CodeClan

I was a data analysis student at Codeclan from July-October 2021 as part of a virtual cohort.  Prior to the course my background was in IT project management but I was keen to move into a more technical role.  And I loved spreadsheets so thought the data course was probably a good bet :)

I had high expectations going into the course because I'd been thinking about it for quite a while - the cost of the course being the main reason for delaying.  These expectations were definitely met however, and the course for me was absolutely worth the cost.  If the cost is a barrier for you I'd recommend checking out some of the funding options - I used Knoma which was excellent.

My favourite parts of the course were the early stages covering Git/GitHub, data cleaning and wrangling, R/R Shiny and SQL.  The stuff on visualisation was great too.  Personally I was less interested in the statistics and machine learning parts of the course, which is why I've gone down the data engineering route as opposed to data analysis/science.  However it's a great overview of those skills/disciplines so if you are interested in this stuff it will be perfect for you. The careers week was also hugely beneficial.

The instructors were superb.  Very knowledgeable with loads of real-world experience.  They were great at providing real-world examples of things they'd worked on in the past - I found this very useful in terms of appreciating why something was important or how it could be used.  And they were all just lovely people in general, always approachable and helpful.

In summary...I'm very glad I finally took the plunge and joined Codeclan.  It was a fantastic experience and I was able to get a junior data engineer position at a great company a few weeks before I'd even finished the course.  What I would say is you should be reasonably sure you're interested in this area before joining.  It's definitely worthwhile going to some of the open days / information sessions before making your mind up.  I say this because it's a significant undertaking - 14 weeks of full time study and homework and projects is not easy, and it would be incredibly difficult if you weren't interested in the subject matter.

Happy studying!

JP

Prior to CodeClan, my professional experience had primarily been limited to rigid, motonous roles. My last job was working in customer sevice for an online retailer of luxury fashion brands. At the time I was living in Germany and enjoying where I was, but not what I was doing. Chasing up missing pairs of Gucci socks with courier companies had run its course for me...

I’d gotten interested in coding and had started learning online, but it was all very muddled and I wasn’t learning good practices. When I came across CodeClan, it seemed like the next logical step.

Joining in November, my worries of whether I could fit in and keep pace soon eroded, as I found myself surrounded by a diverse set of enthusiastic individuals, each with their own unique talents and backgrounds.

The course is HARD but the instructors are GREAT. They know what we’re going through and go to great lengths to be considerate of that. When I wasn’t at my personal best and the course was getting tricky, they understood.

I’m now actively looking for work and can’t wait to see how the rest of my journey unfolds — after CodeClan, I feel like the road ahead is paved on solid ground.

This course is an excellent opportunity to enter into the world of software development.  This was an area I was not able to access before due to grades, however thanks to CodeClan I could learn the skills necessary and receive any support to move into a software development role. 

The curriculum covers a lot in the 16 weeks. With the support of enthusiastic instructors though this is very much attainable. It does require a good level of commitment to spending time outside the school consolidating your days learning. However by the end of the 16 weeks you will realise just how much technical knowledge you have gained when presented with a new programming language and realised it is no longer an insurmountable wall, instead just a small hurdle you have trained your mind to handle. 

There is plenty of support for the students; from the careers team who help tailor your CV and interview skills, to the considerate and passionate wellbeing team who can help build successful mindsets and ensure you stay motivated and healthy. 

Overall this has been an excellent experience and I recommend it to anyone who wants to enter the world of software development.

Prior to CodeClan I had done a MChem with Biochemistry and worked as a Molecular Scientist for 2 years. I joined CodeClan having never coded before and did extensive research before joining about job prospects after the course from talking to people who had done the course and a senior tech recruiter in Edinburgh. I just knew the space around data science was moving at an huge pace and I wanted to be involved. I have now done loads of courses since leaving and CodeClans format and culture is second to none. (Even University Courses aren’t anywhere near as good.) And the £6K I paid in tuition will be earned back within a year, easy. The instructors and support network during and after the course were exceptional. I couldn’t recommend it enough. 

If you have been mulling over the decision to change careers and become a data analyst/scientist/engineer; you absolutely must do CodeClan. 

CodeClan is very expensive. The education given can be found online if you do some research, but this is not what attracted me about CodeClan. It attracted me that I could learn so that later I could use that knowledge to be able to find a job, through them obviously, as they will always remind you that "99.9% of our students find a job right after CodeClan with our partners”, if you ask, 99.9%?, they will smile at you, correct themselves and say “well, maybe 97%”.  

