Meet our coding students
Many of our coding students want a change of career into something more lucrative, flexible and more importantly, interesting.
Published on: 19 March 2020
We spoke to a few of our current and former coding students about their learning journey with us. Discover why they enrolled onto our coding course, what they’re working on at the moment, and the impact the course has had on their career currently, and how it’ll help them in the future.
Why change careers into coding?
Student Salome was working full time in compliance, predominantly in the healthcare sector who was looking to change her career. She enrolled onto the full stack development course to become a professional coder.
Joe also enrolled onto the coding course in the hope for a career change. He said “I basically got to the point with my career where I felt like I needed a bit of a change. I’ve got a bit of past experience doing software development, so I figured it might not be too much of a step going in this direction.”
Andrew had a similar story. He was working as an operations manager for a large telecom company. “I wasn’t really happy in my role”, he explained. “So I decided to get myself upskilled, so I could look for something a little bit more challenging, a little bit more fulfilling.”
We also spoke to student Simon who not only wanted a career change, but a change in lifestyle. “I wanted to study and become certified in a skill for flexibility to work freelance, or to be employed by a company, and for abundant job opportunities.” Simon currently works in hospitality management which is still something he does full time whilst completing the course.
Daniel enrolled onto the course as he found he really enjoyed working on Python projects in his spare time. These projects gave him a good insight into what is needed to become a coder.
Why choose Learning People as a coding course provider?
Salome did her research when it came to finding a coding course provider. “I looked at all of the companies that offered them, and the reason I chose Learning People is because of the excellent reviews. Also, the fact that they’ve got their StudentCare team which a lot of other companies don’t have.” Salome also spoke highly of our expert team of career consultants and the benefits of her career consultation. “Stuart is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about what he does, and he made me feel incredibly comfortable when signing up.”
Joe echoed Salome’s kind words saying “There were a lot of courses out there, but I thought Learning People seemed like the best option for me. First and foremost, the consultation call was great. It really helped me decide what the best course was for me, how long it was going to take me, the payment details – it was all great.”
Andrew also chose Learning People because of our service, stating “The reason that I chose Learning People, out of all the other companies that offer this sort of service, was because they seemed so honest when I was speaking to them on the phone. They didn’t make any grand promises, and they were quite down to earth in what they told me I’d be able to get out of doing this [course]. And best of all, they didn’t let me commit to anything until I’d gone and trialled some sample courses to see if I had an aptitude for coding in the first place.”
The consultation call was also a huge benefit for student Simon. “The consultation call was very quick. It was very soon after making initial contact with Learning People, it’s ultimately what motivated me to choose Learning People as a course provider.”
What are the challenges you’ve faced whilst studying full stack development?
It won’t be a surprise that the full stack development course can be challenging. It’s designed to teach you a variety of coding languages and frameworks, and a lot of our students find some of them more difficult than others. Our students spoke to us about the challenges they’ve faced and how they worked through them.
Salome knew that adjusting her schedule to fit in studying would be difficult. “The biggest challenge that I face is sticking to my study schedule. The reason for this is that my arch nemesis is incredibly powerful, it’s called procrastination! I can very easily find something to distract myself from actual matters at hand. Will I give up? No. That’s not an option.”
Similarly, Andrew found that having the time to study was his biggest challenge. “The reason being, I’m a husband, a father, and I was working full time at the same time as taking the course. So what little time I got to spend with my family, it was very precious to me.”
Simon also told us that “The greatest challenge I found whilst studying was working full time in hospitality management and trying to find the time to study. I actually changed venues while studying and went to predominantly working nights, but ultimately it’s something that I chose to do. Studying is something I enjoyed doing so it actually wasn’t that hard to change when I put my mind to it.”
Joe, on the other hand, found that his biggest challenge was fully understanding the code he was learning. “I think it’s easy to actually just do the coding, but to have that full knowledge of knowing exactly what you’re doing is important, as that allows you to fix errors. The team gives you the right resources so that you don’t have too many challenges to face.”
How has learning to code had an impact on you and your career?
Many of our coding students find that even before they finish the course, new opportunities have opened up.
Joe spoke about how we’ve helped build his CV and how he’s started to look out for new opportunities in the industry. “I’ve still got a good way to go through the course, but I’ve basically found that I’ve been able to open a few doors on things that I can do prior to my career change. I’ve already seen that there’s a whole wealth of jobs out there, so I’ve been able to change my CV. [Learning People] offer some really good advice on how to make your CV the best it can be. I’ve had some interest in freelance work already.”
We spoke to Andrew who was lucky enough to find a coding role whilst studying. “Thanks to the skills I’d picked up with Learning People, I was in a position to be offered my dream job. Now I work as an associate developer and I’ve never looked back. It doesn’t feel like I’m going to work anymore because I enjoy it so much.”
What advice would you give to people looking to learn coding?
Daniel is really enjoying getting stuck into the coding course, but he says “the advice I’d give to people is that you’ll need to practice a lot. Start small, and once you’ve got the code working for smaller, basic sites, then you can look at what you’ll change, or add to improve it.”
Simon’s motivation is all about going for it. “The advice I have for people is to just go for it. There are so many amazing resources on the internet available for people, so if you want to find technology [to learn coding] it’s right there for you. Use technology to learn technology.”
Based on Andrew’s success since enrolling onto the coding course, he’s said “my advice for somebody considering this, as long as you’re able to put in the hours, and willing to put in the hours, then go for it. I managed to change my career and my life just based on a few month’s worth of graft. I’ve never looked back and I’m very excited about the future.”
We’re really excited about the next generation of students as they embark on the world of code. If this sounds like you, then discover more about a career in code, and arrange a consultation call with one of our experts today to find out how you can start.
