myself'. We have team meetings but the only regular ones are a daily scrum and a fortnightly sprint planning/retrospective. Everything else are scheduled when needed and you have some say on when it should happen.

I would recommend it to anyone who is good at maths at school and is analytical and logic. You have to love doing it because there is a lot of learning involved all the time.

As an example of continuous learning, we are moving to AWS and I have spent countless hours this year reading AWS documentation like the following docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/what-is-eks.html
In addition, there are all the tooling to do with cloud technologies. No one will point out what you need to learn because the devs are supposed to find out themselves what are the frameworks that best fit the project

I have seen this is touched upon by PP in that it's not the programming language (eg Python) or database choice (MySQL) that matters. That's the easiest part. You have to love to learn and not scared of change, otherwise dev is not for you.

Bit depressing really. I did the MySQL and data course with CfG and have applied for their boot camp. Thought it would be useful.

Not sure based on what the tech people here are saying it’s worth it the effort- esp if the attitude from people in the jobs is going to be the same towards new entrants

It is useful, but in most dev jobs the stuff you learn in a bootcamp course will be the minimum required as assumed ancillary knowledge. The bulk of useful knowledge is what you learn by building stuff and writing code over a period of years. At least 30% of development is knowing what doesn't work (and why), rather than theory.

Some jobs pay well because they suck, others because they require time away from family etc, and these pay well because the accumulated knowledge of many disciplines is what's valuable. If all it took to get a dev job was a 3-month course in your spare time, it would pay accordingly.

But that’s the same for most jobs - you need to get in the door and then your real learning starts on the job.

the entry level for wages is still better than a lot of alternatives

Also there was very little theory on the CfG course - it’s jump right in and it either works or it doesn’t ( obv some rules were explained)

Yes, true it's the same for most jobs - but in dev work, there's a massive broad base of knowledge that you're expected to have on day one and you still have a hell of a lot to learn.

My point is that most people who get their first job as a developer have been into this stuff for years. They know a hell of a lot about computers as a basis, they've been writing code as a hobby since their early teens, they've been reading and learning for a decade or so. You can't replace that with a 3-month course, but equally...that's who you're competing with.

I've had to recruit folk quite a bit over the years, and while we've seen quite a few candidates with bootcamp-experience who we wanted to give a shot, not a single one has passed the technical tests they were set because they just didn't have that broad base of knowledge to draw on.

@Notwavingbutsignalling it depends. I'm as my family would say 'pretty bloody minded' so if I feel someone thinks I'm not going to be able to do something and I care, I will move hell and high water to show them that I can to prove them wrong/discredit their assumptions (although these days I'm less determined than I used to be) but these are qualities that help make me good/pita in my job!
If you enjoyed what you did and you want to expand your knowledge then go for it and show people you can do it and get that job. I can see both sides and as a female I don't want to discourage females from entering IT...but equally being doing a bootcamp is going to be very different to being in a job.
As for people not being willing to help when you get a job, again especially the last few years, I have felt that a big part of my job role has to 'support' new starters in all different areas of the IT business who don't know sometimes even the basics of their role and I have done this for years...but just as they get to competency they fuck off and the cycle starts again, so I now don't engage massively with new starters unless directly in my area as I know what is going to happen.
There is one person who started doing HTML and over the years has moved into front end dev, but really doesn't get how to structure even JS code to solve a problem....I don't know if they ever will, I have known them for 7 years and they still can't do it, but they think they can. They do, however, have the tenacity to deal with the designers and browsers and styling that I can't be arsed to deal with so much anymore, so I appreciate them. Everyone has areas that they like/dislike are better/worse at, it doesn't mean you get out of doing your weaker areas all the time. If you start in a job, find out what you can do to make those around you appreciate you and want to help you whilst you are behind the curve in the area you are learning. It may be as simple as documentation or attending a regular meeting.

Fair points and I get what you are saying.

I have been studying ( informally) all things digitally for about 15 years now from when I started with html/css/ web design/ relational databases.

I figured a wider knowledge would be helpful for me so that I wasn’t intimidated or lost when I came to more specialised stuff like python.

it is a wide field though and I figure at some point you have to jump into a job and your skills will complement the skills others have ( aswell as soft skills which I think can be invaluable).