You will learn a lot of things in very short time, plenty information to process in your brain, unless you know some basics of programming. However, as beginner you will probably feel overwhelmed with the amount of stuff they teach you, by the end of the course, you will rarely understand all the concepts.

If you don't have experience with coding, CodeClan will not take you to the places they promise. Yes, they will repeatedly give you the good vibes and tell you stuff like: “the tech industry in Scotland is growing!”, ”we have a large number of partners willing to take graduates from CodeClan“. CodeClan has about 300 different companies. About 150 are micro companies (0-14 people), small-size companies are about 70 (15-49 people), 30 medium-sized companies (50-249 people) and 50 large companies(250+ people). Make your own conclusions from there.

The teachers and the program is great and fun and you will learn and interact with the class thanks to them. But the problem right here is the CEO, which seems to be a nepotist with no shame. If you are good friends with her and you didn't find a job, not a problem! She will be able to provide a job, by recommending and putting nice words about you for one of those large juicy companies. Apparently, one person got a job at one of these companies, didn't necessarily know how to code. Well, later on I found out, this person got fired and that specific company refused to take more students from CodeClan ever again, good job Melinda!

Now, what type of business allows this to happen? The nepotism from the CEO jeopardised one important partner for the business and the future of oncoming students with the required TALENT to learn and develop successfully within that company. Now starting from this point on, everything else you hear from the CEO is complete crap and lies, in fact, at some point I thought I was being brainwashed with all this fake-positive statements. Let's not forget who is paying for CodeClan, the students! And the CEO is giving herself the right to decide who gets a job, how, where and why. 

The speed networking event is somehow a lie too, you get 10 companies more or less, but they do not necessarily have jobs on offer, or are willing to take graduates onboard. If you don’t get a job, you will join a Slack channel, where there are probably other 200 people from previous cohorts looking for jobs too. Here, the careers department will often post job vacancies, and the 200 of us will apply, including the people applying externally. The careers department is a bit weird too, they will help you make a CV and make sure that the word CodeClan is at least 20 times mentioned on your CV, do not give them more hype, maybe it’s just me, I don’t like to wear clothes where a huge logo says MC Donalds or Adidas. The CVs are not made for a specific job role, do you want to be a java developer? front-end developer?, a back-end developer?, a UX designer?, maybe a product designer?. Well if you have paid already, push them to help you create a specific CV for that.

Conclusion, if you are an experienced programmer with no job, definitely spend the money, if you are lucky you will only have beginners with no clue on what’s happening in your class, this way your chances to get a job at the speed networking will have increased. If you have no experience with coding, save that money, go for holiday for a week or two, enjoy your time, and come back full of energy to study at the University. You will learn the same stuff properly and you will take your time to achieve a more solid result. Or make good friends with Melinda, make her coffee in the morning or I don’t know, buy her a pan au chocolat! maybe she fancies giving you a job at a top tech company. Good luck on both!

I've worked in hospitality for about 15 years, all positions up to the very top in three different continents and after having 3 kids and not much time spent with them I felt that this the right time of changing my career path. With some research online CodeClan was the one that seemed promising and now 2 months after I've graduated I couldn't be happier that I made that choice. As you will read from other students the course is not easy, you really need to know what you want and be invested, but let me tell you about me that besides having interest of software (I wouldn't even call it a hobby) and in general tech I had no previous experience in coding whatsoever. My motivation and mainly the excellent team working in CodeClan Edinburgh starting from the person at reception who will welcome you every morning with a smile, through all the instructors, careers team, learning support, management and all the way the CEO herself were extremely helpful and heavily involved to make our experience better on day to day bases, I'd like to say big thank you to them all! Before even the course starts you need to be mentally prepared to work hard, 7 days a week and probably up to two months after the course is over till you nail the right job offer for you! But if I managed to get 3 amazing job offers about 6 weeks after the end of the course, with really good starting salary (definitely exceeding my expectations, that would be the same as mid to high level management role within hospitality in Scotland), having no previous IT, engineering or similar job experience, that means anyone can do it! Get yourself ready for as many interviews as possible, sometimes I'd have several interviews on the same day, be ready that some would just not work out, there are million reasons why and most of those reasons being out of your hands, important to say here you need to use the advices of the careers team, because they are brilliant, I can't thank them enough! All the students in my cohort were very friendly and that helped a lot. Never stop asking questions if are in doubt or if you don't get something, the instructors I had would pamper every need, would be professional and easygoing at the same time and would always go the extra mile for you. Well recommended course!

