CFG degree

[btwin]

Has anyone completed the CFG degree? Considering putting in an application for the next cohort and having a bit of a wobble about the time commitment 😵‍💫

Just doing a mooc with CFG and applied for a kickstarter so this thread has been an inspiring and useful read

@Rosti1981 Activision Blizzard is sponsoring my place on the degree and masters programme after. I applied for sponsorship from DSTL but they offered me this instead AND the masters. I didn't want to apply for the ones with a guaranteed job as I was worried it may not fit around my family. I'm hoping to use the course to progress in my current organisation or look for roles on my own. 🙂

That's fantastic, and I can understand that too re not wanting a linked role- I was the same for ages as in established career, but then voluntary redundancy opportunity came up which changed what I was looking for.
Which stream/masters?
Huge well done to you!

@Rosti1981 Thank you! I'm on the data pathway, they haven't confirmed what masters you get to do after - I'd love to do the data or machine learning one. Thank you

Hi everyone! Just picking up this thread to see if anyone else has applied for the summer cohort 2024? This is my first time applying (though I’ve been keeping an eye on the opportunity for a while and have done a couple of CFG MOOCs and Kickstarters).

Sent off my video interview yesterday (so awkward!) and I felt it went OK. Just a waiting game now!

Good luck @naptimecoder !

Hi all!
I applied for the Starling place and have done the technical assessment. I’ve got the email to do the video recorded interview questions!
I’m so nervous! I’ve done the data MOOC and am currently on the data kickstarter. The role with Starling is a Software engineer. I am in a totally non tech role currently auditing in an insurance sector so I’m definitely worried I’m massively out of my depth!! I’d be open to the education only options though as I’m on mat leave till September so can enjoy the training over the summer, go back to my current job and hope to progress with more courses or the next degree intake!!
How was the recorded interview for you? Is it right you are presented the question, can think about it before pressing record and the recording starting?

Yes, and if it is the same as my intake (autumn 2023) then you get info about the questions in advance so no surprises. Questions are very broad- teamwork, why the CFG degree, why tech, why this sponsor kind of thing.
You get a couple of chances at recording too but the timing is strict so do practice a couple of times in front of a mirror before recording and sending.

You can't do the degree again btw, even if you don't have a company sponsor the first time round. It'd be pointless if nothing else!
But yes there obviously are other options for getting into tech later on. I'd just recommend thinking carefully about if you want this point to be the career change, and if so try to secure company sponsorship with a role at the end.

Many of the women won't have worked in tech previously anyway, so don't worry too much about that.

Has anyone here started hearing back yet? I’ve seen a few people on Reddit have started getting company interviews…

I haven’t, I did my video interview questions on Sunday and some generic emails saying will hear by end of April.
I’m on one of the kickstarters at the moment and feel like I’m learning a lot on that so the degree might be a bit ahead of me at this point! I spend a lot of time googling for homework! 🤣

Nothing here either! I’ve been checking my emails like mad but at least with the bank holiday weekend we can try and forget about it for a few days.

The kickstarters are great! It’s a lot of information in a short space of time though, so I found myself googling a lot too…an important skill for a software engineer apparently!

Just to keep you updated…I got an interview invite today, so it seems they are sending them out this week! Fingers crossed for you!

Oh gosh!!!!!! This makes me so nervous!!!
I applied for the Starling bank one, do you mind me asking which one you applied for and how long ago you did your online interview questions?

I did my video interview on 1 March and I applied for Smartsheet. There’s a Reddit thread in the UKJobs Reddit where people are sharing updates on their applications - I think I did see someone in there who got an interview with Starling Bank today but I’m not 100% sure! Good luck!!!

Anyone that applied previously, is no news.. not good news in this scenario?! I still haven’t heard! 😔

Good luck everyone!

Out of interest does anyone know how the sessions work? Are they interactive? Are they recorded? Such a great opportunity and I'm so tempted to apply but my kids are still young and I wouldn't want to miss so many bedtimes! Just wondering whether you could log on and catch up again later?