Ha ha, I was wondering what I had done. :D

Everyone starts somewhere. It doesn't take that long. Lots of people have got there and so can you. It's just about setting expectations, one course won't be where you stop learning but as long as that's ok with you then you can make it work. We all did afterall

@Notwavingbutsignalling please ignore these comments from the person quoted. Do your bootcamps and then try to get a break. It might be hard to get your first job. For everyone who is successful, there is often lots of failures that they never have to speak of again. You will need to work hard. But people aren't in the job through magic or all starting out as teenagers.

This is the kind of thing that people use to feel better about themselves and put other people off the field. Many people don't start as teenage coders. The ones I know who did weren't very good due to their experiences hacking away, writing poor quality code. I have done a lot to help women get in to coding and this attitude makes a lot of people/women feel like they don't fit because they didn't get these opportunities as teenagers, and it's rubbish.

I think you might need to read a bit more carefully there.

But yeah, sure. Ignore information from someone who's been working for decades in the industry, has recruited 50+ developers, and knows what gets people employed and what results in people leaving the industry as quickly as they joined it.

I'm not trying to put the OP off. I'm trying to stop her being put off by trying to jump into a job before the prospective employers will think she's ready, because nothing's more soul destroying than being told a couple of short courses is enough, putting loads of effort into them, and then getting rejection after rejection.

Also maybe consider where you might want to have a job. Small tech companies will probably not pay as much and may not have all the formal segregation of 'processes' or roles. This is a double edge sword in the fact that you will be able to experience more easily full stack to see if that's what you like, or find the bit within it that you enjoy most. This can be stressful due to expectation of picking things up, changing 'hats' and constant change and possible lack of formal process, but can be immensely rewarding and a great springboard for when you find your niche.

Larger companies with IT divisions will probably segregate roles more which can be great or frustrating depending on how roles are defined. They probably would allow for movement between roles, but may not be full stack and may not use bleeding or cutting edge tech, because the wheels of change tend to be slower.

As well as the mechanics of IT you will have to understand your business domain and their processes, eg telecoms, finance, engineering, transport, retail etc. Would you rather work for a company where you would work on one type of business domain or potentially many (eg as a consultant).

Take a look at nology.io (the name comes from taking the tech out of technology!)
They specialise in reskilling, they also have specific programs for employers who want to build talent pipeline so if you get onto one of those programs, it would be likely to lead to a job.
I’ve been in tech a long time. There are not enough women in tech generally, there are really interesting jobs in many sectors and you don’t have to have written code since you were 10 to be successful.
You will have to work hard to reskill and then to establish yourself but it sounds like you have the aptitude for it so go for it and good luck!!

I have a similar background to you but a different opinion. I hope the op finds both useful in combination.

Also just realised that @xyhere is male in the IT industry. This makes a lot of sense on a reread. There is prejudice in the industry OP that might be what you learn from his post

How on earth am I prejudiced? I mean, I figured I'd be accused of it at some point, but all I've said is that bootcamps aren't very good for making a person employable on their own, and they set unrealistic expectations.

More than half of the people I've hired as devs and techs were women. Most of my current team are women. I'm in this thread actively trying to help someone the same way I always have, regardless of gender, because the only thing that matters to me is getting more good people with enthusiasm and excitement into the tech industry without fizzling out and losing them early.

How, exactly, is that biased?

xyhere but is it realistic to get an entry level job in tech after a bootcamp? Nobody is saying they want to be managers or CEOs after bootcamp but surely they should be able to get into an entry level position, no?

Yes, I’m finding all opinions very useful. Keep them coming please.

I hope @xyhere won’t mind me saying that he has provided me with considerable help privately.

@Jamepume brilliant news! When do you start? Apparently they set up interviews with clients/partners at the back end of the course.

Well, it would've been rather gauche for me to mention it, but of course I don't mind that you have :)

In my experience, no - unless they're explicitly recruiting for a trainee rather than a junior. And honestly...apart from the money, it's not a great idea to take a job where they would employ you having only done a bootcamp unless there's a significant commitment to train you written into the contract, because otherwise it's unlikely to do you any favours long-term.

(using a generic "you" there, not you personally)