 

First of all, the instructors in terms of friendliness, the environment are all very good. But if you don't come with some prior knowledge in the IT field, the course goes very fast and there is no room/time/system in place for after class recaps for those that didn't understand the lesson that day. 

This will last the whole course. And I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Quite a few told me they would leave if they could get all or at least some considerable amount of their money back. So if you find yourself struggling, you need to go and ask and seek help, but this is easier said than done. You will get some answers, but you are mainly left to yourself. You will get some inspirational talk and cheers and affirmations, but this is not what you need or want. Again, instructors are friendly and approachable but they follow a strict curriculum and have the clock ticking to finish said topic in the set time in order for the next instructor to finish his/her lecture. 

Fact is that almost half of the cohort did not have at least a basic or good understanding at the end of the course, but were continuously pressed on to learn one language after another, to work through one lab after another. Instead of sitting down in a small group setting and making sure the weaker students understand the new unit. This would have been more beneficial. If you bring this suggestion up, you are being told that it will come to you and it will work itself out. Really? No, it doesn't. 

At the end nobody feels truly ready for a job (imposter syndrome), but for about 50% of the course this was the truth because they really weren't. Those that came with prior IT work experience (in any form) in the field it was a good course, I assume according to what I saw and what they were saying. For the rest of us who came from different fields, I definitely say that we were not taken care of enough and there is no system in place to help us catch up. 

The course offers Ruby, JS, Java, react and teaches about dbs, and more, but at the end it is all a mix of some knowledge without a good foundation in any. You don't learn one language well enough to feel you are a coder. There should be more time on making sure the cohort/class understands the topic instead of just pressing on and gauging knowledge and understanding of the class based on the strong experienced students.

I felt I needed to write this since, I feel people are not honest for various reasons during the morning stand ups during the course and in other public settings and don't say how they really feel openly. 

I am very social and don't mind speaking my mind and make friends easily so I found it easy to speak to students in my cohort and to cohorts before ours and two after. Once you get to know people they will tell you one on one what is going on, but not openly. Had I read a review like this I would have reconsidered and saved a considerable amount of money.  As far as employment. Yes, everybody finds a job in the suggested time frame given by codeclan, but many go back to their old jobs or something totally unrelated to the course taught. 

Do your research and make the right decision for yourself. Good luck!

On the 1st of October, I moved to Glasgow from London to start the CodeClan course.
When I started the course, Code was just colours and jibrish for me, and now I am a fully qualified Software Developer, who can read and write code, and think of an idea and make it a reality.

Let me start with Steve the legend, our instructor that taught us how to code from week one, Git and Ruby, until week sixteen, final full-stack project Java & React.
Steve took very complicated examples and explained it to us in a way that was clear, and made us visualise it so it was very easy to understand, and if you didn't understand Steve would spend 1 on 1 time with you and until you got it.
 All the instructors are legends in codeclan, they are all very helpful, supportive and always have time to hear my crazy ideas, not only listen to my ideas but provided me with advice on how to code them into a real product.
Lorrian Rew shocked me with the level of support and assistance she gave us, she basically helped all of us make a CV from scratch, taught us how to be interviewed, arranged speed networking and applied for jobs on our behalf, I am still shocked by the level of support, you can not even dream of this level of support and guidance.
Melinda the CEO gave us an empowering and an inspiring presentation about  how to present and sell yourself and sell ideas and products, it has really changed the way I present and public speak forever, she gave us tips and told us the secrets of the trade, really invaluable session, 
she also met with me to hear my ideas and she gave me really good advice and pointed me in the right direction.
A massive thank you to all the people who supported me. 
So the conclusion is that it has been really really great, the best thing I have ever done!
CodeClan thank you very very much, I am forever Grateful for what you have given me.  

I was working in the bar trade before coming to Codeclan,  I had no real experience in coding.  I had dabbled here and there with the odd Unity course and made a few 'advanced' spreadsheets for business use.

When I decided to leave the bar trade and look at my career options i found Codeclan,  I went along to an open night, thought it sounded right up my street and signed up.

In short: I really enjoyed my time at CodeClan,  the course is intensive but enjoyable.  

I am hesitant to state exactly what we covered as I know the course is constantly changing and shifting. With that disclaimer in mind, when I went through (Cohort 5, finished September 2016) We covered at the core: Ruby, JavaScript, Java, Android Dev,  SQL, Mongo, Rails and React, as well as a number of periphery technologies.

You have to come into the course willing to put in the time and effort, you very much get out of it what you put in,  you could probably coast through and get to the end, but when it comes to the interviews at the end it will be clear who was keen on learning and who was just 'there'.

