Northcoders

I successfully changed career into tech from an Arts background, landing a Junior Software Engineer role at a dream company. It took 9 weeks after graduating, but NorthCoders equipped me fully in terms of coding ability and job application support.

The... Read More job market is competitive right now, but I believe if you put 100% into the bootcamp and the following weeks of job applications, something will come your way. Graduates of NorthCoders have an excellent reputation in the UK tech sphere and as such, you can expect a challenging and intense course.

Their online portal/application process will teach you the basics of coding. It's hard, really well paced and explains things well. If you're at all interested, just sign up and give it a try!

I had a great time on the Northcoders course overall. The depth of knowledge and variety of topics covered were really helpful. Each sprint was planned carefully and thoughtfully to make the most of the short amount of time given to each topic. There... Read More was no lack of support from all of the mentors and leaders throughout and their feedback was valuable, concise, and clearly explained. I would honestly pay for another course in a heartbeat given the overall quality. The careers team provided in-depth support for CVs and were very responsive and supportive throughout my experience. The only downside for me was the lack of jobs on the board in and around Manchester; many required relocation or further knowledge/skills.

Overall, an extremely positive experience. Would recommend and great for beginners willing to invest time in focused learning.

I've attended two bootcamps, the first being General Assembly. The NC bootcamp was much less intense with regards to presentations and pushing one out of their comfort zone 24/7. I didn't dread the course, and I maintained a great school - life balance.... Read More I got to experience a lot more TDD and Pair Programming, and a better look at Object Orientated programming than GA too. It felt a lot better at preparing someone for a job, however you do need to really study hard ahead of time or you can get left behind big time.

Pros: Good school-life balance, mental health is considered, the cohort was very diverse and skilled. Great focus on hiring. The tutors are friendly, approachable, funny and passionate about what they're teaching. Everything feels very emotionally considerate and carefully curated.

Cons: You aren't going to get a tonne of projects under your belt. The classes are large and we didn't socialise much until the group projects at the end, as opposed to in GA it felt more like a family.

Hiring: I got hired within about 3 months of the course finishing, but he prepared for hard work and relentless applications and interviews. It is worth it, and I think Northcoders is a great choice of school.

I enjoyed every bit of the process, even though it didn't stick early on, but knowing from the onset that completing the course gives me an edge to burst into the tech space.
It was a great opportunity for someone like me; a former architect, just switching... Read More career to IT.
NorthCoders helped me shape up professionally, equipping me with diverse skills to woo employers and clients in the IT space.
Big shoutout to all my cohort tutors, careers team , RYMP team, you guys made it all look breezy :)

I was a maths teacher with an engineering degree but had no experience in engineering. I wanted to change my career and joined the Northcoders boot camp. The program provided me with a strong foundation in data engineering and helped me land my first... Read More job in the field. The support from the instructors, mentors, and HR, along with the daily sprints and the graduation project, made all the difference. After the boot camp, I continued studying every day with a friend from the program. We both received job offers on the same day from different companies, which was the best part of the experience. I highly recommend Northcoders to anyone looking to switch to a tech career.

This is a great bootcamp with excellent tutors and mentors. I can't fault the teaching and the notes provided are excellent. I would warn others considering any bootcamp (not just northcoders) that a job is far from guaranteed and in fact, there are many... Read More people from my cohort without a job in tech yet. I would encourage northcoders to be really transparent about this to those who apply and to also up their game when it comes to career support, such as offering a mock tech interviews. Despite this, I would still say that if you can get a funded place then it's an amazing learning experience and I would highly recommend northcoders.

Northcoders' course has been by far the best, most supportive experience in education that I have ever had, and I've got a bachelor's degree. Amazingly down-to-earth mentors and lecturers who genuinely understand the struggles of the course, and content... Read More is delivered in an extremely logical way to teach concepts from the ground up with a learn-by-doing approach. My experience with the careers team was also very positive (they're careers consultants with experience in tech recruitment and not coders, so obviously won't have technical knowledge, but that's what your mentors are for!). They helped me arrange a mock interview prior to the real thing which was invaluable in terms of giving me the confidence I needed to get a job. Don't get me wrong, the course is challenging and you need a lot of resilience to be able to tackle the sheer amount of content (especially I found weeks 2/3 a massive wake up call), but it is achievable with the support and quality of teaching that Northcoders provide. You'll also need that same resilience for finding a job afterwards, but don't be discouraged by the state of the market because there are still jobs out there. The experience that the course gives you, especially within the final project phase, is important leverage that can be used to set yourself apart from other candidates.

I went into the Software Development Bootcamp already having practical experience with various languages however Northcoders introduced me to pair programming, complete unit testing, and working as a group which is far more important to tech companies... Read More than your practical experience. I believe that the Software Development Bootcamp is a great BootCamp that I recommend to anyone who wants to get into Tech or is already in but wants to be a better overall developer.

The bootcamp is very fast paced but you will get a lot of time to practice the concepts that you have been introduced to. I really think the format is great in terms of that you will have a lecture to introduce the concept and then you will have some... Read More time to work on solving some problems using that concept, then you will have another seminar to explain the concept again and this usually irons out any misunderstanding around the concept.

I really believe Northcoders to be one of the best coding education bootcamps out there. Northcoders has a robust and rigorous curriculum covering the fundamentals and practical use of different coding concepts. The program is well managed with great... Read More support from tutors, mentors and support staff. The curriculum is well structured and has been tried and tested, meaning you learn quickly and are able to utilise new concepts right away with the support of staff. It is run over 13 weeks on a full time basis and gives a great overview of lots of different concepts. I feel well prepared to enter the work place from this intensive course which has taught me how to learn when it comes to coding. The lecturers are engaging and very knowledgeable, and I felt well informed throughout the course from pre-course to the final day. There are very extensive pre-course materials both before and after passing the entry test, as well as lots of concise and clear information on each day's lecture subjects. I appreciate that the content of the course teaches you why things work and how, not just what works, as you tend to learn when trying to self-learn how to code. The job support was not necessarily relevant to me as the majority (but by no means all) of opportunities in the jobs board are located in the North (around Northcoders). The careers adviser was okay and there are opportunities to do mock interviews if you ask for them, but this is with someone who does not have technical knowledge. Most people will get better advice from someone at home asking questions and providing more thorough feedback which you can go over more than the 30 mins in a zoom call. The experience of Northcoders did certainly get me a job, but I see they are charging more for the job support package now and I would personally not recommend that to prospective students. The perhaps greater benefit as someone looking to switch to a career in tech has been the interpersonal skills. The course is run with lots of paired programming, and the final three weeks are a group project. This provides rich opportunities to collaborate with a wide range of personalities, to the benefit of being prepared with examples for the dreaded behavioral interview questions! The post-bootcamp job search can be very intense, but Northcoders has been regarded very well in all the interviews I have done. I would really recommend Northcoders to prospective coders as a great intensive full time course that does not use its students as a commodity as some bootcamps do. There are even government funded places if you live in the UK and are over 18.