| | Suzanne Clark | After 18 years working in secretarial and personal assistant roles in various sectors, I began considering my next career move and had been looking into web development for a while. I had completed a few home learning courses in HTML and CSS and watched various online tutorials but it was the Develop Me bootcamp that enabled me to accomplish my career change.
I was starting to fear that in my late 30s, it was too late to change career and that I would be out of my depth and competing with university leavers but was assured that none of these were the case. There were students older and younger than me from various backgrounds, with different skill sets to offer and it became clear that age wasn’t even a factor.
The course is 12 weeks long with a different subject covered every week. It was intensive and challenging, with a lot of information to take in but at the same time very rewarding and enjoyable. The tutors throughout the course are specialised in their topics and so information is relevant and up to date.
All of the staff were supportive, friendly and approachable and there are weekly 1:1 catch up meetings with all the students for regular feedback and an opportunity to discuss anything. The class had 10 students in it which was an ideal number for paired and group work tasks and still lots of opportunity for individual assistance and support from the staff.
Everyone is provided with a key to access the classroom so there was opportunity to go in early or at the weekend if you wanted to.
In the second half of the course each student was given contact details to their own mentors, all of which were people that work in the tech sector and have lots of knowledge and experience to pass on. I found this immensely helpful as extra support with getting my CV prepared and gaining an insight from someone who has had a long career in this sector.
The students in my group all bonded really well together and many breaktime and lunchtime games of table tennis were enjoyed by all!
Towards the end of the course we were prepared for interviews and put forward for various work placements.
I am now 7 months into my first application developer role and am incredibly happy there. There have been many moments along the way where I have felt out of my depth as there is so much to learn and so many different directions you can go in, but when I think back to where I was and what I was doing a year ago, I realise I have come a very long way, achieved and learnt a lot, met so many fantastic people.
I highly recommend the Develop Me course and thank the staff for all their support in my career change. |