I appreciated the answer is probably not and that it's just not my time right now!!

They are interactive and live, but they are also recorded so if you do miss any or want to watch again, then you can catch up. The expectation is that you attend a minimum of 80% live sessions.

@juleypooly I am currently on the degree and can vouch for what @Rosti1981 has said. I was really worried about this before starting the course. In my group there are mums who even have their small children on their lap for a portion of the session. This wouldn't work for me as mine would be all over the place!😂 Ahead of the course starting i got mine in to a bed time routine that's been working, although I have had to go off camera sometimes to see to them, but no one seems to mind at all. (Also they say you need to have cameras on at all times, but i would say only about 30% of the group does.

Thank you so much for sharing! I’ve been feeling nervous about this aspect on the course, so I’m glad to hear others are making it work. My husband is really supportive and would do bedtimes on course nights, but my son can be very clingy to me, especially if he’s unwell.

Just had the pre-interview group prep session this evening and it was quite overwhelming. Everyone seems so accomplished and enthusiastic!

Do you mind me asking - is your place on the course one with a job at the end? Do you know how many people your company is taking on? Is it just 1 person per company or usually more?

I applied for an education only place for the degree (for a range of reasons), so I'm not sure of the answer to that one sorry.

Thanks so much for your replies! That's definitely helped put me at ease. And pleased to hear I'm not the only one with these concerns. I've got a one year old and three year old and while my husband will happily sort them bedtimes can sometimes be a nightmare!! I've not actually applied for anything yet but I think I might now. I don't really want to have to take a job at the end so might look at some of the ones with those options. Those are the only ones left if I want to get into the summer cohort anyway!

Yes agree and was my experience too if you were interrupted or needed to see to kids - it was relaxed and possible to do so, that's an important point as well!
Agree on the cameras too. I mostly kept mine on as was so used to work calls and being on camera, but you don't have to, at least not for the whole session. It is very accommodating.

only sessions I said to my family I must not be interrupted at all were the two exams, one about halfway through and one at the end.

@explain hope your CFGDegree is going well!

Mine has a job and it's a fairly big cohort.
It varies from company to company, some are one person, some are a couple, some are 10+. I think when you apply the companies say number of places available.

Some companies the pre CFG interview is sufficient for the role, but others interview at the end, do assessments, or do Hackerrank type challenges. So worth checking that if you can... Not sure that info is online before applying or not but I know from listening to different people on my course that experiences differed. CFG spend quite a lot of time as part of the degree preparing you for coding challenges - at least we did on the software stream!

You should definitely apply.
However do think about whether you are likely to want a career change into tech at some point, because if you do, it may be worth waiting and applying for a place with company sponsorship - as this is a fairly unique thing to CFG I'd say and is a very real opportunity for breaking into tech!

I did a different govt sponsored bootcamp before CFG and quite a bit of the material isn't that dissimilar tbh. So there are other ways of learning the "stuff", it can be variable in quality but it's out there, or even just an Udemy course. From my earlier bootcamp people struggled to get even entry level roles- and that was even the case for people who clearly lived and breathed coding and had done for quite a long time! When they did get roles it was after applying to 100s of companies and pay often wasn't that great.

I'd say the two USPs of CFG are 1) all women/non binary people and so the network/support opportunities can be great and 2) company sponsorship - many/most of the companies who work with CFG know that you come off the course with potential rather than as a fully formed and perfect software engineer, and are willing to invest in your L&D further. Many of the companies want career changers with transferable skills, and many of them pay what I think is a pretty good salary for trainee roles. Particularly banking and consultancy.

For a long time I was in an established, non tech career and I hesitated to apply because the timing wasn't right (and I was rejected once too!) and I wasn't sure I wanted to move/take a pay hit etc

I'm glad I waited till the point I did as the company sponsorship is a wonderful opportunity - but it's kind of a one shot deal as you can't retake the CFG degree. So if you think you might want to move into a tech career in future it may be worth waiting and doing shorter CFG courses first, because without the company sponsorship I think it's quite a bit harder to break into a tech career...