I was lucky enough to get employment within a few weeks of the course ending, and am now very happily working in Android development,

If you have ever considered the move into software development then this is a great way to do it.  They teach practical skills that are relevant in the work place, and with the ever changing course you are being taught up to date technologies all the time.

Best thing to do though is go along to the open days they hold, ask the niggling questions and decide for yourself.

Little bit of background on me - I previously worked in Steel Sales in Aberdeen and was made redundant around December 2015. I had very little experience of coding prior to attending CodeClan and only had the most fundamental understanding of using a computer (i.e Microsoft office/browsing reddit etc.).  I heard about the course from my brother who had seen it on the BBC news and though sceptical of the cost (£4,500), look back on it as well worth the investment.

I joined the course in April and graduated in August to a Wed Developer job working with well-established but small Agency (checkout the linkedin here).

I can only comment on the curriculum during my time there – it still seems to be evolving with each iteration of the Cohort but they all tend to revolve around the 4 core parts of Ruby, Javascript, Java and frameworks(React/Ruby-on-Rails) and segment’s tend to have a couple of weeks doing class followed by a weeklong project where you take what you’ve learned and apply to a project of your choice.  The order of which topic still seems to be changing with each Cohort but You’ll soon find yourself getting into the steady flow of learning where each week your hit with something new, you struggle a little trying to get to grips with some of the concepts (there is always plenty of opportunity to ask for assistance whether in class or in morning Stand-up) and towards the end of the week you consolidate the learning with weekend Homework which are like a mini project.

The instructors were experienced and the TA’s (previous students) were really helpful.  And the staff were all very friendly and helpful towards the latter stages of the course where the course transitions towards finding a job.  The jarring part of the course was the transition from the emphasis of learning to the section involved in employment.  I felt that towards the end of the course the homework exercises started to take a back seat to CV preparation and coding tests. That said, it was definitely an important part of the course after crashing and burning in 2 interviews I was able to take advantage of resources at CodeClan like mock technical interviews and CV reviews.  A lot of the advice I helped me put forward the best “me” for my last interview.

I genuinely had a great time at CodeClan.  The staff, instructors and fellow class mates all helped to make for challenging, fun and rewarding experience.
 

I took a leap of faith with code clan and signed up for their first cohort (the name of the class groups).

My previous experience with code was non existent and my background was too many years in retail.

We covered Ruby, ruby on rails, sql, javascript, css and html.  The course isn't designed to make you a master programmer in 16 weeks. It's purpose is simply to equip you with the the foundation principles of software development and a basis to allow you to learn other languages to further develop yourself.

Over the course of the 16 weeks we learned the above using Agile methodologies and with a student to tutor ratio of 3:1.  You were expected to be mature enough to ask for help if you needed it and support was always available (even late at night the day before a hand-in).

More importantly I made great friends and contacts within the industry and secured a job before the course had even ended.

As I was in the first batch there was always going to be teething problems.  The cirriculum is tweaked each cohort based on the feedback from previous cohorts. The Student - Employer service had to be revised as it became apparent that the model planned was not as ideal as it could have been. What it had allowed us to do was get to know the employer partners and get an idea of what the businesses where about and what they were looking for from a student coming into the company. Several students were employed rather quickly from course completetion but many others did have a wait before being paired up - something which when you haven't earned for 4 months was tough and would have been nice to have known in advance.

I have been working for my employer nearly 4 months now and have enjoyed every minute of it.  As of time of writing cohort 6 is the most recent and so I hope the little bumps that my cohort had faced have all been ironed out by now. 

I loved my time at Codeclan and i hope my review has been useful ot those reading it.

 

I joined CodeClan with huge passion for coding and with nearly zero experience. And that was one of my best decission ever.

The environment was amazing, each and everyone involved with CodeClan was very friendly and approachable. The main instructor was a genius, and it was a fun to be at his class!

The curriculam was diverse, the main language they taught us was Ruby and ROR; along the path you would also learn SQL, NoSQL, TDD, CSS, JS etc. You have to give a ridiculous amount of time if you want to go along the course! And even after that you would realise that you actually had a very basic foundation of coding!

To be honest, I didn't join the course to have fun, I wanted a career out of it. And if your ultimate goal is to get a professional job, CodeClan is the right place. I had the job offer as a software developer (where i actually not using Ruby, but Python!) the very next week i finished the course. So, CodeClan has some magic wand on this respect!!

With my experience with CodeClan, I have no hesiatation to highly recommend CodeClan. Remember, CodeClan will provide you the best possible support you could expect, but you have to work mighty hard to have your dream come true ----.